Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-03-04
Atomic Power Plant
Planned for Big Ships
Could Be First Major Step
Towurd NucIeor Engine
By Thomos R. Henry

An atomic power plauC Is Deln8
designed for major naval vessels. such
as battleships or aircraft carriers.
It could be the first major step to-
ward an atomic engine which could
be used to produce useful power. in
GLIDING electricity for homes and in
dustry.
This has just been announced by the
Westinghouse Electric Corp. The COM
pany's engineers played major part
in designing the two plants which may
eventually be used to power submarines.
The widely spread idea that the atomic
submarine already is an actuality. how
ever, appears far from the truth.
Says the Westinghouse report: I'VE
are certainly long way from produc-
ing nuclear power plants on produce
ton line. The fact, however. is that
Westinghouse has under construction
or design three plants Of major size.
One is a prototype that could be in
stalled in a submarine. Mark / is
full-sized working model Of the SUBJ
marine plant at the National Reactor
Testing Station near Arco, Idaho.
Second Plant Started.
many Of the components Of a second
plant. The submarine Nautilus, for
which the keel was laid last July, will
be the first submarine to receive this
revolutionary new type of power plant.
THE third project concerns design
and development Of another nuclear
power plant many times larger than the
first two. 1t is planned that this power
plant shall be suitable to power major
naval vessels"
One small unit, the Westinghouse en-
gineers say, now has been running for
10000 hours, more than Is months,
continuously under conditions Of full
load, operating temperature and pres
sure.
Many Hurdles Remain.
Although the stage of working
models for the submarine plants has
been reached, many hurdles remain. A
significant one mentioned by the West
inghouSe engineers is that of keeping
track of the power output. The energy
of nuclear power reactor can vary
over a range of about 10 billion to one.
This full range of power must be &C.
curately monitored by radiation meas.
ured instruments.
mo single device in existence" says
the company statement, comes even
close to covering such SCALE"
Materials still offer some difficult
problems, one of which seems to have
been fairly we'll solved in the past four
years. That is the problem of metallic
chromium. At the start of the reactor
work. the entire world supply of this
metal could be kept in small box and
1t was worth about its weight in gold.
Now the company Is producing several
thousand pounds month and the cost
is only about tenth of the previous
figure.
mot only have ways been found to
make it in quantity at reasonable cost"
says the statement, "but its complete
spectrum of physical and chemical
properties has been determined, as well
as ways to roll, form and weld it.
"The nuclear energy field is strange
new world that necessitateS many ideas.
We think of iron,a steel. aluminium and
other metals as materials of great
strength and permanence and use them
Tor engineering structures. But as
structural materials Tor lncloSing the
uranium elements they won't do at all.
The best material turned out to be the
little-known zirconum-in fact almost
the only one. ..-
Wear Is Problem.
Another materials problem is that
Of metal-to-metal wear. In many
places in the reactor, metal moves, only
in contact with metal, the only lubri-
cant being air or hot water. A large
amount of research has been devoted
to finding the best combination Of
metals to operate under these con-
ditionS.
Another problem is that of contact
corrosion. Different metals in contact
corrode-perhaps slowly. If parts are
intended to move, perhaps after long
periods Of inactivity. the corrosion at
the contact surface may cause the COM
ponent to freeze. Research has been
directed at determining the proper
metals for such situations"