Nuclear Power In Antarctic

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29401, 31 December 1960, Page 15

Nuclear Power In Antarctic

Work is now under way on the preparation of a site for a nuclear power plant near the American base on Ross Island, in the Antarctic. The plant will be built on the slopes of Observation Hill, about quarter of a mile from the base. Originally it was intended to erect it at Hut Point, but this site was found to be unsuitable. Prefabricated sections assembled by a nuclear company at Connersville, Indiana, will be

shipped to McMurdo Sound soon. It is estimated that construction of the plant will take about two months.

Generating 1500 kilowatts of electricity and 650,000 British thermal units of steam, some of which will be used for melting snow, the plant will use highly enriched fuel in the form of uranium dioxide. The life of a single core of this fuel at full power will be two years. Information supplied by the contracting company says that heat supplied by nuclear fission

inside the tubular fuel elements will be transmitted to water flowing under pressure through and around the tubes. The steam generator will transfer heat to a secondary system, in which water at lower pressure will be turned into steam to drive the turbine-generator. The plant will go into operation in the summer of 1961-62. It has been so designed that each of the 18 prefabricated sections, each weighing less than 12 tons, can be transported by Hercules aircraft if necessary.