ce
Co
The anticipated A.E.C. figures in 1957 and 1958 exceed those of 1956 and then
taper off. Defense Department budgets are somewhat less at present but are
expected to far exceed A.E,.C.'s as development proceeds.
Gen. Keirn estimates
that a total of $139 million will have been spent by AEC and the Air Force by
July 1955 and that about $325 million will have been expended in bringing the
two approaches up tothe initial testing of Ground Prototype Propulsion Systems,
Additional Air Force funds will be needed before there is a propulsion system
ready for flight test.
There are two parallel approaches:
the Fluid Fuel reactor under develop-
ment at Oak Ridge, with Pratt and Whitney collaborating, and the direct air
cycle being developed by General Electric at Lockland, Ohio.
A paper study on
a heterogeneous reactor cooled by sodium has been prepared by Nuclear Development Associates and could constitute. another approach if this is deemed
.oToadvigsblte
Fluid Fuel Reactor
The Fluid Fuel reactor which Oak Ridge is developing (also known as the
Circulating Fuel Reactor or the Fire Ball) is a beryllium-moderated reactor,
fueled by a circulating fused salt mixture containing uranium, and cooled by
sodium or Nak.
The energy from the reactor is to be converted into propulsive
thrust for the aircraft by transferring heat from the sodium to air from the
compressor just before it enters the turbine of a reasonably—conventional jet
engine.
(The first reactor experiment - ARE - went critical Nov. 4th.)
The technical problems are serious, centering around materials and
corrosion.
One of the fused salt mixtures which had been considered favorably
: