The US Army Corps of Engineers announced on 14 September that crews had deactivated the former USS Sturgis' nuclear reactor and had removed more than 680t of radioactive waste.
The US Department of Defense decided in 2012 to decommission the Sturgis, which had been converted into a floating NPP (FNPP). The Sturgis, which began as a World War II Liberty Ship, was converted into a FNPP with a MH-1A reactor in the 1960s. It was used to supply power for the US Army in remote locations, primarily in service in Gatun Lake providing power to the Panama Canal Zone from 1968 to 1976. The ship was deactivated in 1977, defuelled, decontaminated for long-term storage, sealed and stored with periodic maintenance until 2012, when the formal decommissioning began. This was part of a broader effort to decommission the Army’s retired nuclear reactors. The ship was moved in 2015 from its storage in Virginia to Texas, where it was moored at the Port of Galveston.
The ship will be towed to Brownsville and then dismantled. The project was originally due to take 18 months, but was delayed when larger cranes had to be brought in to lift material from the vessel. The original contract estimated the project would cost about $35m, but delays and additional equipment have increased the cost to $51m.
Photo: The Sturgis floating nuclear power plant (Photo: US Army Corps)
