CO-OPERATION ON SCIENCE

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28451, 4 December 1957, Page 22

CO-OPERATION ON SCIENCE

Britain May Save Big Sum

(Special Correspondent N.Z.F.A.) (Ree. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 3. British and United States atomic authorities are discussing the extent to which information about America’s nuclear-propelled submarine shall be made available to Britain. Naval correspondents say the intention is to avoid unnecessary duplication of research and a waste of Britain’s limited financial resources. If the talks on British-Ameri-can co-operation are successful, Britain might be able to save millions of pounds earmarked for research, and at the same time be kept in the forefront of nuclear developments. The “Daily Telegraph” says agreement on the issue should have the effect of speeding up the design and building of atomic submarines for the Royal Navy. It should bring forward completion of the Dreadnought, Britain's first nuclear-powered submarine, to within three years. The “Daily Mail” Says it is hoped British shipbuilding engineers and nuclear scientists will be given the full research files on the Nautilus, the American 28-knot atomic submarine, as well as new knowledge on even more advanced forms of propulsion. Britain would then be able to overtake much of the next 12 months’ work on the Neptune plant at Harwell atomic station used for research on seaborne reactors, speed work at Dunreay, where the first mock-up submarine reactor is not expected to be completed until May, 1959, and give a big fillip to shipbuilding companies, now hesitant about the future commercial possibilities of atom power.