Building a basic (large, loud, inefficient, expensive, unsafe) reactor is "easy", by the standards of nuclear shit. Building one that's suitable for use in a submarine is decidedly less so.
How often do you need to refuel the reactor? That's inconvenient on land, but in a submarine you need to cut through the pressure hull to access anything and "inconvenient" doesn't even begin to describe it. Modern American reactors are designed to run for 20+ years without refueling for exactly that reason.
How much do you need to run the coolant pumps and how loud are they? A loud sub is a dead sub. If your reactor can run on convection at low power, that's wonderful.
How power dense is the reactor? You need to fit this in a relatively narrow tube, after all! And higher density means higher speed.
How safe is it? How easy is it to cause a meltdown? That directs staffing requirements, and subs don't have staff to spare. A reactor shutting down at the wrong moment can very easily cause the sub to be lost, even out of combat. See the USS Thresher for a demonstration.
And finally, how much maintenance does it need? What portion of this tractor's life needs to be spent tied up alongside a pier having work done, or even worse spent in drydock? The higher the proportion, the more subs you need in order to maintain a given number on station.
So yes, there's PLENTY of things that aren't in a textbook reactor design. And the largest current buyer of nuclear reactors is the US Navy. Number two is the People's Liberation Army Navy.