INTERNATIONAL Nuclear Power for Israel? G r e a t l y e x p a n d e d economic d e v e l o p m e n t could come from low-cost p o w e r — e i t h e r from nuclear reactors or /Aiddle East oil ISRAEL, an arid area with meager natural resources, could greatly expand its economic development if it had lowcost power. This power could come front! Middle East oil or nuclear re actors. It could effect large-scale irri gation, develop mineral resources, and introduce industry into the Negev desert region. before 1965, however, nuclear power is not likely to be of direct significance to Israel, concludes a report on Nu clear Power and Economic Develop ment in Israel by Hans H. Landsherg and George Perazich of the National Planning Association. Until 1965, pro jected p o w e r expansion is already planned; switching to nuclear power before then would mean risking re actor obsolescence a n d operating a large plant in a small power system. Pumping water for irrigation pur poses consumes t h e larger portion of Israel's electrical output. About 22% of total o u t p u t went for this purpose in 195-4. And, the authors point out, irri gation wall continue t o be a heavy pov^er user. But, b y 1965, or slightly later, all a va. ilable fresh water resources in Israel are expected to b e in use. Annual pov^/er consumption for this purpose will not increase further. Because of the problem of fresh water supply, some half-million acres of potentially productive farmland, mainly in the Negev, will remain unused. Pointfng out t h a t development of the Negev would relieve many of the cunrent pressures on Israel's economy, the report states that even low-cost nuclear energy would fail to reduce substantially the extremely high cost of desalting sea water for irrigation useis. Agriculture in t h e Negev would be an expensive operation. Nuclear power m i g h t contribute more to Israel's economic development if it is used t o build u p industry in t h e Negev. h Boost f o r Minerals. Nuclear power i n Israel might boost exploitatiora. of the potash, phosphate, and cor>per resources in t h e Negev, states the report. Adoption of power-inten sive electrothermal or electrolytic proc 52
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esses in place of processes n e e d i n g im ported chemicals would not only reduce production costs, b u t w o u l d free Israel from dependence on certain foreign supplies. Furthermore, the processing plants could b e located closer to raw material resources. For copper and phosphates, the products could be shipped to markets in the form of re fined minerals or highly concentrated chemicals. Transportation savings would be appreciable. • From S e a - W a t e r Brines. Con centrated sea-water brines left after water distillation processes could pro vide major r a w materials in Israel's Mediterranean Coast area for produc tion of magnesium, chlorine, caustic soda, nitrogen fertilizer, a n d plastics, if Israel had the needed power. • Vinyl Plastics. Most r a w materials for plastics manufacture are not avail able in sufficient quantity for efficient production in Israel. But, says NPA's report, with low-cost power Israel could produce some of the vinyl plas tics with a minimum of imports. Recognizing the potential of nuclear
energy in their country, Israeli scien tists are continuing to study the manu facture of heavy water. kxid, says the report, attention is being devoted to new techniques for the extraction of uranium from the Negev phosphates.
• A u s t r a l i a ' s b a u x i t e deposits/ dis covered last year in the Cape York Pen insula, have now been surveyed, and a new company, Commonwealth Alumi num, h a s been set u p jointly by Con solidated Zinc a n d British Aluminum. Early plans call for an annual produc tion of 500,000 tons of bauxite by 1963. In a second phase of develop ment, the company plans to produce aluminum near t h e deposits. It expects t h a t 5 0 0 to 600 megawatts of electric power will b e required annually. I t is considering the alternatives either of generating the power by atomic gener ators on the spot or by using hydroelec tric power from the rivers of Southern New Guinea, some 400 miles north of the deposits. • I t a l y ' s Societa Azienda N a t i o n a l e I d r o g e n a z i o n e Combustibili, Milan, has awarded a contract to Potasse & Engrais Chimiques for erection of a 400 to 600 ton-per-day complex fer tilizer plant using PEC's carbonitric
φ Meets Canada's Cracking Catalyst Needs Now in full operation is Da^vison Chemical, Ltd.'s fluid petroleum cracking catalyst plant at Valleyfield, Que. Costing $6 million, the plant has its output for the foreseeable future pegged t o Canadian requirements, promising to release Canada from its complete d e p e n d e n c e u p o n imports from the U. S. Raw materials for the plant—sodium silicate solution, sulfuric acid, anhydrous ammonia, alumina hydrate—are of Canadian origin. The sodium silicate solution is piped from the adjacent plant of National Silicates, Ltd. At right, above, is the catalyst plant administration building; s p r a y dxiers, storage silos are in background.
process. N e w plant will produce a basic formula of 13-10-12. I n the U. S., Chemical and Industrial Corp. has t h e exclusive right to license the PEC processes; a plant of this type re cently completed for California SprayChemical is currently producing 15-1515 and 22-22-0 formulas.
at
ί European Computation Center has
be^n opened by Electronic Associates of Long Branch, N . J. Located in Brussels, Belgium, t h e center will offer education in analog computer tech niques, consultation services in the ap plication of analog computers, and ren tal of time on installed computer sys tems. • Euratom atomic energy f i r m , N D A
Europe, has been formed w i t h U . S. and Belgian industrial ownership—the Nuclear Development Corp. of America and Société Générale des Minerais of Brussels. Société Belge pour l'Industrie Nucléaire is a participant. N D A E u r o p e will place t h e consulting, engineering, development, and fabrication services of N D A a t the disposal of European groups. I t will also enter manufacturing operations through E u ropean firms. Company's registered office, 21 rue de Marais, opened Aug. 1 in Brussels. • Upiohn of C a n a d a is breaking ground for a $ 1 million addition to its Toronto plant. This will allow all currently available Upjohn lines to b e produced in Canada. Addition is expected t o triple size of its pharmaceutical laboratories and offices in Toronto. • Aluminum
Co.
of
Canada
has
awarded a contract to Beckman I n struments for installation of an electronic data processing system a t its Kitimat, B. C , plant. The system will b e designed to monitor cryolite recovery processes for maximum efficiency; it is expected to be in full operation b y 1958. ί N e w Belgian firm has been f o r m e d
to manufacture and sell plastic bottles, other hollow articles, and biaxialiy ori ented plastic films in t h e Benelux coun tries. Named Sidaplax, S.A., company has a s principal shareholders, Plax of Hartford, Conn., a n d Société IndustrieDe de la Cellulose, Belgian plastics manufacturer. N e w company, with $700,000 capital, will have headquarters in Brussels, manufacturing facilities in Ghent.
T h i s un-retouched p h o t o d r a m a t i c a l l y illustrates t h e fundam e n t a l a d v a n t a g e s of the Oliver H o r i z o n t a l Filter. N o t e t h e even feed distribution and m a x i m u m area utilization . .. w i t h o u t using a filter t a n k or agitator. N o t e , t o o , the fast dewatering of feed and t h e two stages of c o u n t e r - c u r r e n t washing i n a single p a s s on the table. Installed a t American P o t a s h a n d Chemical Corporation's g i a n t T r o n a , California p l a n t , t h i s Oliver operates around the clock producing agricultural grade potash. One of five Horizontals of t h e over forty Oliver Filters of various t y p e s a t T r o n a , t h e u n i t h a s a wash efficiency of a b o u t 9 0 % . If you h a v e a problem involving high tonnage filtration and washing of a n y fast settling, free filtering product, the Oliver H o r i z o n t a l should be a t t h e top of t h e list for consideration. W r i t e for a copy of Bulletin N o . 7201 for more informa.tion. Dorr-Oliver Incorporated, Stamford, C o n n .
• Norden-Ketay, Stamford, Conn., has
concluded a licensing agreement with Société Anonyme Precilec, Paris, France, for manufacture a n d sale of Norden-Ketay synchro a n d servo mechanisms in F r a n c e .
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