HEAVY WATER PROJECT

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27074, 24 June 1953, Page 10

HEAVY WATER PROJECT

INQUIRIES NOT YET COMPLETED

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 10 p.m.) . LONDON, June 23. An announcement in Adelaide by the New Zealand Trade Commissioner in Australia (Mr Lisle Aiderton) that £4,000,000 to £5,000,000 will be spent by the New Zealand Government on developing geothermal steam for heavy water and that tremendous quantities are expected to be produced within a year or two is regarded in London as premature and not entirely accurate. The position, according to a reliable authority here, is: (1) The New Zealand and United Kingdom governments are investigating the possibilities of producing both heavy water and electric power with the aid of geothermal steam at Wairakei. It will be several months before these investigations are completed. (2) In New Zealand, it has to be proved that geothermal steam can be purified so that it can be used economically. (3) At the Harwell atomic energy research station in England, purifying and distillation tests are being made and designs for the plant are being tested.

(4) If the two governments agree to proceed with the project—and it is expected that they will—the capital expenditure may involve about £5.000,000, of which roughly £3,000,000 may be for the heavy water plant and £2,000.000 for the production of electric power. (5) Mr Holland—who has now left London for the Midlands and Scotland—has had talks with Sir John Cockcroft and Ministry of Supply officials on the project. The general position has been reviewed, but decisions await the outcome of the present investigations in New Zealand and England. (6) A team of specialists from Harwell is to visit New Zealand and it may be that a suitable time for the decision to be reached will be when Mr Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Supply, visits the Dominion at the time of the London-Christchurch air race.