"Boating" stuff on a HUGE scale...

Where we live in SE Washington state there is a 580 square mile nuclear reservation where one of the country's largest operating nuclear power generating station Columbia River Generating Station lives. It's capacity is 1,207 Megawatts or about 10% of Washington's power needs.

Also in the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is a repository for the reactor cores of decommissioned nuclear submarines. The subs are decommissioned at the Navy’s facility at Bremerton, WA where the cores are removed from the subs and packaged for safe transport and burial. After a trip through Puget Sound, down the coast of WA, then 340 miles up the Columbia to our area.

So, this morning I was walking the dog about 6:15 in the morning and spotted a Tidewater tug heading upstream. That's not an uncommon sight. A few minutes behind it was another tug, pushing a barge that had a core from a decommissioned sub being accompanied by a boat with heaving armed guards. That is not a common sight.

So GW and I, after watching our 10 year old's soccer games (he scored 7 of the team's 8 goals--GO DOMINIC!) we took a drive up to the area where they offload the cores. They were still getting the barge aligned with the dock and getting things ready.

Due to the current (2-3kts) in the river, two tugs are required. One is side tied to the barge and holds it against the dock while the other is positioned on the downstream side of the barge and its task is to offset the current and keep the barge aligned.

At this point I'm going to fudge a bit and use photos I took in 2009 when I saw that other offloading process. The concept is the same and the equipment is all the same, just photos from a different era.

Here’s the first of the tugs and the accompanying patrol boat.





Here’s the tug that’s pushing the barge with the reactor core on top.


Here’s a closer shot of the main tug. These Tidewater tugs have 25,000 horsepower at the props!


The entire transport of the cores is managed by Lampson International http://www.lampsoncrane.com/ whose corporate offices are located in Kennewick, WA. Lampson has the contract with the US Navy to haul them and sub contracts with Tidewater Barge Lines to do the movement from Bellingham to Richland.

Lampson is a world wide company that makes one of the world’s largest cranes with its Transi-lift series of cranes. Lampson also makes the huge “trailer” that is used to haul the reactor cores the 20+ mile trip to the burial site as well as the huge tractors that pull the trailer. This trailer has 580 tires on it.


Here they’re getting the barge up to the dock. Take note of the difference between the level of the barge deck and the adjacent shore. More on that later.

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Very cool… thanks for posting

You know… we may have built them but I never even thought about the coming apart.

Very nice photos thank you

This big crane that is kept at the dock is nowhere near large enough to lift the core but is used to move people and equipment onto and off the barge. Here it’s lifting a worker to the top of the core.




One thing I noticed is they are VERY safety conscious. When the barge first was moved into position everyone had to wear a PFD. Once they got the barge secured a safety railing was erected around the entire barge and then the workers could remove their PFD’s. You can see the safety railing in the photo that shows the difference in the levels of the barge and the ground.


To remove the core from the barge they jack it up and back that trailer underneath it. To jack it, they life each corner one at a time, lifting it only 1” at a time. They then slide some industrial grade 1” thick plywood under it. Once they have a corner lifted 6” they slide the plywood out and replace it with a 6” timber.

Here’s a shot of the barge after the core has been removed from the barge and is on land. You can see here that the level of the deck of the barge is now the same as the adjacent dock. To do that they set up several large pumps and pump river water into the ballast tanks of the barge. The process of setting up the pumps takes hours so it’s one of the first tasks they start working on when the barge gets to the dock.


Here’s the tow trucks all set to tow the core and trailer up a slight hill to get up to ground level.








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The first part of the tow from the dock area to the burial site is done over a specially prepared gravel road. The road is about 6 lanes wide and smooth as can be. Before they start that part of the trip they water it to make sure no dust is stirred up. Here’s the fleet of Lampson’s water trucks that took care of dust control.



Here’s the start of the tow over the gravel road. This truck is pulling and another just like it is behind the trailer pushing.












Among the things that amazed me about this whole operation was the scale of the equipment they use on a job like this. Everything is MASSIVE, and there’s a lot of equipment on site to do the move. There were also a lot of people involved in this operation and, while they looked like they were scurrying around, what was really happening was a very well choreographed operation where everyone had a job to do and they did it efficiently.

That's all.

Excellent job my friend. Very enlightening

Great photos and really informative. Thanks GFC! very cool

I work for a truck manufacturer and enjoy heavy haul applications by far the most. However this makes the 75-150 ton heavy haul look like toys. This is cool. Shared this with my coworkers.

Glad you guys enjoyed it. I checked and the count of reactor cores in that trench was 131 and that's before this one was added to the count.

If you look at those two heavy haul trucks you will notice the black "plates" and the concrete blocks on the back; those are weights to give the trucks added traction.

Another indication of the scale on which these guys operate, here's a photo I took way back when of the mountain of counterweights Lampson has stored in that area, "just in case they're needed." Each of these weights comes in around 58,000 pounds.

Great, informative posts. Thanks!

The burial ground is close to the shop I worked at when I was out there. Most of them are buried, but there's still quite a few not buried yet.
A couple of years ago they moved the reactor core from the 300 area reactor, that was a big load. I don't know if it's still there, but the trailer they used sat in the parking lot at the bus lot across from the Steven's Center.
It was quite a site to see even without anything on it.
That take moving that stuff very serious. They usually move at night, but not always.
I've been stuck at a roadblock before out there waiting for it to pass far enough for their rules.

Greg I'd like to see some photos of that burial ground if that's possible.

Gofirstclass said:

Glad you guys enjoyed it. I checked and the count of reactor cores in that trench was 131 and that's before this one was added to the count. ...

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wyrman said:

The burial ground is close to the shop I worked at when I was out there. Most of them are buried, but there's still quite a few not buried yet. ...

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Is this the area you guys are talking about?

km, that looks like it could be the place. Do you have the Lat Long of where that is? I'd like to look it up. Curious minds want to know.

Wow- Very cool pics , thanks much for sharing !!!

I think nobody knows but i would love to learn if this is the core of a 688 ssn or other type

aerobat, you may be able to find out that info if you spent some time on Google to see what sub has been recently decommissioned at Bremerton.

Mike, I don't work there anymore, and I never took any pics of it. I'll ask a friend to take one, and post it once I get it.
km1125, that is indeed it.

aerobat77 said:

Wow- Very cool pics , thanks much for sharing !!!

I think nobody knows but i would love to learn if this is the core of a 688 ssn or other type

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Odds are it's a 688. Pretty good list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship-Submarine_Recycling_Program

kn, thanks for the coordinates. Appreciate it.

So Greg, do you still glow in the dark?