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On 05 Apr 1995 USS SARGO (SSN 583) was disposed of at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

Courtesy Brookings Institute

The reactor compartments were disposed of as described below: A defueled reactor compartment (on the right side of photo above) is shown separated from the rest of the submarine in the photo to the left. Once separated, special steel bulkheads are attached to both ends of the compartment and welded into place. After their radioactive fuel is removed the compartments are classified as low level waste. Once sealed off, the reactor compartments are shipped by barge out of Puget Sound, down the coast and along the Columbia River to the port of Benton, South of the Hanford Reservation. There the compartments are transferred to special multi-wheeled high-load trailers for transport to Trench 94 in the Hanford Reservation’s 218-E-12B burial ground (near the center of the site), raised onto support columns, and welded into place. In the photo below-right (taken in November 1994) of Trench 94, forty-three reactor compartments are visible and foundations are being prepared for a forty-fourth. Once full the trench will be filled with dirt and buried. The compartments are expected to retain their integrity for more than 600 years.

Courtesy Brookings Institute	Courtesy Tom Jordon
Handford Reservation, Washington	Trench 94, Handford Reservation, Washington

Courtesy Tom Jordon	Courtesy Tom Jordon
The Satellite photo above is of the Hanford Reservation storage area 200-East, with Trench 94 highlighted.	A more detailed photo provided below with SARGO's Reactor Compartment highlighted.