The Only Nuclear-Powered Passenger Ship EVER

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2023

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

In the Port of Baltimore, a ship is docked that hasn't transported passengers for more than 50 years. It's the NS Savannah and it's designated a National Historic Landmark. That's because it was the first—and only—nuclear-powered passenger ship to have ever been built. Science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel tells us about his recent tour of the ship and why it was a symbol of peace in it's time.

To see more pictures of Geoff's visit to the NS Savannah, including one from 1962 when the ship was operational, click this link.

Want to learn more about nuclear power? Email us at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:05.0	Shortwaveers, I'm here with Science Correspondent Jeff Brumphill, and today he's going to take
0:10.4	us on a boat.
0:12.8	Not just any boat, Gina.
0:14.1	I recently had an opportunity to spend some quality time on the world's first and only
0:20.0	nuclear-powered passenger ship, the NS Savannah.
0:23.9	For this is our very special ship.
0:27.8	The first one of her kind.
0:30.2	The only one of her kind today.
0:32.8	That's from the Savannah Sea Trials in the early 1960s.
0:36.2	It turns out she was the only one of her kind, period, because they never built another
0:40.8	one.
0:41.8	And we'll get into why that was later.
0:43.9	Also she hasn't sailed under nuclear power since the early 1970s.
0:48.3	But the NS Savannah is still here in the port of Baltimore.
0:51.9	Oh my gosh, I totally want to go.
0:53.6	You totally should.
0:54.6	It's docked behind stacks of shipping containers.
0:58.3	I made the trip to see this ship because it is a fascinating window into a period when
1:03.8	the atom was the future and anything seemed possible.
1:08.2	Today on the show, we're going to talk about the time the US government built a nuclear-powered
1:12.4	ship for civilians.
	...

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