{"id":38458,"date":"2014-09-08T12:38:59","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T17:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=38458"},"modified":"2014-09-08T12:38:59","modified_gmt":"2014-09-08T17:38:59","slug":"army-nuclear-reactor-barge-headed-for-dismantling-in-galveston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/09\/08\/army-nuclear-reactor-barge-headed-for-dismantling-in-galveston\/","title":{"rendered":"Army Nuclear Reactor Barge Headed For Dismantling In Galveston"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Aboard<\/a>

Dave Fehling<\/p>

Aboard the Sturgis: US Army Corp of Engineers project managers Brenda Barber (flag safety hat) and Hans Honerlah (yellow jacket)<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometime this winter, an historic sea vessel will float into Galveston. But you won\u2019t be able to take a tour of it. In fact, you probably won\u2019t be allowed to get close to it. Because the big barge is radioactive.<\/p>\n

A half century ago, the U.S. Army came up with what sounded like a great idea: put a small, nuclear power plant on board an old military cargo ship. The Army called it the Sturgis after a three-star general.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sturgis was fairly highly classified,\u201d said Will Davis who used to operate nuclear reactors in the Navy and now has a blog on atomic power. He said the Sturgis had one mission: it was sent to the Panama Canal to generate electricity to operate the locks. But after about 7 years, it was no longer needed and was mothballed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSturgis has been de-fueled since 1977. The nuclear fuel was taken out,\u201d said Davis.<\/p>\n

So for decades, under the supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Sturgis was moored at a military harbor in Virginia, its nuclear fuel removed but with its reactor and other parts still on-board and emitting low levels of radiation. That was the Army Corps\u2019 idea: let it sit for years so the radioactive parts would decay and become less radioactive. Then, it\u2019d be safer to tear it apart for scrap. But to do that would mean moving it.<\/p>\n

\"TA<\/a>

<\/p>

TA 1968 photo of the Sturgis in the Panama Canal where it provided electricity to operate the locks.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe will put the vessel under tow in winter of this year. And it\u2019ll be towed 1,700 miles down to Galveston,\u201d said Brenda Barber, an Army Corps manager of the Sturgis Project.<\/p>\n

The Sturgis will be docked at a shipyard on Galveston Island at a pier at the 37th street entrance to the Port of Galveston. The pier is less than a mile from where the historic sailing ship Elissa is moored and it\u2019s just a quarter mile from the A&M Galveston campus. If you stood there, would you be exposed to radiation coming from this barge?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no,\u201d said Hans Honerlah, also a project manager with the Army Corps. \u201cWhen we\u2019re in there, in every other part of the vessel except initially where that reactor may be, the radiation levels are less than background.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, the Army Corps contends there won\u2019t be any more radiation outside the vessel than is naturally-occurring. Honerlah said what will be of concern are the workers doing the dismantling. He says rules will be in place to keep them as far away from the radioactivity as possible and to \u201cminimize the amount of time any worker is around the radioactivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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