Hurricane Harvey does not appear to have done any damage to the STURGIS barge, which is being decommissioned at the Port of Galveston in Texas, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday.
“A team member was able to assess the Port earlier this week and noted no visible damage to the project site or the STURGIS,” Brenda Barber, project manager for the Army Corps Baltimore District’s Environmental and Munitions Design Center, told RadWaste Monitor. “The Port of Galveston is still closed so the project site will remain closed until it is safe to access the Port and the site. Once we have access, we will do a full site assessment prior to resuming work.”
The port shut down last week as the hurricane neared Texas, and began reopening on Thursday. Harvey, downgraded to a tropical storm on Saturday, spread massive damage through much of the state’s coastal areas, including Galveston.
The STURGIS, a former World War II Liberty Ship that later contained a nuclear reactor, was towed to the Port of Galveston in 2015 for decommissioning and disassembly. As of June, more than 850,000 pounds of radioactive parts had been removed and shipped to West Texas for final disposition at Waste Control Specialists’ storage complex. That covers 98 percent of the radioactivity on the STURGIS.
The Army Corps in April pushed back the latest project completion date, from summer 2018 to summer 2019. Decommissioning is expected to cost roughly $67 million, up from the prior projection of $51.5 million.
Ahead of the storm’s landfall, workers secured the STURGIS, including all openings; tightened the mooring lines, and extracted gangways and any other loose gear, according to Barber.
“The health and well-being of team members and their families are our immediate concern,” Barber said by email. “We will develop a return to work plan and schedule next week. “
