National Historic Landmark Nuclear Ship Savannah Available; Request for Information
| Citation | 88 FR 74228 |
| Published date | 30 October 2023 |
| Record Number | 2023-23917 |
| Court | Maritime Administration |
| Section | Notices |
Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 208 (Monday, October 30, 2023)
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 208 (Monday, October 30, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74228-74230]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23917]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Maritime Administration
[Docket Number MARAD-2020-0133]
National Historic Landmark Nuclear Ship Savannah Available;
Request for Information
AGENCY: Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Notice of vessel availability and request for information.
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SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration (MARAD) is decommissioning the
nuclear power plant of the National Historic Landmark (NHL) vessel
Nuclear Ship Savannah (NSS), which will result in the termination of
the ship's Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license, making the ship
available for disposition, including potential conveyance or
preservation. The purpose of the Notice of Availability and Request for
Information (NOA and RFI) is to determine preservation interest from
entities that may wish to acquire the NSS. Information received in
response to this RFI will help to inform the development of viable
preservation alternatives for the NSS. MARAD requests information from
entities that may be interested in acquiring the ship for conveyance
and preservation purposes as prescribed in the recently executed
Programmatic Agreement (PA) which is available for review on the MARAD
docket at www.regulations.gov. In responding to the RFI, please review
the below SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION/Information Requested section to
inform your submission.
DATES: All responses to this RFI are due on or before February 16,
2024, following the information provided in the ADDRESSES section
below.
An information session for interested parties will be held on
November 18, 2023, to allow potential responders the opportunity to ask
MARAD questions regarding the NSS. The meeting will be held onboard the
NSS, online, or by phone. You must RSVP for the site visit to the email
or phone number listed in the section below no later than November 11,
2023.
Site visits for interested parties will be held on December 16 and
17, 2023. You must RSVP for the site visit to the email or phone number
listed in the section below no later than December 9, 2023. Parties who
are unable to make this date may request alternate arrangements by
contacting the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section.
The NSS is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The ship has some capability to accommodate persons with impaired
mobility, for which advance notice is required. If you require
accommodations to attend the site visit, please include this
information in your RSVP. The U.S. Department of Transportation is
committed to providing all participants equal access to this meeting.
If you need alternative formats or services such as sign language,
interpretation, or other ancillary aids, please also include that in
your RSVP. Additional dates may be provided, or parties may request
alternate dates subject to the same conditions as above.
ADDRESSES: You may submit your responses to this RFI and any
supplemental information by any of the following methods:
Email: [email protected]. Please include NS Savannah
RFI in the subject line of the email.
Overnight Mail: N.S. Savannah/Savannah Technical Staff,
Pier 13
[[Page 74229]]
Canton Marine Terminal, 4601 Newgate Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21224, ATTN:
Erhard Koehler.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erhard W. Koehler, Senior Technical
Advisor, N.S. Savannah, Maritime Administration, at (202) 680-2066 or
via email at [email protected]. Additional information regarding
the vessel is available at https://www.maritime.dot.gov/nssavannah.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Built in 1959, the NSS is the world's first
nuclear-powered merchant ship and served as a signature element of
President Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace program. While in service, NSS
demonstrated the peaceful use of atomic power and explored the
feasibility of nuclear-powered merchant vessels. NSS was retired from
active service in 1970. The ship was listed in the National Register of
Historic Places in 1983 and designated as an NHL in 1991 for exhibiting
exceptional value in illustrating the nuclear, maritime,
transportation, and political heritages of the United States.
Disposition
The NRC license termination will lead to MARAD's disposition of the
NSS. Because the decommissioning and disposition of the NHL ship is an
Undertaking under Section 106 of the NHPA, with an unknown end-state,
MARAD developed and executed a PA covering the decommissioning and
disposition of the ship. The PA outlines the process by which the
disposition of NSS will be considered among the NRC, the Advisory
Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and the Maryland State
Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO). Concurrent with the
decommissioning project, MARAD requests information from entities that
may be interested in acquiring the ship for conveyance and preservation
purposes as prescribed in the PA. The approximate date on which the
vessel will be available for transfer is three (3) to six (6) months
after NRC license termination.
Stipulation IV of the PA outlines a disposition alternatives
development process wherein MARAD will study and evaluate alternatives
that would result in the preservation of the NSS. This process will
include the development of a Disposition Alternatives Study and the
publication of a NOA and RFI. Although the PA lists these activities
sequentially, with the Disposition Alternatives Study preceding the
publication of the NOA and RFI, the signatories of the PA recently
concurred that the NOA and RFI will instead precede the Disposition
Alternatives Study. Therefore, MARAD is publishing this NOA and RFI in
accordance with Stipulation IV of the PA, in advance of the Disposition
Alternatives Study.
Conveyance Methods
MARAD is investigating several different methods of conveyance of
the NSS, and these will be presented in the Disposition Alternatives
Study. These conveyance methods may or may not involve MARAD's
continued involvement with the ship. However, in order to foster
preservation by removing a future encumbrance, MARAD will either retain
the title or will retain a reversionary interest in the title. By this
act MARAD is choosing to defer its obligation to scrap Savannah to some
future date. MARAD's existing ship donation authority is one of the
methods of conveyance that will be used. Parties interested in
obtaining the vessel through this method may apply at any time. Further
information on MARAD's ship donation program may be found at the
following link: https://www.maritime.dot.gov/national-defense-reserve-fleet/ship-disposal-program/ship-donation.
Other conveyance methods may include, but are not limited to, a
modified donation process, chartering or leasing the ship, cooperative
agreements, or potentially partnering with another entity to maintain
and operate the ship. MARAD expects to convey the ship in as-is
condition at the time of conveyance, to include all mooring lines,
fenders, and related equipment, all safety equipment, including spare
parts for active safety systems, and tools and stock. The ship will
contain a full complement of drawings, and technical and operating
manuals. The ship's historic fabric will not be disturbed; however, if
title is transferred from the federal government some material may be
removed as mitigation. All mitigation efforts will be subject to
consultation in accordance with the stipulations in the PA.
Technical Information
Technical information about the NSS in its present configuration
will be posted to the MARAD docket and website concurrent with the
publication of this notice. The information will include at least the
following:
Ship's drawings and photographs;
Reports documenting the ship's existing material condition
and expected condition at the time of license termination;
Utility consumption data; and,
Last material inventory completed.
Information Requested
RFI respondents should provide MARAD with a capability statement
that includes at least the following information:
Proposed use(s) for the ship;
Mission statement for your organization;
Proposed or potential locations for ship;
Staffing resources for maintaining and operating the ship;
Experience with ship maintenance and operations;
Experience with historic property or structures;
Funding sources; and,
Preferred conveyance mechanism for acquisition of the
ship.
Responses, including personal identifiable information will be made
public, so please provide any sensitive information in a separate
attachment clearly labeled, so that it may be withheld from disclosure
as provided by law. Respondents should consider and discuss in their
capability statement factors such as the density of museum ships in the
location proposed, the nexus between the proposed location and NSS
operating history, and any other relevant special criteria favoring the
response.
Background
Built in 1959, the NSS is the world's first nuclear-powered
merchant ship and served as a signature element of President
Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace program. While in service, the NSS
demonstrated the peaceful use of atomic power as well as the
feasibility of nuclear-powered merchant vessels. NSS operated in
experimental service as a passenger/cargo ship from 1962 to 1965,
during which time it travelled 90,000 miles, visited 13 countries, and
hosted 1.4 million visitors. Following the successful conclusion of the
experimental phase, the ship entered its commercial phase in 1965. The
ship was operated as a cargo ship generating nearly $12,000,000 in
revenue between 1965 and 1970, as well as continuing to serve as a
goodwill ambassador for the peaceful use of nuclear power. After
successfully fulfilling its objectives, NSS operations were ceased in
1970 and the ship was deactivated and defueled in 1971.
Following deactivation, the NSS was moved to the city of Savannah,
GA, where it was to be part of a proposed Eisenhower Peace Memorial;
however, the memorial was never established. In 1980, Congress passed
Public Law 96-331, which authorized the Secretary of Commerce to
bareboat charter the ship
[[Page 74230]]
to the Patriots Point Development Authority of South Carolina. The NSS
operated as a museum ship at the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime
Museum from 1981 through 1994. During this time, the NSS was listed in
the National Register of Historic Places (1983) and designated as an
NHL (1991) for exhibiting exceptional value in illustrating the
nuclear, maritime, transportation, and political heritages of the
United States. Additionally, during this time the ship was designated
an International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (1983) and a Nuclear
Engineering Landmark by the American Nuclear Society (1991).
Following termination of the charter in 1994, the NSS returned to
MARAD and was entered into the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia.
The ship was removed from the reserve fleet in 2006 and underwent
repairs prior to being relocated in 2008 to Baltimore, Maryland, where
it is currently berthed. In 2017, funds for decommissioning of the ship
were appropriated. Because the decommissioning and disposition of the
NSS is an Undertaking under Section 106 of the NHPA, MARAD initiated
consultation in 2018 with the Maryland SHPO, the ACHP, the NRC, the
NPS, and other consulting parties. Given the complexities of the
Undertaking, including the yet undetermined disposition of the NSS, the
parties agreed to develop a PA to guide the execution of the
Undertaking.
The PA for the Decommissioning and Disposition of the NSS was
executed in March 2023, and it outlines the process by which the
disposition of NSS will be considered and executed, concurrent with the
decommissioning project. The decommissioning process is well underway,
and dismantlement and removal of the major systems, structures, and
components that were part of the ship's nuclear power plant is
complete. As part of the decommissioning process, MARAD has made
numerous modifications and improvements to the NSS from 2015 through
the present. These improvements include climate controls, sanitary
spaces, shore power, mechanical systems, mooring and access/egress
equipment, alarm, and monitoring systems (fire/smoke, intrusion,
flooding, security cameras), restored public spaces, office spaces, and
administrative infrastructure. Typically, the greatest challenge to any
static museum ship effort is the cost associated with converting or
transforming the ship into a site suitable and safe for visitors. MARAD
has already made improvements, as listed above, which may help to
defray some of the initial starting costs for potential recipients who
may be interested in receiving the ship. Additional details about the
ship's condition are included in the attachments posted to the MARAD
docket and website.
The disposition process is sequenced to reach a conclusion at the
same time that decommissioning ends--effective with the license
termination to allow a seamless transition to whichever end-state
condition is approved. MARAD anticipates making its disposition
decision no later than the license termination date with conveyance to
follow three to six months later, after decommissioning,
demobilization, and vessel redelivery contract actions are completed.
(Authority: 49 CFR 1.81 and 1.93; 36 CFR part 800; 5 U.S.C. 552b.)
By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
T. Mitchell Hudson, Jr.,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-23917 Filed 10-27-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P
