ATOMIC POWER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26607, 1 November 1947, Page 8

ATOMIC POWER

INTEREST IN BRITAIN ADAPTATION TO INDUSTRY VALUABLE SOURCE OF POWER Two recent items of news relating to atomic power has aroused interest in Britain. The first is that Britain’s first atomic pile started at the Government Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell near Diacot. Berkshire, on August 17. This is the first major unit to be completed in Britain. It is known as “Gleep”—a shortened form of “ graphite low energy experimental pile ” —and has been built primarily for experimental work in nuclear physics. Until the new and more powerful pile comes into operation at Harwell next year, however, it will be used also for tire production of small quantities of radioactive materials needed in biological and medical research, both of which have received great stimulation from the recent practicability of obtaining artificial isotopes of certain elements that, in their natural states, are not radio-active isotopes. Value in Medical Research The principal use of these radioactive isotopes has been as “ tracers ” in research; for, when a small proportion of the molecules of a chemical substance have a particular atom in the radio-active form, the fate of the corresponding atoms in all the molecules can be traced, through any series of chemical reactions into which the substance may enter, by their radioactivity being followed with instruments designed to detect and measure it. In medicine, a limited ■ use of radio-active isotopes is found in cases where certain organs or tissues tend to concentrate particular elements. Thereby, such tissues can be subjected to a brief internal radiation, sufficient in certain cases to restrain any abnormal activity, but not of sufficient duration to cause permanent damage. An example of treatment by this means is the reduction of excessive activity in the thyroid gland by radioactive iodine, which is concentrated by the gland in a very selective manner. Similarly, the radio-active isotope of phosphorus can be made to check abnormal production of red corpuscles by the bone marrow to a certain extent. The other item of news about atomic power is contained in a report of the work of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Trades Union Congress. This includes observations on the possible industrial developments to which such power may lead in the forseeable future. Among members of this committee are Professor P. M. S. Blackett, world authority on cosmic rays and one of the most distinguished of Britain’s physicists working in the atomic field, and D. M. Newitt, professor of chemical engineering in the Imperial College of Science, London. Generation of Electric Power So far as the predictable industrial development is concerned, the committee was informed that the first' substantial application of atomic energy in Britain is likely to be the generation of electrical power from plants equipped to secure the release of such energy from uranium or plutonium Two main types of plant can be foreseen. The first will be about the size of a medium house, and will weign several hundred tons. It would probably resemble the piles at Hanford, United States, which were used to make the plutonium required in the manufacture of the atomic bomb. The heat generated will be carried out of the pile in the -form of steam hot gas or even molten or vapourised metal This hot working substance will most likely be passed through a turbine to produce power, or possibly through a heat exchanger, where its heat will be transferred to another working substance which is then passed through a turbine. It could be expected to produce several hundred thousand kilowatts of heat. The second type of atomic power unit envisaged will be similar to the first, but will burn some form of enriched material with a greater concentration of active elements than natural uranium. The generation' of nuclear energy from anything less than a large stationary power unit is not considered a likqly development within the next 21) years. It will not, therefore, be a a probable competitor of the internal combustion engine so far as vehicles are concerned in the foreseeable future. In the matter of large atomic power stations, on the other hand, it is estimated that within five years Britain will be in a position to set about designing reliable power units for large-scale power stations to allow a fair estimate to be made of the cost of atomic power production; and if technical prospects look as favourable as they do now, it is quite possible that by 1970 a large proportion of power in Britain will be obtained from atomic energy. It is not expected, however, that such developments would begin to have an appreciable eliect on the coalmining industry for at least 20 years after their realisation. Even then, coal is likely to remain Britain’s main source of fuel and power for some considerable time. Among the industrial developments which would accompany the realisation of atomic power in l Britain, the committee foresees, first of all, an extensive refining industry for uranium and thorium brought in from overseas “as fuel.” The heavy chemical industry would then have to cope with the manufacture of these materials into a form suitable for use “as nuclear fuel.” Again, big demands would be expected on the engineering industry for the production of pumping machinery, gas and steam turbines and equipment for the chemical industries. There would, too, be a large demand for highgrade materials of many kinds not needed hitherto. Examples are:— Special heat and corrosive resistant steels and non-ferrous metals, pure graphite and new types of refractories. Clearly the Trades Union Congress will be vitally interested in the development of atomic power for years to come.