The Otto Hahn was one of only four nuclear-powered cargo vessels so far built. Planning of a German-built trade and research vessel to test the feasibility of nuclear power in civil service began in 1960, and Otto Hahn’s keel was laid down in 1963 by Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG of Kiel. She was launched in 1964 and named in honour of Otto Hahn, the German chemist and Nobel prizewinner, who was credited with the discovery of nuclear fission of uranium in 1938. The first captain of the Otto Hahn was Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, a famous German U-Boat ace of World War II.

In 1968, the ship’s 38-megawatt nuclear reactor was taken critical and sea trials began. In October of that year, NS Otto Hahn was certified for commercial freight transport and research.

Configured to carry passengers and ore, Otto Hahn made her first port call in Safi, Morocco, loading a cargo of phosphate ores, in 1970. In 1972, after four years of operation, her reactor was refueled. She had covered some 250,000 nautical miles (463,000 km) on 22 kilograms of uranium.

In 1979 Otto Hahn was deactivated. Her nuclear reactor and propulsion plant were removed and replaced by a conventional diesel engineroom. In nine years, she had traveled 650,000 nautical miles (1,200,000 km) on nuclear power, visiting 33 ports in 22 countries.
In 1983, Otto Hahn was recommissioned as the container ship Trophy and leased into commercial service. On 19 November of that year, she was renamed Norasia Susan. She became the Norasia Helga in 1985, Hua Kang He in 1989, Anais in 1998, Tal in 1999 and finally Madre in the same year. Her last owner, from 2006, was the Liberian-based Domine Maritime Corporation, under the management of Alon Maritime Corporation of Athens, Greece. The ship was scrapped at Alang, India in 2009.

Her funnel is preserved at the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum (German Maritime Museum) in Bremerhaven.

Pacific Grebe is owned by INS’s subsidiary, Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL). It is the last of three new UK-flagged vessels ordered by PNTL to fulfil its commitments to transport nuclear fuel and nuclear waste from Europe to Japan over the next two decades.

This ship has been designed to carry nuclear cargoes and to comply with the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s classification for an INF3 vessel, which indicates the quantity of nuclear material it is licensed to carry. It is also designed to meet the Japanese regulator’s classification of Kaisa 520.

Alastair Brown, INS’s operations director, said: “The UK has a world-class expertise and 40-year heritage in the safe and secure transport of nuclear material. The arrival of Pacific Grebe represents the continuance of that heritage and the reinforcement of that expertise in Barrow-in-Furness, which will enable INS and PNTL to continue to fulfil their contracts with customers in Japan for the next two decades. And we’re especially pleased that the crew have managed to get home for Christmas.”

Pacific Grebe was preceded in 2008 by the Pacific Heron – which completed its second successful voyage to Japan last summer – and in September 2010 by the Pacific Egret. Both of these earlier vessels were designed specifically to carry mixed oxide fuel (MOX) to Japan. Pacific Grebe will carry high level waste.

Project managing the new vessels programme is a daughter of Barrow-in-Furness, Pauline Woods, who said: “The secret of the success of the Pacific Heron and the future success of the Pacific Egret and Pacific Grebe, has been the end-to-end diligence of the team involved from the concept design of the fleet to its delivery.

“The new design incorporates all of the high standards of their predecessors, while using new technologies in the construction and installation of equipment and systems. They have significant efficiency improvements and meet the environmental requirements appropriate to vessels of this size, while setting new standards in nuclear maritime transport.”

The United States first and only Nuclear powered merchant ship was designed in hopes of finding peaceful uses for Nuclear energy as part of the Atoms for Peace program. President Eisenhower had the ship built in the late 1950s at a cost of $46.9 million, which included a $28.3 million nuclear reactor and fuel core. At 596-feet-long she was the pride of the fleet with sleek lines like that of an oceangoing yacht. During her short 5 years of service (1965-1970) she saved over 29 million gallons of fuel oil but her high maintenance cost led to her downfall. In 1981, the Savannah was brought back to her cold war glory by re-activating her as a museum ship offering Americans a glimpse into the atomic age. Visitors could walk the ship’s decks and even tour the reactor from an observation window as well as look into staterooms and passenger areas but in 1994 the charter was terminated. The Maritime Administration, who is responsible for overseeing the Savannah, had the ship moved to Baltimore where she remains under a 3 year, $588,380 U.S. Maritime Administration contract with the Vane Brothers’ shipyard at the Canton Marine Terminal. Once the Savannah’s DDR (Decommissioning, Decontamination and Radiological) work is completed the U.S. Maritime Administration plans to eventually donate the famous maritime relic as a museum or public attraction.

Interesting Facts

• She produced nearly $12,000,000 in revenue, real money back then.
• She sailed over 450,000 miles in her five years of merchant service (1965 to 1970).
• She required a crew of more than 100 mariners.=
• The Army considered using her as a power plant to be used during national emergencies.
• She is being reconditioned primarily due to post 9/11 security concerns.

NS Savannah Documentary – Once Upon A Nuclear Ship

More videos and photos of the beautifully designed NS Savannah ship:

Nixon’s Moscow Mission; Nuclear Ship Comissioned 1959/7/23

2) NS Savannah nuclear ship commissioned, christened by Mamie before 15,000 spectators, cost $41 million (partial newsreel)

N/S Savannah Underway

A Look At Her Reactors

Photos Of Her Today

Other Nuclear Merchant Ships

Germany’s N/S Otto Hahn

Russia’s 1988 Nuclear Cargo ship and now drillship N/S Sevorput

Japan’s 1969 built N/S Mutsu

Nuclear Icebreakers

Russia has built a number of modern nuclear icebreakers including the Yamal.

Links:

• NSSavannah.net
• 2006 Photos
• Nuclear Fuel Transport Ship Launched
• A Complete List of Nuclear Powered Ships
• Russia’s Nuclear Icebreakers

The Savannah, a historic landmark and the world’s first nuclear-powered cargo and passenger ship, is leaving Virginia waters after 14 years.

Its government caretaker, the U.S. Maritime Administration, announced a contract Tuesday worth at least $588,380 to relocate the famous dinosaur from Norfolk to Canton Marine Terminals in Baltimore.

The sleek, white, 596-foot-long vessel was to leave local waters Wednesday on its way up the Chesapeake Bay.

The full story including video can be found HERE.

Here’s a sample: The balance of the pics are here.

Paired up for the voyage

The Voyage Plan

Sunrise

The Reactor Control Room

The Reactor

Here’s the video version via Sea Fever.

Nuclear Icebreaker

for more Nuclear Goodness CLICK HERE or take our nuclear cargo quiz HERE.

Photos by Svetlana Bogdanova; seamen of the Murmansk Sea Shipping Company via Dark Roasted Blend. Blog post by gCaptain and Bitterend’s chief blogger Richard Rodriguez

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