NorthStar, MARS to vie for USS Enterprise dismantlement contract

NorthStar Group Services announced it will work with Modern American Recycling Services (MARS) to pursue work dismantling and disposing of decommissioned U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carriers at the Port of Mobile, Ala. The work is to be performed by NorthStar subsidiary NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services and MARS subsidiary Modern American Recycling and Radiological Services.

According to NorthStar, the team will initially compete to win the navy contract for dismantlement of the historic USS Enterprise (now also known as the ex-Enterprise), the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. First launched on September 24, 1960, the Enterprise was inactivated in December 2012 and was officially decommissioned in February 2017, when it was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.

Following an August 2023 record of decision (ROD), the navy announced that it would send the ship to a commercial shipyard for dismantlement and disposal, with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission providing additional oversight of the radiological work.

The work: As outlined in the navy's ROD, the chosen dismantlement contractor will disassemble the Enterprise's eight defueled reactors into segments and package them in approved containers that meet NRC, Department of Transportation, and Department of Energy transportation requirements. They will then be disposed of as low-level radioactive waste. Nonradioactive components of the ship will be recycled or disposed of in accordance with applicable local, state, and federal laws.

According to a June 2023 environmental impact statement analyzing the planned disposal of the Enterprise, the commercial dismantling and disposing of the ship is estimated to cost between $554 million and $696 million (in 2019 dollars) over five years beginning in 2025.

The Enterprise was named an American Nuclear Society Nuclear Historic Landmark in December 2021 during that year's ANS Winter Conference and Expo in Washington, D.C.

The team: According to NorthStar, the naval dismantlement and recycling team matches the company's extensive experience decommissioning NRC-regulated facilities with the MARS's ship recycling and decommissioning specialists, working together at MARS's high-capacity deepwater facility in Mobile.

NorthStar is currently leading the decontamination and decommissioning of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, along with Duke Energy's Crystal River-3 nuclear power plant in Florida and the GE Vallecitos Nuclear Center in California.

MARS was a lead participant in the 2020-2021 effort to salvage and recycle the 660-foot, 34,000-metric ton cargo ship MV Golden Ray following its capsizing and total loss in 2019. It was the largest such salvage operation in U.S. maritime history.