I N D U S T R Y & BUSINESS
Concepts embodied in Sodium Reactor Experiment (left) and Boiling W a t e r Reactor m a y help pave t h e w a y for economic nuclear power. Both were built chiefly to get engineering data for full scale units
Sodium Vies with Water Two reactors differ widely in design concept, but both have a place in atomic power program; e a c h has its apparent advantages
5 \-
, MS* million
1 ^ ; $L4jmil!ion
^Generating/ ^4$p.^niIIionJ%^^
If* 1* Graphite * Liquid sodium
Moderator^ and Coolant
Thermal power w
ITHIN
LESS
THAN
two
weeks,
recently, two civilian atomic p o w e r plants were dedicated in California. Both use enriched uranium fuel, both have essentially the same power o u t p u t , both were built primarily to obtain engineering data for the design of full scale commercial units. B u t there t h e similarity ends. General Eleotric's Boiling Water R e actor (C&EN, June 10, p a g e 20) is t h e prototype for Commonwealth Edison's 180,000 kw. Dresden plant. The B W E , located near San Francisco, uses fully enriched uranium fuel a n d is b o t h cooled and moderated with light w a t e r . It operates at about 1000 p.s.i. and over 500° F. Steam, generated directly in the reactor, goes to Pacific Gas & Electee's 5000 kw. turbogenerator nearby.
^ight^water^r^
20,000 k w .
The Sodium Reactor Ex5,000*w. ; ^ J ^ / / * , 5 0 0 kw^ - Electric >oWer? 4 periment i^ear Los Angeles, Atmospheric Operating pres1,000 p.s.i, J > built for AKC b y Atomics International (C&EN, Nov. 2 5 , " f ! 9 6 0 ° ^ F . H O p e r a t i n g ; t e m ^ ,545 ° F. r page 2 6 ) , will provide design 1) _^ **"-«-> perature ^ data for the 75,000 kw. plant ^ V N w ^ l 4 , 1 9 5 7 ^Offickil^ dedica-^ Nov. 2 5 , 1 9 5 7 to be installed on the Consumer Public Power District June, 1956 ^ * Early 1955 Broke ground < system in Nebraska. SRE ^Extftiding research and development. ^ ,1 ^ t . * tv J uses partially enriched fuel (about 2.8% U235). it's son's 6500 kw. generating plant not far graphite moderated and sodium cooled, away. Operating temperatures (over 950° F.) • M o r e Radical Concept. Of t h e two, are much higher than those for the the SRE is probably the more radical BWR, but the pressure within the reactor is essentially atmospheric. design concept—a fact which accounts for its longer construction time and Heat is transferred from t h e primary higher cost. Both reactors, however, coolant loop to a secondary sodium have inherent advantages and disadsystem, a n d from there to t h e steam vantages which must b e thoroughly exgenerator of Southern California EdiDEC,
16,
1957
C&EN
21
INDUSTRY & BUSINESS plored before any conclusions can b e drawn as to the "best" design. The B W R is a comparatively simple design. Simple, t h a t is, as reactors go. Since steam is generated in the reactor, there is no need for additional heat exchangers and heat transfer loops. Steam can be fed directly to the turbine and t h e condensate returns t o t h e reactor. On the other hand, the 1000 p.s.i. operating pressure requires a rather elaborate air-tight vessel which will hold t h e full contents of the reactor and the steam system in case of accident. The SRE, operating at atmospheric pressure, needs n o such safeguard. And the higher operating temperature means increased thermal efficiency for the plant. Using sodium as a coolant, however, is not without disadvantages. Since t h e sodium in the reactor becomes radioactive, it cannot safely be used directly to generate steam. Heat must be transferred to a second, nonradioactive system which then supplies t h e steam generator. Then, too, the d e sign of a steam generator in which liquid sodium exchanges its heat with water poses some serious design p r o b lems if safety is to be assured. T h e s e problems have been solved in the Socal Edison plant, but at the cost of a considerable increase in complexity. W . K. Davis, AEC's director of r e actor development, believes both reactor types are necessary t o insure a n adequate civilian atomic power program. T h e various types of "water r e actors" are the more fully developed and concentration on these is the best bet for achieving commercially useful reactors in the near future. The sodium-graphite t y p e , however, cannot be ignored. In the long run, when much more experience has been gained in its construction and operation, it may prove the more economical design for civilian atomic power. Thus t h e B W R and t h e SRE a r e competing not only as individual reactors, but as representatives of basically different reactor design concepts. SRE was paid for largely by AKC (about one-sixth of the cost was borne by Atomics International) and is owned jointly by AEC a n d AI. BWR, on t h e other hand, was p a i d for entirely by General Electric and is, therefore, t h e first privately financed civilian atomic power plant. G E is the p r o u d possessor of Power Reactor License No. 1. 22
C&EN
DEC.
16,
1957
Going gets sticky through t h e marsh country. Survey and staking crew, traveling by marsh buggy, kept in touch with a control tower by two-way radio
Ethylene Jumps State Line Interstate pipeline will carry high purity ethylene from Lake Charles, La., to O r a n g e , Tex. AGROUND
THE LOUISIANA-TEXAS BOR
DER, contractors for Petroleum Chemicals, Inc., are finishing up a pipeline (6 5 / 8 -incIi outside diameter) that will carry 99.5-f-% ethylene from Lake Charles, La., to Orange, Tex. PCI will make t h e ethylene at Lake Charles, D u Pont and Spencer Chemical will make polyethylene of it at their plants at Orange. Both E>u Pont and Spencer have been getting tlreir ethylene from Gulf's refinery at Port Arthur, Tex., and will continue t o do so. Both are expanding, however, and t h e Port Arthur refinery can't meet the demand. T h u s enters PCI, wh-ose ethylene plant at Lake Charles i s nearing completion. Since t h e pipeline crosses a state line, it falls into the bailiwick of the Interstate Commerce Commission. This means, presumably, that t h e operator must file tariff rates with I C C , must
