PRODUCTION OF ATOMIC POWER

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27987, 6 June 1956, Page 16

PRODUCTION OF ATOMIC POWER

POSSIBILITIES IN NEV/ ZEALAND

DR. ERNEST MARSDEN’S VIEWS

(New Zealand Press Association) < WELLINGTON. June 5.- ] By 1965 it would be possible to prov duce power from nuclear fission in , New Zealand at a cost competitive • with any other source of electricity, said Dr. Ernest Marsden, a director ! of Geothermal Development, Ltd., in ' an address to the Wellington Rotary ; Club today. He said that the capital cost a kilowatt would be £lOO, which, though : higher than the capital cost estimated for power production from coal in the ' Waikato, was lower than that of future hydro works in the North Island and about the same as that of power from the South Island plus the cable across Cook Strait. He left a query against geothermal power costs. The production cost of 0.6 d a kilo-watt-hour for nuclear power would be as cheap as any other source and cheaper than coal production by 0.29 d a kilowatt-hour, having regard to load factor in all cases, he said. “We need to undertake some deep thinking on the best organisation and methods to provide abundant and cheap power, including the aspects of construction, financing, and efficient utilisation.” he said. Dr. Marsden explained that nuclear reactors were furnaces in which fissionable material was burned without the use of air or oxygen. The materials involved in the process gave promise, within 15 years, ol power production at lower figures than the present type of British reactors now under construction, and which themselves promised power at 6d a unit, including all costs. “Latterly, great strides have been made and it is now evident that nuclear power, already competitive with power from coal and oil, must ultimately be far cheaper,” he said. “By 1965 the extra costs in New Zealand would be mor£ than offset by economies in design, as a result oi experience with the first overseas large reactors. “Consideration of cost figures suggested that it seemed inevitable that coal and gas would become obsolete as sources of heat and power, though oil would continue in increasing quantity for transport units such as cars, aeroplanes, and smaller sea vessels,” said Dr. Marsden.