I once worked for the company that engineered the NS Savannah. It was part of our logo.
When it was still in mothballs, a couple of my coworkers went on an independent tour of the ship. It was in sad shape, being unused for 30 years.
They’ve since refurbished it, and you can officially tour it in Baltimore.
And this month I see calls for shipping to abandon bunker oil, and to go even slower than they do now (they already are going slower than they were 20 years ago). Not new ideas apparently (there are already ports that require ships to connect to shore electricity when in port, to reduce air pollution), but the first I’d heard of it.
Sadly, the nuclear industry has imploded, so the chance of nuclear-powered shipping looks even smaller now than it did when that column was written.
Looks like the 50 Years of Victory is still sailing and taking passengers along.
Earlier threads that may be of interest:
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=860051