MAINE YANKEE'S REACTOR VESSEL'S BARGE STUCK IN HIGH RIVER WATER NEAR SAVANNAH

Eric Williamson (Chronicle SC bureau), "High water halts reactor trip; Shipment awaits drop in river", Augusta Chronicle, May 23, 2003

AIKEN - One problem no one was counting on when they planned the transport of an enormous, concrete-filled, decommissioned reactor vessel from Maine to South Carolina was too much water in the Savannah River.

The past week of steady rainfall has caused river levels [on Savannah River] to be abnormally high for the transport barge, making it impossible for its tugboat to clear bridges, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The barge's destination is the Chem-Nuclear low-level waste disposal site in Barnwell.

For now, the vessel, from the only reactor unit at the now-defunct Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co., is moored 23 miles downriver, just outside Savannah.

"It will be five to seven days before they can move it to the Savannah River Site," Deborah Ogilvie, a spokeswoman for Chem-Nuclear, said Thursday. ... She said it will take about two days to get the barge to SRS after it is cleared to set sail again.