Atomic-powered ship

The invention: The world’s first atomic-powered merchant ship
demonstrated a peaceful use of atomic power.
The people behind the invention:
Otto Hahn (1879-1968), a German chemist
Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), an Italian American physicist
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), president of the United
States, 1953-1961
Splitting the Atom
In 1938, Otto Hahn, working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for
Chemistry, discovered that bombarding uranium atoms with neutrons
causes them to split into two smaller, lighter atoms. A large
amount of energy is released during this process, which is called
“fission.” When one kilogram of uranium is fissioned, it releases the
same amount of energy as does the burning of 3,000 metric tons of
coal. The fission process also releases new neutrons.
Enrico Fermi suggested that these new neutrons could be used to
split more uranium atoms and produce a chain reaction. Fermi and
his assistants produced the first human-made chain reaction at the
University of Chicago on December 2, 1942. Although the first use
of this new energy source was the atomic bombs that were used to
defeat Japan in World War II, it was later realized that a carefully
controlled chain reaction could produce useful energy. The submarine
Nautilus, launched in 1954, used the energy released from fission
to make steam to drive its turbines.
U.S. President Dwight David Eisenhower proposed his “Atoms
for Peace” program in December, 1953. On April 25, 1955, President
Eisenhower announced that the “Atoms for Peace” program would
be expanded to include the design and construction of an atomicpowered
merchant ship, and he signed the legislation authorizing
the construction of the ship in 1956.Savannah’s Design and Construction
A contract to design an atomic-powered merchant ship was
awarded to George G. Sharp, Inc., on April 4, 1957. The ship was to
carry approximately one hundred passengers (later reduced to sixty
to reduce the ship’s cost) and 10,886 metric tons of cargo while making
a speed of 21 knots, about 39 kilometers per hour. The ship was
to be 181 meters long and 23.7 meters wide. The reactor was to provide
steam for a 20,000-horsepower turbine that would drive the
ship’s propeller. Most of the ship’s machinery was similar to that of
existing ships; the major difference was that steam came from a reactor
instead of a coal- or oil-burning boiler.
New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey,
won the contract to build the ship on November 16, 1957. States Marine
Lines was selected in July, 1958, to operate the ship. It was christened
Savannah and launched on July 21, 1959. The name Savannah
was chosen to honor the first ship to use steam power while crossing
an ocean. This earlier Savannah was launched in New York City
in 1818.
Ships are normally launched long before their construction is
complete, and the new Savannah was no exception. It was finally
turned over to States Marine Lines on May 1, 1962. After extensive
testing by its operators and delays caused by labor union disputes,
it began its maiden voyage from Yorktown, Virginia, to Savannah,
Georgia, on August 20, 1962. The original budget for design and
construction was $35 million, but by this time, the actual cost was
about $80 million.
Savannah‘s nuclear reactor was fueled with about 7,000 kilograms
(15,400 pounds) of uranium. Uranium consists of two forms,
or “isotopes.” These are uranium 235, which can fission, and uranium
238, which cannot. Naturally occurring uranium is less than 1
percent uranium 235, but the uranium in Savannah‘s reactor had
been enriched to contain nearly 5 percent of this isotope. Thus, there
was less than 362 kilograms of usable uranium in the reactor. The
ship was able to travel about 800,000 kilometers on this initial fuel
load. Three and a half million kilograms of water per hour flowed
through the reactor under a pressure of 5,413 kilograms per square
centimeter. It entered the reactor at 298.8 degrees Celsius and left at
317.7 degrees Celsius. Water leaving the reactor passed through a
heat exchanger called a “steam generator.” In the steam generator,
reactor water flowed through many small tubes. Heat passed through
the walls of these tubes and boiled water outside them. About
113,000 kilograms of steam per hour were produced in this way at a
pressure of 1,434 kilograms per square centimeter and a temperature
of 240.5 degrees Celsius.
Labor union disputes dogged Savannah‘s early operations, and it
did not start its first trans-Atlantic crossing until June 8, 1964. Savannah
was never a money maker. Even in the 1960’s, the trend was toward
much bigger ships. It was announced that the ship would be
retired in August, 1967, but that did not happen. It was finally put
out of service in 1971. Later, Savannah was placed on permanent display
at Charleston, South Carolina.
Consequences
Following the United States’ lead, Germany and Japan built
atomic-powered merchant ships. The Soviet Union is believed to
have built several atomic-powered icebreakers. Germany’s Otto
Hahn, named for the scientist who first split the atom, began service
in 1968, and Japan’s Mutsuai was under construction as Savannah retired.
Numerous studies conducted in the early 1970’s claimed to prove
that large atomic-powered merchant ships were more profitable
than oil-fired ships of the same size. Several conferences devoted to
this subject were held, but no new ships were built.
Although the U.S. Navy has continued to use reactors to power
submarines, aircraft carriers, and cruisers, atomic power has not
been widely used for merchant-ship propulsion. Labor union problems
such as those that haunted Savannah, high insurance costs, and
high construction costs are probably the reasons. Public opinion, after
the reactor accidents at Three Mile Island (in 1979) and Chernobyl
(in 1986) is also a factor.