MH-1A
MH-1A was a pressurized water reactor and the first floating nuclear power station. One of a series of reactors in the US Army Nuclear Power Program, its designation stood for mobile, high power.
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[edit] History
The reactor was built for the U.S. Army by Martin Marietta under a $17,000,000 contract (August 1961), with construction starting in 1963. The reactor was built in Sturgis, a converted Liberty ship formerly known as SS Charles H. Cugle. The original ship propulsion system was removed,and a single-loop pressurized water reactor, in a 350 ton containment vessel, was installed, using low enriched uranium (4% to 7% 235U) as fuel. [1] [2] After testing at Fort Belvoir for five months starting in January 1967, "Sturgis" was towed to the Panama Canal Zone. The reactor supplied 10 MW (13,000 hp) electricity to the Panama Canal Zone from October 1968 to 1975.
Sturgis (named after General Samuel D. Sturgis, Jr.) was hull number 3145, and not as sometimes supposed SS William Sturgis, another liberty ship (hull number 800, scrapped in 1969).[3]
The plant replaced power from a hydroelectric plant, allowing lake water to instead be used to fill locks of the Panama Canal. The plant was retired from service in 1975 since the Army reactor program had been discontinued, and, as a unique prototype, operation cost for the unit was high. [4] It operated at an effective annual capacity factor of 0.56 over nine years.
The barge was towed to the United States in early 1977, suffering some storm damage during the tow.[5] Fuel was removed from the reactor and the plant put into SAFSTOR (safe storage), with decontamination and physical barriers to prevent release of radioactivity.[6]The Sturgis is now moored in the James River outside Fort Eustis, VA and is part of the James River Reserve Fleet.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/heu/appd.pdf p.4, retrieved 2010 Oct 25
- ^ http://www.ne.doe.gov/pdfFiles/Cong-Rpt-may01.pdf Report to Congress on Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, p.16, retrieved 2010 Oct 25
- ^ See list of Liberty ships
- ^ http://www.atomicinsights.com/aug96/MH-1A.html MH-1A retrieved 2010 Oct 25
- ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Gms0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=HxMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1651,1858556&dq=canal+cape+power+plant+storage+tank&hl=en
- ^ http://www.wmsym.org/archives/2002/Proceedings/44/168.pdf CHARACTERIZATION OF THE NUCLEAR BARGE STURGIS, includes diagrams and photographs, retrieved 2010 Oct 25
- Lawrence H. Suid The Army's nuclear power program: the evolution of a support agency, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990 ISBN 0313272263 pp.99-107
- http://books.google.com/books?id=3ZGW6wE5JDYC&pg=PA139&dq=Sturgis+reactor&hl=en&ei=b7XFTN-IDMvP4Ab4lI26Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Sturgis%20reactor&f=false retrieved 2010 Oct 25, page 139, illustration of the Sturgis and reactor
[edit] External links
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