ATOMIC ENERGY FOR PEACEFUL PURSUITS OF MAN WITHIN TWO YEARS

Wanganui Chronicle, 8 March 1947, Page 5

ATOMIC ENERGY FOR PEACEFUL PURSUITS OF MAN WITHIN TWO YEARS

Recd. 7.5 p.m. London, March 7. The first experimental power plant run by atomic energy may be working in the United States within two years, and enough should be known about atomic energy within 15 years for the industry to begin designing equipment for power stations, also for the economics of “atom” production to be estimated, said P. M. S. Brackett, professor of physics at the Manchester University. Larger atomic energy power plants might become available for liners, but installations for small ships, vehicles or aircraft, were not likely to be developed for a long time. It is quite possible that by 1970, an important fraction of world power would be obtained from atomic energy. The major difficulty was neither technical nor a matter of supply—it was political and international. Sir Henry Dale said that as incidental by-products of splitting the uranium nuclei, there will soon be available radioactive isotopes, and a whole range of other elements producing radiations which may replace those of radium for particular purposes.