Evening star., 1951-05-28
Atom Energy Now One
Of Biggest Businesses
Its Operations Ronge
From Conudu to Eniwetok
By Thomos R. Henry


Atomic energy has become one Of the
Nations biggest businesses.
It employs, directly or indirectly, more
than 10000 persons. It occupies more
than $500 square miles. equal to Rhode
Island and Delaware combined.
1t has spent, since the beginning,
more than 81 billion and obligated itself
for another 50 billion.
These are the figures revealed by T.
Keith Glennan, one Of the Atomic
Energy Commissioners. Very few private
business enterprises in the country ex-
ceed these figures, difficult to arrive at
because of the complications Of working
through private contractors. such as uni
versitieS.
Naturally the atomic energy business
is exclusively government. There still
is long way to go before there can be
private investments in atomic power
production because of the essentially
secret nature of many Of its phases.
Operations Widespread.
The business extends all over the
world. aside from the Soviet Union and
its satellites. Its operations range from
the ore fields of northern Canada and
the Belgian Congo to the weapons prov
ing grounds at Eniwetok atoll In the
South Pacific. It includes the major re-
search stations at Los Alamos, N. Mex:
Oak Ridge, Tenn; Berkeley. Calf; and
new 40,000-acre reactor testing stat
ion in Idaho. These plants alone repre-
sent capital investment of more than
81 billion
OF course, it is far from a profitable
business financially. The returns in
money are negligible, represented by the
below-cost returns from the sale Of va
riouS isotopeS produced at the Oak
Ridge laboratory, largely to hospitals
and research institutions.
Naturally, Mr. Glennap points out, in
the present disturbed state of the world
most of the expenditures and most Of
the work must be checked against the
production of atomic weaponS-bigger
and better bombs for the Governments
growing stockpile. Possible peace-time
uses, at the best some distance In the
future. have been secondary
The Atomic Energy Act. however,
lays down among its objectives "im-
proving the public welfare, increasing
the standard of living and strengthen
ing free competition in private enter
prise" Obviously, until feasible meth
cd of. utilizing atomic energy for
industry is worked out there is very lit
tie inducement for any private invest
ment, even if it were possible.
Peaceful Goals in Mind.
Still, Mr.. Glennan points out, there
is considerable progress, for defense
and industry cannot be separated en-
tirely. Any advance made in atomic
bomb construction eventually may have
an even more important application to
industrial operations. The commission
is working towards military goals with
peaceful goals in mind"
Among the important steps being
taken, it is pointed out. is the acquisi-
ton of uranium ore. This is almost
altogether private enterprise func-
tion. The commission carries on no
mining operations but tries to stim-
ulate domestic production and makes
large purchases here and abroad. Large
ly due to this program, Mr.. Glennan
says the United States now has passed
Canada as q producer of uranium.
Hitherto it had been quite poor second
because Of the relatively great deposits
in Northern Canada.
Second is the job of processing this
ore to various degrees of purity. This
is done largely by private contractors
scattered all over the country Unit
costs have been cut nearly in half in
the past four years.
A third job strictly under commits
sion control but operated by private
contractors. is the production from the
purified uranium metal of the fission-
able materials. uranium 235 and plu-
tonium, which are the key to the whole
atomic energy field.
The fashioning of these into weapons,
of course, is strictly Government en-
terprise.