ae ce keRE TRIN at In the report of our Thirty~fifth Meeting we referred to our understanding that the Commission intended to make a thorough technical review of the civil power substitute for the aircraft carrier propulsion reactor project in order to determine the best direction this should take for future progress. We regret that this course did not seem practical in advance of the Commission's d ion to choose the reactor chiefly designed for this application as the first civilian power reactor. After the presentations made to us, it was the cansensys of the Committee that thepressurized water reactor type, whether using _ Light water and enriched uranium or heavy water and ordinary uraniun, is one of the promising lines of development. However, it is not as yet evident to us that the particular design chosen will meet reasonable economic criteria. In this connection, some of our members felt strongly that if the first civilian power reactor were grossly uneconomic, the whole program would experience a severe set-back, reliable estimates fulfil certain economic criteria. Two alternative criteria were suggested: first, that the capital cost per installed kilowatt bé not greater than twice that of a comparable steam power ‘ } There was a strong body of opinion in the Committee that the idea of Government subsidy-t-Ghefomor” other should be adopted during the first stages of the civilian use of atomic power, on the ground that such fostering of infant industries has ample precedent in our national history and would enable the program to advance much more rapidly than would otherwise be possible. Subsidy could take the form of a favorable price for the fuel material, a bonus on the basis of power delivered, or plutonium purchase, ° As noted above the Committee feels that there are several promising lines of development in the civilian pewer field, of which the pressurized water type is one. One of the others is the sodium-graphite reactor, and we were gratified to learn that the Commission has found it possible to provide funds for a sodium-graphite reactor experiment. 2. We discussed with Dr. Johnson the plans of the Research Division to support the design and construction in the near future of an ultrahigh energy particle accelerator in the multidillion volt (15-25 Bev) range. In the report of our Thirty-third Meeting we recommended that Le ee ALD 4 plant; or, second, that the cost of electricity from the plant not exceed the competitive cost in the area in which it would be placed by more than two mills per kilowatt-hour, While the Committee agreed that the first civilian power reactor should meet economic criteria, one of our members felt strongly that the most important application of atomic power is ship propulsion for military purposes, . cost and performance estimates could be reachedbefore construction, and that funds should not be committed for construction unless these Kaptan, CO It was the consensus.ofthe Committee that this development shoulda~Y be guided by the principle of arriving at a design for which reliable