Evening star., 1950-11-17
Rare Metal Is BottIeneck
In Atomic Energy Project
Zirconium, Needed in Tons,
Produced Now in Ounces
By Thomas R. Henry

HtO0u%S0 iNSW ." ~NH~SS
By Thomas R. Henry
A rare metal, hitherto produced in
ounces and now needed in tons, consti-
tutes the major bottleneck in the govern
ments atomic energy program.
This is revealed by DR.. Lawrence r.
Hafstad, director of the reactor develop
ment activity of the Atomic Energy Com
mission.
The metal is chromium 1t has been
known since 1924 but until quite recently
it has been regarded as little more than
chemical curiosity and classified among
the rare earths which exist only in traces
in the earth's crust.
Needed in Tons.
It now is required, DR.. Hafstad says,
in "ton quantities for structural pur-
poses" 1t long has been realized that a
major difficulty, although by no means
the only one, in the way of building
'atomic ovens" which can be used for
the production of power is metal able
to Withstand tremendous temperatures
which at the same time will not deterio-
rate rapidly from the intense lombard
ment of neutrons to which it must be
subjected. The latter difficulty has been
described as similar to that of the steel
walls of conventional furnace chang
ing to paper in few weeks.
Apparently chromium, either per Sc or
for use in some alloy has been decided
on as the material best adapted for this
purpose. Difficulty of obtaining it. DR..
Hafstad declares, is "just damned
nuisance"
The element is fairly we'll distributed
fhro1IOh hz cf of fL,a oor%t l.,,&
extremely minute quantities. The prin-
ciple source is Brazil, although some is
obtained as by-product from mines in
the United States It might be possible
to develop sufficient domestic supply
If the extremely difficult problem of ex-
tracing it in quantities in metallic form
could be solved.
At present minute amounts of zir-
coniurn are used as alloys in steel and
copper. Pure chromium wire also is used
in small amounts in radio tubes In sew
eral mixtures in nature it occurs in the
form OF gem stones. These are the best
known8orms of the element.
Precise Use Restricted.
The precise use to be made of zir-
conium remains restricted. The tech
nical process of extracting the pure
metal Is extremely difficult and compile
Gated.
Experiments are under way looking to
the production of four types of reactors.
including two designed primarily for pro-
pulslon OF submarines. On two of these,
DR.. Hafstad points out, construction is
well underway.
Some OF the major scientific barriers
to the production of atomic energy seem
TO have been crossed. DR.. Hafstad says,
ana actual production need be only a
matter Of time. The problem of cost
remains unsolved, and there can be no
really valid estimates. A rough figure.
DR.. Hafstad says, is about $1,400 per
kllowat hour capacity for power produc-
tion compared with $133 for a conven-
tlonal power plant. Great savings may
be possible but the cost always will re-
main high. The cost OF uranium fuel
eventually may be brought down close
of that of coal and oil.
A new kind of earth bombardment
was announced through the American
Association for the Advancement of
Science here today.
Streams Of protons, presumably shot
IN great spurts from the sun, are strik-
ing the upper atmosphere at speeds Of
from 1.500 to 1000 miles a second
The discovery was made by DR.. A. B.
Meinel of the University of Chicago's
Yerkes Observatory at Williams Bay,
Wis, from observations of an intense
aurora borealis display last August.
DR.. Meinel obtained spectra of the
auroral light with specially devised
spectroscope which splits the light into
its separate wave-lengths. This makes
fn IL
ments in the upper atmosphere as much
as 200 miles above the surface of the
earth.
Light Is Stationary.
There are minute quantities of hydro
gen in the upper atmosphere. Hydro
gen atoms struck by particles of
light or matter from outer space give
off light, part of the strange night radi-
ance of the far northern heavens. This
light. however, is stationary at whatever
level it is produced.
BY this new spectrographic technique,
however. the Yerkes Observatory astron-
omer detected that one of the most char
acteristlc hydrogen lines was coming
from something that was in very rapid
motion in the direction of the earth. It
was much more violet" than normally is
the case
Hydrogen atoms consist of single pro-
tons and single electrons. The observa-
tions left no doubt. DR. Meinel says, that
the curious phenomenon was due to the
protons alone.
The streams of protons are quite dis
tinct from cosmic radiation or of other
radiation known to come from the sun,
and constitute hitherto unknown phe-
nomenon.
It is highly probable DR.. Meinel be-
1ieves. that they come from the sun,
although this cannot be thoroughly de-
monstrated.
Questions and Answers