NS SAVANNAH

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A NUCLEAR POWERED SHIP? PEOPLE STILL TALK ABOUT NUCLEAR REACTORS AND NUCLEAR PLANTS.BY THE WAY,THE FIRST NUCLEAR SHIP WAS NS SAVANNAH OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.WELL,WELL WE ARE WAY BEHIND .WE SAY NUCLEAR POWER IS POWER FOR THE FUTURE  AND I HOPE TO SEE WE MARINERS WORKING IN NUCLEAR SHIPS TOO IN FUTURE AS THE WORLD IS GOING TO BE 'FUELRUPTED'.

 INTRODUCTION:

 

NS Savannah, named for SS Savannah, was the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, built in the late 1950s at a cost of $46.9 million, including a $28.3 million nuclear reactor and fuel core, funded by United States government agencies as a demonstration project for the potential usage of nuclear energy. Launched on 21 July 1959, she was in service between 1962–1972 as one of only four nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built, while Soviet ice-breaker Lenin launched on 5 December 1957, was the first nuclear-powered civil ship. NS Savannah has been moored at Pier 13 of the Canton Marine Terminal in Baltimore, Maryland since 2008.

CAREER:

Name:     NS Savannah

Owner:     U.S. Maritime Administration

Operator:     1962—1965: State Marine Lines

1965—1972: American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines

Port of registry:     Savannah,  United States

Ordered:     1955

Builder:     New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, USA

Cost:     $46,900,000 ($18,600,000 for the ship, and $28,300,000 for the nuclear plant and fuel)

Yard number:     529

Launched:     21 July 1959

Completed:     December 1961

Acquired:     1 May 1962

Maiden voyage:     20 August 1962

In service:     1964

Out of service:     10 January 1972

Fate:     Decommissioned

Status:     Museum ship

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Type:     Nuclear-powered cargo ship

Tonnage:     13599 GRT[2]

Displacement:     9,900 long tons deadweight (DWT)[2]

Length:     596 ft (181.66 m)

Beam:     78 ft (23.77 m)

Installed power:     One 74 MW Babcock & Wilcox nuclear reactor powering two De Laval steam turbines[2]

Propulsion:     20,300 hp to a single propeller

Speed:     21 kn (38.89 km/h) (service speed)[2]

24 kn (44.45 km/h) (maximum speed)

Range:     300,000 nmi (560,000 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h) on one single load of 32 fuel elements

Capacity:     60 passengers

14,040 ton cargo capacity

Crew:     124

ECONOMICS OF NS SAVANNAH:

Savannah was a demonstration of the technical feasibility of nuclear propulsion for merchant ships and was not expected to be commercially competitive. She was designed to be visually impressive, looking more like a luxury yacht than a bulk cargo vessel, and was equipped with thirty air-conditioned staterooms (each with an individual bathroom), a dining facility for 100 passengers, a lounge that could double as a movie theater, a veranda, a swimming pool and a library. Even her cargo handling equipment was designed to look good. By many measures, the ship was a success. She performed well at sea, her safety record was impressive, and her gleaming white paint was never smudged by exhaust smoke. From 1965 to 1971, the Maritime Administration leased Savannah to American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines for revenue cargo service. THE PIC SHOWS THE HP REACTOR-->

LOSSES OF NS SAVANNAH:

Savannah's cargo space was limited to 8,500 tons of freight in 652,000 cubic feet (18,000 m³). Many of her competitors could accommodate several times as much. Her streamlined hull made loading the forward holds laborious, which became a significant disadvantage as ports became more and more automated. Her crew was a third larger than comparable oil-fired ships and received special training in addition to that required for conventional maritime licenses. Additionally, a labor dispute erupted over pay scales. Savannah's engineering officers had been allotted extra pay in compensation for their extensive additional nuclear training. The deck officers, however, cited the tradition that they receive higher pay than engineering officers. A labor arbitrator ruled in favor of the higher pay for the deck officers, in keeping with the traditional pay scale, despite the lower training requirements of the deck officers. The pay issue continued to be a problem, so the Maritime Administration canceled its contract with States     Marine Lines and selected American Export Isbrandtsen Lines as the new ship operator. The resulting need to train a new crew interrupted Savannah's demonstration schedule for nearly a year.

Although the change in operators alleviated the immediate labor problem, the failure to resolve this dispute would forever cloud the feasibility of nuclear merchant ships. Many feared that abandoning the Masters, Mates, and Pilots (M.M.& P.) and the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (MEBA) trade unions merely deferred the necessary resolution of this conflict. After all, these two unions represented deck and engineering officers on a majority of all other U.S.-flag operated ships.

As a result of her design handicaps, training requirements, and additional crew members, Savannah cost approximately US$2 million a year more in operating subsidies than a similarly sized Mariner-class ship with a conventional oil-fired steam plant. The Maritime Administration decommissioned her in 1971 to save costs, a decision that made sense when fuel oil cost US$20 per ton. In a note of historical parallel, the ship's namesake, the SS Savannah, which in 1819 became the first steam powered ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, was also a commercial failure despite it being an innovation in marine propulsion technology.

RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISCHARGE:

During the initial year of operation, the NS Savannah released over 115,000 gallons of very low-level radioactive waste at sea.

MUSEUM SHIP:

In 1981, Savannah was obtained via bareboat charter for display at the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum near Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Although the museum had use of the vessel, ownership of Savannah remained with the Maritime Administration, and the Patriots Point Development Authority had to be designated a "co-licensee" for the ship's reactor. Periodic radiological inspections were also necessary to ensure the continued safety of the ship. Once Savannah was open for display, visitors could tour the ship's cargo holds, view the engine room from an observation area, look into staterooms and passenger areas, and walk the ship's decks.