The Savannah, a historic landmark and the world's first nuclear-powered cargo and passenger ship, is leaving Virginia waters after 14 years.

Its government caretaker, the U.S. Maritime Administration, announced a contract Tuesday worth at least $588,380 to relocate the famous dinosaur from Norfolk to Canton Marine Terminals in Baltimore.

The sleek, white, 596-foot-long vessel is expected to leave local waters this morning about 8 and should be passing over the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel about 10 a.m. on its way up the Chesapeake Bay.

Once towed to Baltimore, the Savannah will be docked "in safe store" on the Patapsco River until Congress appropriates money to finish scrubbing its nuclear innards, said Susan Clark, a spokeswoman for the Maritime Administration.

All nuclear fuel was removed 30 years ago, but tainted equipment and components remain on board, surrounded by 24-inch-thick concrete. The ship still emits low-grade radiation, but at levels comparable to a dental X-ray, according to the Maritime Administration.

The Savannah was launched in 1959 as part of the Atoms for Peace program championed by then-President Eisenhower. The vessel, with its modern yachtlike design and clean-energy propulsion, was touted as a model for future shipping and made international headlines during maiden trips.

It wound up in Virginia in 1994, abandoned and obsolete, and anchored in the James River Reserve Fleet, also known as the "ghost fleet," off Fort Eustis in Newport News.

It underwent about $1 million worth of maintenance at Colonna's Shipyard in Norfolk in 2006. Then last year, BAE Norfolk Ship Repair facility won a $4.1 million contract to dry-dock the ship, undergo inspections and be repaired.

Four companies, including one unnamed business in Norfolk, bid on the latest contract that was awarded Tuesday.

Canton Marine Terminals in Baltimore, a subsidiary of The Vane Brothers Co., will safeguard the Savannah for about three years, under contracts worth at least $588,380 per year.

A Canton spokesman declined to comment on the deal Tuesday.

The U.S. government would "be delighted" to see the Savannah converted into a museum or tourist attraction, but no serious bidders have come forth recently, said Shannon Russell, a Maritime Administration spokeswoman.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires the Savannah to be decommissioned of its nuclear past by 2025, Russell said.

Such scrubbing had been a priority after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, she said, when fears were raised that radicals might blow up the Savannah.

But subsequent tests showed "lower radiation levels than we expected," Russell said, and budget priorities shifted.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com