STURGIS Barge Begins Journey to Galveston

The Army Corps of Engineers last week began to move the STURGIS Barge to Galveston, Texas, where it’s planned to be decommissioned, the Corps said in an announcement last week. The journey from the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia to Galveston is scheduled to take three to four weeks, while the actual decommissioning should take 14-18 months. The original timeline called for the barge to be towed down from Virginia last fall, but that date had been pushed back due to the city’s delay in issuing a permit that would enable the decommissioning to take place in its port. The Corps issued a contract to CB&I Federal Services earlier this year for the dismantlement of the MH-1A nuclear reactor currently installed on the barge after the vessel is towed down to Galveston for decommissioning.