How to Run An Atomic Power Plant

Nuclear research piles give preview of methods that may be used to make tomorrow’s electricity.

By Martin Mann

You—as a citizen—own a part of the 2-1/2 billion-dollar atomic-energy industry. Although your individual share is only one in 143,000,000, it is probably the most important single thing you own. It provides the most powerful weapon in our arsenal for war, promises cures for many diseases, and will eventually furnish cheaper electricity and transportation.

YOU’VE heard a lot about atomic energy. But you probably have a lot of questions because so few people have actually seen an atomic engine. Well, I have. I was one of a small group of reporters who saw two nuclear piles early this winter. While they were operating, I touched them, stood on top of one, saw it turned on and off, watched as “hot” radioactive materials were taken out of it. So maybe I can help you visualize the process and get rid of some of the mystery. Let’s imagine you have just gotten a job running an “atom furnace.” Sure I mean you! Some day such jobs will be as common as locomotive engineers. The engines of die future will be like the experimental piles I saw at the Argonne National Laboratory, which the University of Chicago runs for the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, used to transfer heat out of power piles, but what that material will be is still a question. That’s one reason nobody has built a real power pile yet. A good heat-transfer fluid will probably be found among the metals that melt easily—bismuth might be a possibility.