Marine Transportation Engineering
The following projects highlight the marine transportation engineering services provided by 2DM Associates, Inc.
Transportation of Decommissioned Reactor Vessel
The Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the first commercial nuclear power plant in the United States, was decommissioned in the 1980s. 2DM Associates provided marine engineering services for the barge shipment of the 921-ton reactor pressure vessel from the plant site in western Pennsylvania to the burial site at the US Department of Energy's Hanford Reservation in Washington State. This work included developing ballast plans for loading and unloading the reactor, marine analyses of the laden barge (hydrostatic analysis and stability analyses), design of sea-fastenings, and meeting specific requirements for passage though the Panama Canal (shown at left). All work was performed in accordance with ANSI N14.24-1985.
Roll-Off of Transtainer® Cranes from Floating Barge
2DM Associates performed a hydrostatic analysis of a free-floating barge to assess its movements during the roll-off unloading of two Paceco Transtainer® cranes. The computer-generated report showed the changes in barge draft, trim, and deck elevation at the bow as each crane was moved from its stowed shipping position on deck to the dock.
Transportation of Space Shuttle Maintenance Modules
Early in the space shuttle program, NASA built a shuttle maintenance facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. As the program progressed, all shuttle maintenance was carried out at a similar facility at Cape Canaveral, Florida. In the late 1980s, NASA decided to move all of the specialized equipment at the Vandenberg facility to Cape Canaveral. This equipment consisted of large steel-framed structures on which was mounted a series of movable platforms.
Movement of this equipment required that the structures be broken down into modules that could be trucked from the maintenance building to a barge slip. Individual modules were as much as 41 feet in height and weighed up to 140 tons. 2DM Associates designed all of the sea-fastenings for the barge shipment of the modules in accordance with project-specific requirements established by the marine surveyor and provided on-site support to the contractor during the loading of the modules onto the barge and installation of the sea-fastenings.
Transportation of Irradiated Fuel
2DM Associates provided complete engineering services to the transportation contractor for the first-ever movement of irradiated fuel from one nuclear power plant to another for reuse. Services included marine analysis and sea-fastening design for the barge transportation of the fuel casks from the Shoreham Nuclear Power Station on Long Island, New York, to Eddystone, Pennsylvania, analysis of the barge for both floating and grounded loading and unloading operations, and design of a pile-supported dockside platform on which was mounted a Manitowoc M-250 crane, used for offloading the casks at Eddystone. In all, thirty-three shipments of fuel were moved from Shoreham to Eddystone by barge, and then by rail to the Limerick Generating Station in eastern Pennsylvania.
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