Savannah to get rehab

The 1962 built ?Savannah?, the world’s first nuclear-powered cargo and passenger ship is being rescued from a floating graveyard in Virginia and restored as a possible museum. Colonna’s Shipyard of Norfolk, Va., won a $995,000 contract to repair and spruce up the vessel that has been anchored for years among the rusting hulks of the James River Reserve Fleet, commonly known as the “Ghost Fleet.”

The work is the first step in a government plan to remove the ship’s inactive nuclear reactor, scrub remnant radiation, and prepare the ship for a new mission as a maritime museum. The Savannah arrived at the reserve fleet near Newport News in 1994, following a stint at a maritime museum in Charleston, S.C.

At Colonna’s, crews will check for hull leaks, install a floodlighting system, fix the onboard dehumidifying equipment, remove moldy carpets, and clean the interior. The job will take 60 days to complete. The 183.30 metre ?Savannah? was a pet project of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his Atoms for Peace program in the 1950s. It was intended to carry cargo but was largely a showpiece for nuclear propulsion.

The 22,000 gt ship could sail at a top speed of 23 knots maximum and was taken out of service in 1972, the victim of fuel costs, labour problems and political pressure. After Colonna’s, the vessel will head for another yard for more preparations and maintenance, then spend two years at a nuclear-capable shipyard where the reactor core will be decommissioned. Congress first appropriated money for the ship’s cleaning in 2005 and has set aside about $5 million for the project and the ?Savannah? should be ready for a new home and a new purpose by 2010 or 2011.