The Nuclear Ship Savannah / First Atomic Merchant Ship, One of the World's Safest Ships

by United States. Department of Commerce; United States. Maritime Administration; U.S. Atomic Energy Commission

HULL AND INTERIOR STRUCTURE

In general, the following safety requirements were used by the SAVANNAH’s architects, George G. Sharp, Inc., in the design of the ship:

(1) The ship is as safe as, or safer than, any other vessel of its class with regard to the usual “hazards of the sea”; and

(2) In no credible accident can there be any hazardous release of radioactivity to the surroundings.

The SAVANNAH is designed to a two-compartment standard of subdivision (i.e., the ship will remain afloat with two main compartments totally flooded) at a draft of 29 feet, 6 inches. The ship complies with all the applicable laws of the United States and requirements of the regulatory bodies and rules in force as to standards of safety.

Structurally, the SAVANNAH differs from conventional passenger-cargo ships only in that the reactor and containment foundations are comparatively much heavier than the foundations for normal ship’s machinery. The heavy longitudinal members are carried well beyond the reactor space bulkheads to tie with a smooth transition into the double-bottom structure.

Stability equivalent to that of a conventional passenger-cargo ship with fuel oil tanks full has been obtained in the SAVANNAH. In addition, because there is no fuel oil to be consumed in passage, there is less variation in the stability of the ship during the course of a long voyage.