The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a Texas company are making plans for the shipbreaking of the STURGIS barge.
The Army Corps in May issued a $1.9 million contract to International Shipbreaking Ltd., which is expected in September to tow the formerly nuclear reactor-equipped vessel to its facility in Brownsville.
“We are currently working with ISL to make the vessel ready to tow (seaworthy); we are working on a towing plan; and ISL is working on a specific work plan to implement the dismantlement of the vessel upon arrival in Brownsville,” Brenda Barber, project manager for the Army Corps’ Environmental and Munitions Design Center in Baltimore, said by email. “Once in Brownsville, ISL is estimating a timeframe of 6-8 months to complete the dismantlement and recycling.”
The former World War II Liberty Ship, later fitted with a nuclear power reactor for service in Panama in the 1960s to 1970s, underwent three years of decommissioning at the Port of Galveston. The project cost over $66.5 million, nearly double the original estimate, and included removal of the MH-1A reactor and other radioactively contaminated material from the barge.
Contractor APTIM Federal Services is conducting the final radiological release surveys and some last decontamination of the barge, which Barber said is standard in such a cleanup project.
It is expected to take three to four days to tow the vessel 400 nautical miles across the Gulf of Mexico to Brownsville. That will be followed by two to three months of abatement of asbestos, lead-based paints, and other hazards, after which the barge will be cut up and processed for recycling. The dismantlement process ends with certificates of destruction and disposal.
Meanwhile, the Army Corps is preparing for its next nuclear reactor decommissioning – the retired SM-1 reactor plant at Fort Belvoir, Va. The facility operated for 16 years ending in 1973, largely for training personnel to operate other facilities within the U.S. Army Engineer Reactors Group.
An unspecified number of companies by May 1 responded to the Army Corps’ sources sought request, designed to collect data about potential contractors ahead of the actual procurement. Companies were asked to list up to five nuclear reactor decontamination and/or decommissioning projects they have been involved in, of which two were required to be cost-reimburseable and all had to cost no less than $10 million.
A request for proposals should be issued in early 2019, Barber said. The Army Corps expects to issue a contract award in May-June 2020.
The Army Corps for now is holding off on issuing a sources sought notice for its final reactor project, the SM-1A at Fort Greely, Alaska, pending formal notification of the state’s congressional delegation.
SM-1A operated for a decade ending in 1972, providing electricity and heating steam for utilities on the base.
In March, Barber said the request for proposals for that project is anticipated by 2021 and a contract award in 2022.
Cost estimates for both projects are pending completion of decommissioning planning, being conducted by AECOM-Tidewater JV under contracts worth $8.5 million.
