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Burlington Atomic Energy Week, 1947
Man vs Atom - Year 1 Page 3
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can Serve Man... The fateful U235 atom can serve man as a new, compact source of heat energy for power generation, comfort heating or industrial processing. Peacetime applications of the atomic energy will use dilute U235 or plutonium as a "fuel," mixed with carbon or some of the neutrons and thus keep the chain reaction going. The diluting agent may be either U238 or thorium into U233, which may prove equally serviceable. Thus the commercial piles of the future will "burn" U235 to make other atomic fuels, plutonium and possibly U233, which in turn will deliver heat energy to the pile. In that way it will be possible to get from the pile far more heat than the equivalent of 1400 tons of coal for each pound of U235 split. This highly attractive prospect will speed the day when nuclear energy can compete with coal. While already mechanically obsolete, the poles making plutonium for bombs at Hanford, Wash (Fig. 1) reveal the basic principle on which future piles for power and heat will operate. The heat now wasted in vast quantities will be put to work. The plutonium, now removed for bomb manufacture, will be returned to the pile (or left in) a supplementary fuel. ATOMIC POWER The possible everyday applications of nuclear heat pictured in Fig. 2 have been recognized from the very first day of the Atomic Age. Year 2 will see the building of the world's first atomic power plant (a pilot plant) at Oak Ridge, Tenn. Beyond question such installations will produce power, but it may be years or decades before they prove economical. To compete with conventional plants the piles must first be redesigned to run at temperatures high enough for good power-plant efficiency. Also the techniques of operating piles by remote control through the heavy radiation screens must be radically streamlined. The Hanford piles run on natural uranium containing only 0.7% of U235. The typical commercial atomic power plant of the future will use more than 0.7% of U235 or plutonium, but less than 50%. This will avoid both the low efficiency of the too-lean the mixture and the excessive fuel cost of the rich mixture. It will permit piles of moderate size and take maximum advantage of U238 and thorium as potential sources of plutonium and U233. One should not expect U235 to replace coal generally in this generation, although a few central power stations and ships will try it out before Year 10 of the Atomic Age. Plants far from traditional sources of fuels may turn much sooner to uranium and thorium as concentrated heat sources, that may easily be transported even to remote corners of the earth. Atomic power, in forms now known, is impracticable for automobiles and small airplanes, because of the large initial investment in uranium and the need to carry 50 tons of shielding to protect riders and pedestrians against the deadly radioactivity accompanying nuclear fission. RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPES More immediately important than the heat and power applications of nuclear energy are the services that the radioactive byproducts of pile operation can render. Because these materials act chemically like their ordinary non-radioactive cousins, but can be followed and detected easily, they are expected to play tremendously vital parts in medicine and biology. For more details, see the last page of this section. [Diagram] 1 SLOW-NEUTRON PILE Can make plutonium for bombs--or heat for power, process and comfort [Block with 8 holes in middle] CARBON MODERATOR [Drawing of a rod to left of block] RODS OF NATURAL URANIUM NEW U235 + u238 MIXTURE [to left of block] PLUTONIUM [shows small rod] [to left of block] URANIUM [show large rod] RETURN TO PILES [to left of block] [To right of block] [3 solid red lines] HEAT OUTPUT [3 irregular red lines] RADIOACTIVE RAYS [Large rod] URANIUM MIXED WITH PLUTONIUM AND FISSION PRODUCTS (MEDIUM ATOMS) DISSOLVED IN ACID AND SEPARATED CHEMICALLY [small rod] FISSION PRODUCTS REMOVED 2. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Include steam for turbines, process and comfort heating--also heat for gas turbines [black box with red lines to left] WATER PILE Steam [drawing of a pan] HEAT FOR PROCESS [drawing of gate] SPACE HEATING [drawing of turbine] TURBINE GENERATOR STEAM FOR POWER [drawing of black box with red lines] PUMP PILE HEAT TRANSFER FLUID [drawing of air heater] AIR COMPRESSOR GAS TURBINE EXHAUST AIR HEATER [drawing of generator] ELECTRIC GENERATOR
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can Serve Man... The fateful U235 atom can serve man as a new, compact source of heat energy for power generation, comfort heating or industrial processing. Peacetime applications of the atomic energy will use dilute U235 or plutonium as a "fuel," mixed with carbon or some of the neutrons and thus keep the chain reaction going. The diluting agent may be either U238 or thorium into U233, which may prove equally serviceable. Thus the commercial piles of the future will "burn" U235 to make other atomic fuels, plutonium and possibly U233, which in turn will deliver heat energy to the pile. In that way it will be possible to get from the pile far more heat than the equivalent of 1400 tons of coal for each pound of U235 split. This highly attractive prospect will speed the day when nuclear energy can compete with coal. While already mechanically obsolete, the poles making plutonium for bombs at Hanford, Wash (Fig. 1) reveal the basic principle on which future piles for power and heat will operate. The heat now wasted in vast quantities will be put to work. The plutonium, now removed for bomb manufacture, will be returned to the pile (or left in) a supplementary fuel. ATOMIC POWER The possible everyday applications of nuclear heat pictured in Fig. 2 have been recognized from the very first day of the Atomic Age. Year 2 will see the building of the world's first atomic power plant (a pilot plant) at Oak Ridge, Tenn. Beyond question such installations will produce power, but it may be years or decades before they prove economical. To compete with conventional plants the piles must first be redesigned to run at temperatures high enough for good power-plant efficiency. Also the techniques of operating piles by remote control through the heavy radiation screens must be radically streamlined. The Hanford piles run on natural uranium containing only 0.7% of U235. The typical commercial atomic power plant of the future will use more than 0.7% of U235 or plutonium, but less than 50%. This will avoid both the low efficiency of the too-lean the mixture and the excessive fuel cost of the rich mixture. It will permit piles of moderate size and take maximum advantage of U238 and thorium as potential sources of plutonium and U233. One should not expect U235 to replace coal generally in this generation, although a few central power stations and ships will try it out before Year 10 of the Atomic Age. Plants far from traditional sources of fuels may turn much sooner to uranium and thorium as concentrated heat sources, that may easily be transported even to remote corners of the earth. Atomic power, in forms now known, is impracticable for automobiles and small airplanes, because of the large initial investment in uranium and the need to carry 50 tons of shielding to protect riders and pedestrians against the deadly radioactivity accompanying nuclear fission. RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPES More immediately important than the heat and power applications of nuclear energy are the services that the radioactive byproducts of pile operation can render. Because these materials act chemically like their ordinary non-radioactive cousins, but can be followed and detected easily, they are expected to play tremendously vital parts in medicine and biology. For more details, see the last page of this section. [Diagram] 1 SLOW-NEUTRON PILE Can make plutonium for bombs--or heat for power, process and comfort [Block with 8 holes in middle] CARBON MODERATOR [Drawing of a rod to left of block] RODS OF NATURAL URANIUM NEW U235 + u238 MIXTURE [to left of block] PLUTONIUM [shows small rod] [to left of block] URANIUM [show large rod] RETURN TO PILES [to left of block] [To right of block] [3 solid red lines] HEAT OUTPUT [3 irregular red lines] RADIOACTIVE RAYS [Large rod] URANIUM MIXED WITH PLUTONIUM AND FISSION PRODUCTS (MEDIUM ATOMS) DISSOLVED IN ACID AND SEPARATED CHEMICALLY [small rod] FISSION PRODUCTS REMOVED 2. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Include steam for turbines, process and comfort heating--also heat for gas turbines [black box with red lines to left] WATER PILE Steam [drawing of a pan] HEAT FOR PROCESS [drawing of gate] SPACE HEATING [drawing of turbine] TURBINE GENERATOR STEAM FOR POWER [drawing of black box with red lines] PUMP PILE HEAT TRANSFER FLUID [drawing of air heater] AIR COMPRESSOR GAS TURBINE EXHAUST AIR HEATER [drawing of generator] ELECTRIC GENERATOR
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