Enclosure
~2-
was Inspected by marine engineers as well as PASO and Nevada staff
and found to be unsuitable because of large crew requirements, and
lack of versatility for lagoon operations.
Certain other possibilities were explored with the most promising
described below.
YFU-81
A vessel was located on Guam which permits a certain enthusiasm.
This is a Navy vessel now in storage which had been used during and
after the Vietnam period on the open ocean.
It is similar to an LCU
only larger and stronger, and it has a beaching capability.
PASO
contacted the Navy through Pearl Harbor and learned that the YFu-8&l
had not been declared excess property but there was a good possibility
that it could be acquired by DOE on a loan basis.
This information
was relayed to NVO Property Management who in turn expressed preliminary
interest in the vessel to the Office of the Chief, Naval Operations,
Marine Engineers were dispatched to Guam to check the condition of
YFU-81 and to provide PASO with a report on both the ship and the
facilities available to modify and reactivate her should this be
found to be a desirable course of action.
It was learned subsequently
that a sister ship, YFU-80 was being activated for use in the Bering
Sea by a private concern in Seattle.
Marine Engineers were again
dispatched to take advantage of the opportunity to witness the finished
product and to gather enough data to provide DOE with accurate cost
information necessary to refit, modify and reactivate YFU-81 to
accommodate DOE program needs.
All
these reports have been forwarded
under separate cover to the Assistant for Pacific Operations, and are
indeed encouraging.
CONCLUSIONS
The six months’ search effort has resulted in the following conclusions:
i.
It would not be cost effective for DOE to buy a ship.
2.
Chartering suitable vessels on a mission basis is at least as
costly as operating a "loaned" vessel on a full time basis and
the type needed is so specific as to not be readily available.
3.
The TTPI cannot be considered for long term vessel commitments,
nor should we consider it any longer for the short term for cost
reasons and so as to avoid criticism that DOE is tapping a TTPI
asset which -is in short supply.
RECOMMENDATION
PASO is satisfied that YFU-81 is an ideal vessel overall and could well
serve long term DOE commitments for many years.
S01 88] 3
For approximately