BIG ATOMIC PLANT NEAR PITTSBURGH SUPPLYING POWER
Developers Hope Project, First of Kind in U. S., Can Cut High Initial Cost
By JOHN W. FINNEY
Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES
OTHER HEADLINESNATO Reaches Limited Accords on Missiles and Talk With Soviet; Bonn Likely to Bar Nuclear Arms: U.S. Alters Stand: Gains on Bases While Easing Opposition to New Bid to Moscow
Germans Voice Opposition to Taking U.S. Weapons: Defense Chief Says Strategic Material Is Not Required Since NATO Has Given Forces a Tactical Role
West to Act Soon: Diplomats Will Seek to Clarify Positions on Disarmament
President Will Broadcast Report to Nation Monday
Soviet Sea Power Shows Swift Rise: Jane's Says Russians Plan Atomic Missile Submarine to Girdle the World
Army Fires a Jupiter Missile; 'Successful' Shot Short of Good
Racket Inquiry Links Judge to 'Fix' in Tennessee Case
Benson Slashes Dairy Supports: Makes Maximum Cut, Saying Consumer Will Be Helped -- Producers Protest
New Subway Plan Would Give Voice to Foes of Quill: Associates of Governor and Mayor Ask Direct Craft Role in Bargaining: Could Aid Democrats: Officials Weigh Chances of Countering G.O.P. Bill -- Pay Talks Open Today
$96,900,000 to Go For New Schools: Board Announces Program for 23 Building Projects
Top Officers Quit City Defense Unit
Israel Plans to Send New Bonn Mission
Washington, Dec. 18--The country's first large-scale civilian atomic power plant started generating electricity for commercial use today.
This milestone of the atomic age was reached early this morning when the atomic power plant at Shippingport, Pa., began producing electricity for consumers in the Pittsburgh area.
At 12:39 A. M., the Atomic Energy Commission announced, the atomic-powered generator of the Shippingport plant was tied in with the electrical system of the Duquesne Light Company.
Gradually the fission heat from the large atomic reactor was increased. By 3 A. M. the plant was producing more than the 8,000 kilowatts it consumes and was sending electricity through the Duquesne Light transmission lines.
Fission Rate Increased
Throughout the day the power was built up as engineers regulated the control rods that accelerate or decelerate the atomic fission in the reactor core. At 7 A. M. the plant was producing 12,100 kilowatts of electricity. The power output was scheduled to go to more than 20,000 kilowatts tonight.
Within a few days the plant is expected to reach its designed initial capacity of 60,000 kilowatts--enough electricity to supply the needs of 120,000 persons.
As a developmental project, the Shippingport plant will produce high-cost power that will be far from competitive with conventional power. Its developers hope it will lead the way, however, to future atomic-power plants that will produce economical electricity.
The Shippingport plant cost $72,500,000, including the first loading of atomic fuel. With research and development expenses, the cost rises to about $120,000,000.
Subsidized by Government
Most of the expense was met by the Federal Government. Duquesne Light supplied $5,000,000 toward the cost of the reactor and furnished the site and generating equipment at an estimated cost of $15,000,000. Westinghouse contributed its profit, which would have amounted to about $500,000.
Duquesne Light will operate the plant for the Government and buy the electricity at a conventional power cost of about eight mills per kilowatt-hour. The actual cost of the atomic power is expected to run from 55 to 60 mills.
The plant, on the Ohio River twenty-five miles northwest of Pittsburgh, was built in thirty-two months.
Electricity has been produced before from atomic reactors, but never before in such quantity from a strictly civilian plant.
The Commission asserted in its announcement that the Shippingport plant is "the world's first full-scale atomic electric power plant devoted exclusively to peacetime uses."
Since October, 1956, the British atomic-power plant at Calder Hall has been generating up to 100,000 kilowatts of electricity, but this plant was designed to produce plutonium for weapons as well as electricity.
The Soviet Union has announced ambitious plans for atomic power but has disclosed only the operation of a 5,000-kilowatt plant.
The significance of the shipping-port event was muted in the commission announcement. In the opinion of some project officials, who understandably were enthusiastic, the commission and the Administration had missed the opportunity to score an international psychological triumph to offset the Soviet satellite achievement.
The commission announcement described the first generation of commercial power at Shippingport as a test. Similarly, in a message from Paris, where he is attending the Atlantic pact meeting, Lewis L. Strauss, chairman of the commission, said he was "gratified to learn" of the plant's "initial power test."
In explaining the low-keyed approach to the event, Administration officials said that it was viewed only as a test of the reactor and therefore did not lend itself to a full-scale publicity build-up.
In its international broadcasts, however, the Voice of America was giving prominence to the event second only to that given to the North Atlantic Council meeting.
Administration's Program
In some respects the commission announcement seemed to be aimed at bolstering the Administration's domestic power program rather than highlighting the historical significance.
The announcement, for instance, was issued jointly with the Duquesne Light Company, which will operate the Government-owned plant for the commission. The keystone of the Administration's atomic-power development program is "partnership" with private industry in construction of atomic plants.
In his message, Mr. Strauss also observed that the Shippingport unit brings to "a total of five the number of plants delivering civilian atomic power in the United States this year." The four other plants mentioned by Mr. Strauss are experimental facilities and do not compare in size with Shippingport.
The fact that this nation's first large-scale atomic power plant was built largely at Government expense and direction is expected to supply new ammunition to Democrats in Congress who have been urging a Government program for building atomic plants.
Meet to Map Program
The announcement came as four members of the Congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy were meeting with the Atomic Energy Commission to try to draft a common program to accelerate the atomic power development program.
Democrats lost no time in pointing out that the Shippingport plant had been constructed under the personal direction of Rear Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, rather than as part of the commissions's "partnership" program. Democratic Representatives Clarence Cannon of Missouri and Chet Holifield of California sent telegrams to Admiral Rickover complimenting him on his accomplishment.
Admiral Rickover, chief of the Naval Reactors Branch of the commission, collaborated with the Bettis Laboratory of Westinghouse Electric Corporation in designing and constructing the reactor. The plant is modeled on the pressurized water type reactor used to power the first atomic submarine, the Nautilus.
Within the fifty-eight-ton core of the reactor are fourteen tons of natural uranium surrounding 165 pounds of highly enriched uranium. The fission reaction of the uranium heats water, kept under high pressure to prevent it from boiling. The pressurized water is circulated through a heat exchanger, thereby producing steam in a secondary water system to turn the turbine and electrical generator.
Back to the top of this page.
Back to today's page.
Go to another day.
Front Page Image Provided by UMI
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Children's Privacy Notice
