High water halts reactor trip

Shipment awaits drop in river

AIKEN - One problem no one was counting on when they planned the transport of an enormous, concrete-filled, decommissioned reactor vessel from Maine to South Carolina was too much water in the Savannah River.

ADVERTISEMENT

Have a thought? Go to the Forums or Chat.

Subscribe  E-mail this story  Write a letter to the Editor  Printer-friendly version  Get news on your PDA  Get e-mail headlines

The past week of steady rainfall has caused river levels to be abnormally high for the transport barge, making it impossible for its tugboat to clear bridges, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The barge's destination is the Chem-Nuclear low-level waste disposal site in Barnwell.

For now, the vessel, from the only reactor unit at the now-defunct Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co., is moored 23 miles downriver, just outside Savannah.

"It will be five to seven days before they can move it to the Savannah River Site," Deborah Ogilvie, a spokeswoman for Chem-Nuclear, said Thursday.

The Energy Department granted permission for the reactor equipment to be brought ashore at SRS, the federal reserve south of Aiken that was pivotal to nuclear weapons production during the Cold War.

From SRS, the equipment will be transported a short distance by land to Chem-Nuclear, located outside the site's boundary.

The corps began releasing extra water from Thurmond Dam into the river over the past month. At the time, planners were worried that the 1,175 tons of cargo could be delayed by the barge running up on a sandbar.

Ms. Ogilvie said weather changes this time of year can be hard to predict.

"Most of the local weather people don't even get the weather right," she said.

She said it will take about two days to get the barge to SRS after it is cleared to set sail again.

Reach Eric Williamson at (803) 279-6895 or eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Friday, May 23, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle