Page 44: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 1973)

Nuclear Propulsion Projects Studied

At MarAd Seminar And SNAME Meeting

Attending the New York Metropolitan Section meeting at the USMMA were, from left to right: Arnold M. Stein, M. Ro- senblatt & Son; Robert Fulton, Modular Systems, Inc., secretary-treasurer of the New York Metropolitan Section; Capt.

W.M. Maclean, Department of Engineering, USMMA, chairman, papers committee; James C. Schaff, Global Marine,

Inc., author; Donald B. Carpenter, Delaval Turbine, Inc., section chairman; Thomas J. Sartor Jr., Farrell Lines, Inc., vice chairman, and Patricia McGovern, George G. Sharp, Inc., chairman, meetings committee.

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, under the aegis of the Maritime Administration held a seminar on the subject, "The State of the Art in Commercial Applications of Nuclear Propul- sion," on Wednesday, October 17, 1973. The seminar was held at the Academy, at Kings

Point, N.Y., during the afternoon and was fol- lowed by an evening meeting, also at the Acad- emy, of the New York Metropolitan Section of

The Society of Naval Architects and Marine

Engineers, where a paper by Morris Lebovits and J.C. Schaff of Global Marine, Inc. was pre- sented on the feasibility of a "Nuclear Powered loabreaking Supply/Support Ship for Arctic

Exploration." Both the seminar and the

SNAME meeting were held in Bowditch Hall.

During the afternoon, a panel of experts pre- sented the current thinking on commercial ap- plications of nuclear propulsion and conducted discussions on its pertinent aspects. The pro- gram was presented as follows: (1) A "Wel- come" was given by Rear Adm. Arthur B.

Engel, Superintendent of the U.S. Merchant

Marine Academy. (2) "An Update on Tech- nology for Commercial Nuclear Propulsion" was presented in two parts—(a) Primary Sys- tems, by James Lemmon, Babcock & Wilcox

Co., and (b) Secondary Systems, by Howard

Spears, General Electric Co. (3) "Economics of Nuclear Propelled Ships" was presented by

George Geyer, Babcock & Wilcox Co. (4) "The

Impact of Nuclear Power on Ship Design" was given by Ken Shauer, George G. Sharp, Inc. (5) "Prospects of a Nuclear Fleet" was pre- sented 'by Dr. Zelman Levine, Chief, Office of

Maritime Technology, U.S. Maritime Admini- stration. (6) "Personnel Training" was pre- sented by Capt. M.J. Gross, Department of

Engineering, 'U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. (7) "Acceptance and Port Entry for Nuclear

Ships" was presented by Robert Schmidt, Bab- cock & Wilcox Co. (8) "Licensing and Regu- lation" was given by Parks Honeywell, East- ern area manager, >N.U.S. Corp., Rockville, Md. (9) "Summary" was presented by 'Capt. W.M.

Maclean, Department of Engineering, U.S.

Merchant Marine Academy.

Following the afternoon's seminar sessions, there was a short tour of the Academy facil- ities for those visiting for the first time and

Present at the afternoon seminar at the U.S. Merchant

Marine Academy were, from left to right: Charles W.

Wilson, manager, marine sales, Babcock & Wilcox, New

York; R.E. Whitam, manager, marine commercial, B&W

Barberton; R.E. Schmidt, Government marketing, B&W

Lynchburg, and C. W. Connell, project engineer, B&W

Barberton. those wishing to update their familiarity with the school.

A social hour at the Officers' Club, starting at 5 :00 p.m., completed the afternoon. It served as a transition to dinner at 6:30 p.m. and The

Society of Naval Architects and Marine En- gineers meeting, which 'began at 8:00 p.m. In all, a full day was devoted to nuclear pro- pulsion.

The paper presented at the evening's

SNAME meeting pointed out that preliminary surveys of the Arctic offshore hydrocarbon potential, combined with production indica- tions from onshore wells, present a very ex- citing prospect for exploration and develop- ment of much needed fields of petroleum re- serves. The Arctic offshore environment, with its seasonal periodic encroachment of ice, al- lows only short open-water intervals during which drilling ships and workboats can nor- mally operate. 'Design and development of new dual-purpose joebreaking ships for drilling and for supply/support of ice operations, are need- ed to expand the drilling season before ex- ploration can proceed to fully develop the ex- pected reserves.

The paper went on to describe the design and configuration of supply ships (workboats) required to support an ice-qualified drilling ship in exploratory development of potential hydrocarbon reserves in Arctic regions. The paper presented results of a study, conducted for the Maritime Administration by Global

Marine, Babcock & Wilcox, and General Elec- tric, that investigated the technical and eco- nomic feasibility of nuclear propulsion power for ships supporting an Arctic offshore drill- ing vessel. The economic and operational ad- vantages of nuclear power are developed, along with technical aspects of installing a 30,000-kw (40,000-hp) nuclear generating plant in the workboat. The developed workboat is 418 feet long overall, displaces 13,417 long tons full load, and is structurally qualified as a'Canadian

Arctic Class 6 icebreaker.

Paul C. Dahan Appointed

Vice President Mobil Shipping —Arthur M. Lissenden Retires

Paul C. Dahan Arthur M. Lissenden

Paul C. Dahan has been appointed vice president of Mobil Shipping and Transpor- tation Company. He succeeds Arthur M. Lis- senden, who retired from Mobil Oil Corpo- ration November 30, after almost 40 years of service.

Mr. Dahan received a B.S. degree in naval architcture and marine engineering from the

University of Michigan. He joined Mobil as a project engineer in 1963. His most recent position was manager of project development and design.

He is a member of The Society of Naval

Architects and Marine Engineers and serves on several industry committees, including the

American Bureau of Shipping's committee on naval architecture. He holds several pktents relating to naval applications.

Mr. Lissenden received a degree from Webb

Institute of Naval Architecture and Marine

Engineering in 1930. He joined Mobil in 1934.

He was named manager of the technical di- vision in the marine transportation depart- ment in 1957 and, later, vice president and director of Mobil Shipping and Transporta- tion Company.

He is a licensed professional engineer in the State of New York and a council member and vice president of The Society of Naval

Architects and Marine Engineers. He is also a member of the technical committee of the

American Bureau of Shipping, American Pe- troleum Institute, and The Propeller Club.

Largest* Single Towboat Order

Received By St. Louis Ship —Six 5,600-HP Vessels

St. Louis Ship, Division of Pott Industries

Inc., has been awarded its largest single tow- boat order, totaling approximately $10,000,- 000 from American Electric Power Service

Corporation of New York. The contract calls for construction and delivery of six 5,600-hp river towboats. The vessels are scheduled to enter the coal transportation service upon com- pletion. 48 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News