INTERNATiONAL
British Begin A t o m P o w e r Program Ten-year program calls for construction of 12 electrical generating stations based on nuclear energy LONDON.—The British government last week made public far-reaching plans for immediate commercial exploitation of nuclear energy. Within the next 10 years, 12 atomic power stations, costing about $864 million are to be built. Electrical generating capacity from this source may be as high as 2 million kw. by 1965. Estimated cost of power: 0.7 cent per kw.-hr. Undertaking is to be a joint industrygovernment enterprise, but emphasis will be on government participation. New stations will be built by private industry. Special teams of design and construction personnel are already being trained. The nationalized British
One of the tvvo identical reactors now being built at Britain's first atomic power station, at C alder Hall, Cumberland. Each of these reactors will consist of natural uranium, embedded in graphite and cooled by carbon dioxide under pressure inside a huge pressure shell. The carbon dioxide circulates through heat exchangers, of which there will be one at each1 corner of the building, to create steam for turbo-generating plant
Electricity Authority will finance and eventually operate the new plants. The Atomic Energy Authority will give technical advice. Atomic Energy Authority will remain primarily a research and development organization. It will continue to design, build, and operate only pioneer types of reactors. Many valuable lessons have been learned from Britain's first large-scale uranium atomic power station which is just now being completed at Calder Hall in the north of England. It will begin generating electricity next year and its capacity will be over 50,000 kilowatts, part of which will be used by the plutonium factory, the rest being fed into the national electricity grid system. This is an experimental installation from which engineers will gain operational experience. Out of it will come new designs for the further development of atomic power stations. Novelty of this station rests on the method of heat extraction from a nuclear reactor, since steam is still the working medium for the turbines which drive the alternators. Two reactors will be used at Calder Hall, each working with four steam-raising towers about 80 feet high. Heat will be carried to the steam plant by carbon dioxide under high pressure; the hot gas giving up its heat to preheating, evaporating, and superheating sections of the steam plant. Gas-Cooled Reactors First. Britain's program calls for atomic power development in two broad stages. In the first stage, the power stations will b e based on gas-cooled-thermal reactors using natural uranium as fuel. The re-
actors will be similar to those now being constructed at Calder Hall, but will incorporate any improvements in design that may be worked out in the near future. They will be graphite moderated. Liquid-Cooled Reactors. After construction of the first four power stations, it is expected it will be feasible t o use a liquid-cooled reactor. This type requires more complicated techniques, which at present would result i n higher costs. Corrosion is one of the big problems faced with liquid cooling. But present research and development is expected to yield liquidcooled reactors giving a much higher
A model of Calder Hall in Cumberland. The two cooling towers will allow for water used in the system to be put back in circulation heat rating than the early gas-cooled reactors for the same initial capital cost. The Program Is Flexible. Future liquid-cooled reactors could take any of several forms, most of which need enriched fuel. I t is possible that the plutonium produced in tfie earlier reactors might be used in conjunction with natural uranium. It is expected that only one reactor of this type would be used for each power station.
Britain's program of nuclear power. This chart represents only the proposed building of nuclear power stations for the 10-year program. It does not show stations that would be begun but not yet completed by 1965 NUCLEAR
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INTERNATIONAL F u e l cost depends on these things: cost of uranium; processing a n d fabricating cost; chemical processing cost of used fuel elements and extraction of plutonium from them; and t h e amount of heat recoverable from each ton of fuel before it is taken out. T h e Atomic Energy Authority will be responsible for buying t h e uranium, fabricating t h e fuel elements, processing t h e used fuel, and extracting the plutonium from it. While most of the uranium n o w comes from the Belgian Congo and South Africa, t h e British hope t o get some fuel from Australia in the future. Designers are estimating t h e cost of the initial charge of fabricated uranium for one of t h e early Calder Hall-type stations may amount to $14 million. Recharging is expected to be required every three to five years. It may be possible to extract as much as 3000 megawatt-days' heat from every ton of fuel. Big question in cost estimation is: W h a t is a fair credit for by-product plutonium? Plutonium will initially be scarce and command a high market price (if it were on t h e market!). Eventually, the system will reach the stage when more plutonium is produced than the n e w power stations will require, a situation which will lead to a drop in price. T h e British feel this is unlikely to happen for 15 or 20 years. Taking what appears to b e a reasonable credit for t h e plutonium, cost of electricity from t h e first commercial nuclear stations is now estimated to b e about the same as future cost of electricity generated by new coal-fired power stations. T h e plutonium credit figure assumes only civil utilization, no allowance being made for any military credits. Looking t o t h e Future. Developments after 1965 may take various forms: Thorium may b e used perhaps in conjunction with plutonium as an alternative fuel; homogeneous and fast breeder reactors may b e developed. Already t h e British have decided to build a full-scale experimental model of a fast breeder reactor capable of producing power at Dounreay, in Caithness, Scotland. If all went well, t h e total nuclear p o w e r station capacity b y 1975 could b e 10 to 15 million kw. These stations would then b e producing electricity at a rate equivalent to that prod u c e d by 4 0 million tons of coal. T h e British are looking forward to exporting atomic power know-how. Already, physicists and engineers from .a number of countries have attended t h e reactor and isotope schools at Har372
well; these facilities are to b e extended. Speaking a t a press conference immediately after disclosing t h e program to t h e British Parliament, Fuel a n d Power Minister Geoffrey Lloyd said that the decisions of the government w e r e opening up tremendous prospects; they offered the possibility of a n e w industrial revolution with a continuing increase in productivity and n e w standard of living of t h e United Kingdom.
• T e x a s Gulf Sulphur has b e e n t u r n e d down by Iraq government in a b i d for concession to exploit Iraq's northern sulfur deposits. • Research in g a s production is proceeding at Birmingham, England, at a pilot plant using the Lurgi process of gasifying coals in oxygen a n d steam under pressure. Attempt is being m a d e by British Gas Council to a d a p t this technique to use almost a n y fuel, including methane from mines a n d waste gases from the n e w oil refineries. Latest experiments are with t h e use of oil. A Lurgi installation as large as t h e usual local gas works is reckoned to produce three times as much gas with the same amount of labor. Being under pressure, this gas can b e p i p e d long distances. Coal envisaged is a national gas "grid" in which gasifiers at t h e coalfields a n d oil refineries will play their appropriate roles. • Dralon, polyacrylonitrile fiber of Farbenfabriken Bayer, is being produced at a rate of 1.3 million pounds a year and has gone on t h e German market at about $1.70 a pound. In view of its high price it is thought that the limited quantities of Dralon b e coming available now will b e used chiefly for blending with other fibers, especially with wool for blankets. A 30 to 4 0 % admixture of Dralon to wool is said to prevent felting, while its light weight is especially advantageous for use in hospitals and on travel. • McGraw-Hydrocarbon, a joint venture of F . H . McGraw & Co., engineers a n d constructors, and Hydrocarbon Research, Inc., has been chosen by Korean Embassy t o contract for construction of a urea fertilizer plant a t a cost of approximately $25 million in Korea. Plant will have an annual capacity of 80,000 tons and will supply nearly a third of Korea's needs. As an integral p a r t of the rehabilitation program, it will be financed by U. S. Foreign O p erations Administration.
hydrofluoric acid for the U. K. Atomic Energy Authority over t h e next t w o years. Firm is pioneer i n U. K. of t h e large scale production of anhydrous hydrofluoric acid. • Chemical W o r k e r s ' Union in England is demanding a minimum wage for all male adult process workers of $22.40 a week, with 80% of this for all women workers and proportionate^ rates for juveniles. Principle of equal pay for equal work and a national wage policy to replace t h e system of collective bargaining would also b e claimed. • W e s t e r n G e r m a n y ' s second UOP platforming unit has gone into operation a t Gelsenkirchen for Gelsenberg Benzin. The 7100-barrel-per-day plant will process Aramco r a w oils and h y dro genated gasoline. • W o o d pulp supplies will b e increased appreciably in Brazil under a. program being pushed i n t h e state of Parana. One of t h e large companies there has planted 7 0 million pine trees over a n area of 17,297 acres. Program calls for t h e planting of 2 0 million trees annually, and areas are already being cleared for this purpose. • Foreign t r a i n e e s comprising 38 technologists from nine countries completed training courses with TVA during 1954. Of these, 17 came from Formosa; five each from Iran, Israel, and Thailand;, two from Sweden; and one each from Burma, Chile, Japan, a n d Spain. Twenty-two took their training with power divisions, 10 in the office of chemical engineering, three with engineering divisions, one with t h e budget staff, and t w o studied t h e general program of TVA. • Tota Iron & Steel Co. expects to further steel production b y 500,000 tons, and t h e government's target for steel production at the end of t h e second five-year plan has been placed at 4 . 5 million tons. Russian experts h a v e been asked t o submit two project r e ports, one for 500,000 tons a n d t h e other for 1 million tons' capacity. • India has accepted in principle a British offer to build a steel plant in India. A team representing t h e U. K. government and t h e Metallurgical Equipment Export C o . will visit t h e country and prepare a project report. C&EN Foreign Correspondents Contributing t o This Issue:
• Imperial Smelting Corp., Ltd., h a s obtained contract to supply anhydrous CHEMICAL
G. ABRAHAMSON, Germany V. S. SWAMTNATELAN, England, Russia, India AND
ENGINEERING
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