Evening star., 1960-06-13
ATOMIC
Huge StockpiIe Aids
Peaceful Energy Use
Continued From First Page

Continued From First Page
Ahead as anyone can see, Acc
unquestionably dominates the
Industry. This will remain the
case even If the commission
ever relinquishes its role of
No. l operator in the field.
More important than how
much business the Acc does
is it's primacy over the indus
try as judge, jury, policeman,
licensing agent and absolute
(if benevolen0 czar.
Furthermore, the Acc is sole
owner of all key atomic ma
terialS in the United States.
When it releases a supply of
atomic fuel to a peaceful user.
it does so on rental basis. at
a rate fixed by the commission.
The commission guards its
hoard of special nuclear ma
terials" far more closely than
any miser ever watched his
gold.
This sort of tight control
over all things atomic, while
understandable and probably
unavoidable, accounted in part
for industry's early reluc-
tance to get started in the nu-
clear business. Under Acc
rules and pricing policies. it
was difficult for a cost
conscious business executive to
know exactly where he stood.
A good deal of wheedling by
the Acc, together with con-
siderable subsidizing was needed
to get industry interested.
Industry Gets Ideas
But private enterprise is now
In the act for keeps, and oc-
casionally it even attempts to
shoulder the commission out
of some area that looks
particularly promising. The
Acc is willing to be shouldered
out to some extent, but for the
present not entirely.
The industry's roster today
includes some of the biggest
names in American business.
Union Carbide, DUPONT, Cen
eral Electric and Westinghouse
are among the principal con-
tractors operating AEC-owned
plants with the commission as
their sole customer.
Some of the old-line COM
panies, notably GE and West
inghouse, have gone into the
atomic business in q big way on
their own. The former has
built the largest atomic electric
power station now operating
anywhere in the world, and the
latter holds a letter of intent
for a power reactor twice as big.
Power Engineers Join In
Leading builders of conven-
tional electric power plants
have also plunged into atomics,
possibly in part to hedge
against the fate that befell the
buggywhip makers. Two lead
ers are Combustion Engineering
and Babcock & Wilcox, both Of
which have atomic-energy di-
visions headed by scientists who
got their basic training in the
wartime Manhattan District
bomb project.
Specialized atomic concerns
actually, autonomous divi-
sions of diversified corporations
have sprung up to share in
the promised payoff. Outstand-
ing examples, both in Southern
California, are the General
Atomic division of General Dy-
namics Corp. and the Atomics
International division of North
American Aviation, Inc.
Around these big atomic
operators are scores of smaller
concerns dealing in the strange
new commodities needed for
the nuclear age: Beryllium, zir-
conium, cadmium, hafnium.
Others offer relatively common
materials with something new
added: High-purity sodium
metal in carload lots; boron
free graphite Qike the lead
in a penciD in accurately milled
shapes of high density; seam
less, hawless stainless steel
tubing of the most precise d1-
mensions.
Disposal and MOnitoring
A few companies are work.
ing on a fairly large scale to-
day in activities that had NO
commercial reality before
World War II. One is Cross
roads Marine of Boston, which
concentrates on packaging and
disposal of radioactive wastes
at sea. Another is Tracerlab. a
concern engaged chiefly in de-
lection and monitoring of ex-
tremely small amounts of radi-
alton.
Who needed radiation fllm
badge service" in 1910? Today
Tracerlab checks thousands OF
such badges each week for
atomic-industry clients all over
the country. Purpose of the
badge service is to insure that
no worker receives more radi-
alton than the Acc allows
Slight overexposure receives
routine notice in a report tc
the customer; serious overdoseS
get immediate attention by
phone or wire.
Tracerlab also monitors fall
out for the Atomic Energy
Commission, decontaminatei
areas befouled by radiation &C
cidents and (original source Of
its name) prepares medicines
and other chemicals contain
ing small amounts of radio.
AnAi.rn ..nnn,.ll .a..An...nlr