The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1953-10-22

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IscaIe attempt 10 tame atomic pow.
Ter for peace--a move billed as
l"America's answer TO Soviet
claims Of mastery over dread new
|nuclear weapons Of war.
Thomas z. Murray. member.
said the Atomic Energy Commits
sion win build an industrial power
reactor producing at least 5000
kilowatts of electrical energy -
enough to run q city to 5000.
Costly Preises
He said the project win cost
"many tens of millions Of dollars"
and that the Acc hopes to have
an operating plant in three to four
years.
The plant, Murray said, may be
located eat or near" an Acc faeil-
ity for separating uranium -z3S.
the pydirt Of atomic power, from
natural uranium. The Acc has one
such facility at Oak Ridge, Tenn,
and Is building others at Paducah,
KY, and Portsmouth, Ohio.
He said Westinghouse Corp. win
be the principal contractor for the
new plant which, he said, is of .
design inherited from q naval
project" Rear Adm. II. G. Rick
over, the Nays reactor expert
was given immediate responsible
lily" for the new program.
Murray's historic announcement
IA little more than eight years
after the United States unIeashed
the worlds first atomic bomb at
Hiroshima-came IN q speech pre-
pared for the electric companies
public information program.
Push 70 Seat Reds
He said the Acc decided to beat
Russia to the punch By pushing
ahead first with an Industrial pow.
er program instead Of concentrat.
ing almost exclusively On reactors
for military use.
This is Americas answer-its
significant peacetime answer-to
recent Soviet atomic weapons
tests" Murray said. EFT should
show the world that, even in thii
Igravest phase Of arming for de.
Tense. Americas eyes are still on
the peaceful future"
Murray said the world was
stunned when Russia announced
recently II had the hydrogen bomb.
But he said world peace would
have been more gravely endang.
erred II Russia had announced sue.
lcessful operation Of an industrial
power plant-and had offered Il
swap atomic know-how for uran.
ium produced by other countries.
Uraaium Needed
There. Is no secret that our
atomic weapons program depend.
upon receipt Of substantial guam
titles of uranium from foreign ma.
TONS" he said.
, .. ! believe that unless we
embark on an about attack on
our nnclear power program i'm.
mediately, we may be deprived
LOT foreign uranium ores with the
result that our weapons potential
wiz be smaller than need be the
case"
Countries hungry for the new
source Of power, 10 matter how
repealed they are by Soviet tyran.
my. would gravitate toward Russia,
he said.
But Murray stressed that the
acc was not putting all It's atomic
Ireactor eggs in one basket.
"In the immediate future" he
said. I'VE expect to propose the
Iconstruction Of different types o.
lreactors that win explore promis
ling adyenues of approach to prac
ticaI nuclear power"
4 Murray said the tremendous cos
Iof building. testing and perfectinS
an industrial atomic power plan
rules out any such developmen
BY private enterprise without gov
iernment help, but ''the work shoult
gradually be transferred from Ii,
federal government"
Offers Welcomed
While Westinghouse was chosen
80 principal contractor, he said
the Acc welcomes offers from
other firms ''to invest risk CAPITA
In the building of the steam an,
turbine portions, as well as In th.
operation of the entire plant"
i The Acc commissioner CAV.
these details:
i 1. The design chosen was s.in
herited from q naval project
presumably some modification O
the type originally envisioned fol
powering an aircraft carrier.
/ 2. Westinghouse was picked a
principal contractor because of it
previous experience with the reac
tor system chosen"
). General supervision of tn,
new project win be In charge O
Aces Reactor Development Divi
sion, with immediate responsible
/ ity assigned 10 Rickoyer hecaus,