Evening star., 1945-08-26
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE,
Assocfated Press Science Editor

Associated Press Science Editor.
NEW YORK, Aug. 25.-The atomic
ovens that make the new plutonium
metal for bombs in Washington are
producing nearly as much energy
as will the Grand Coulee dam at
its peak.
Grand Coulee will have a hydro
electric capacity of 1000, 900 kilo-
watts. The atomic oven power Is In
the form Of heat which, although a
fraction of 1t is enough to warm
the great Columbia River in a day,
is not at present useful. The ovens
were designed to get rid of heat,
instead of collecting 1t for power.
Redesigning the ovens to produce
steam is an engineering job that
may take years. The atomic heat
at present is spread like a prairie
fire, over large area. There is no
engineering method of using the
heat of prairie fire.
Moreover, in the present ovens
the atomic fires are not as hot as
those of blazing prairie. About
800 degree Fahrenheit is the tor
temperature permitted in the ura-
MUM slugs that are baked to make
plutonium.
Must Shield Workers.
There are problems of shielding
workers from rays emitted by about
80 different chemical elements that
are produced by transmutation ir
the atomic fires. This has beer
solved for a large sized power plant;
no bad effects Of the rays have been
reported among the Hanford atomic
oven crews. But this shielding would
be quite a different problem in an
automobile that is to run on a chunk
of power the size of a marble.
The Hanford plants are operated
necessarily by remote control, even
though the uranium metal burns
behind thick walls Of concrete and
you can't run an automobile by
remote control. The problem is COM
plicated further by the fact that the
most dangerous rays, the neutrons,
penetrate metal as If 1t were cheese.
Under present knowledge, driver
and passengers might have to sit
on a huge tank Of water, or great
block of paraffin, either of which
will stop neutrons.
Heavy water Is likely to be one
step toward solution of some atomic
power difficulties. The water is just
as good as graphite for slowing the
speed of neutrons so that they will
make the atomic fire In uranium 235
Heavy water would make an
atomic teakettle instead of an oven.
Uranium In cans could be placed in
this teaketrle and the heat gen.
Grated by the 235 isotope would boil
the water. The heavy steam then
could be passed beneath ordinary
boilers to heat them to make ordi-
nary steam. This would condense
the heavy steam back into heavy
water to be used again in the atomic
teakettle.
There is another way of getting
heat out of atoms, not as good as
by atom splitting, but better than by
ordinary fire. this Is the suns way,
in which atoms Of carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, helium and hydrogen. are
burned. All are among the lightest
weight atoms, in contrast to the
uranium which is the heaviest.
Still Too Expensive.
Making atomic power already Is
an accomplished fact in Washing
ton. Although the expense there
is too high for immediate industrial
power, it is not too great for sci
enttfic investigations and the pro.
duction Of new radioactive medi-
fcines and possibly for producing
new radioactive materials that in
dustry can use in the form oi
X-rays and gamma-rays
The uranium atomic power prob
ably can Immediately carry on the
work Of the so-called atom smash
ing machines. These already have
made radioactive materials that
have been used in experimental
medical treatment, including can