Homogeneous Reactor Alvin Weinberg stated that Oak Ridge is expending about $17 million a tet we wom . "yo 8 : . ate ioe Roe neater annie: eee os eee hee year on reactor development ~=- fully half of their total budget. Of this, about $7 million is on the Homogeneous Reactor, with $9 million on the Aircraft Reactor and $1 million on miscellaneous projects such as Waste Disposal and the Army Power Package. The objectives of the Homogeneous program are both a thorium power breeder and a producer of high-quality plutonium. | The second Homogeneous Reactor experiment (designated both as HRE-II and as Homogeneous Reactor Test, HRT) is designed for 5 MW of heat and will be installed at the location used by HRE-I,. It is scheduled for operation early in 1956. The planned program has three phases: A, in which operability will be developed; B, operating for plutonium with a uranium blanket solution; and, C, vperating with a blanket of thorium oxide slurry in heavy water. The next step beyond the HRT is a pilot plant reactor for 65 MW of heat or possibly a ee — something mucl™larger. Corrosion and nuclear stability continue to be critical questions, and the degree of optimism at Oak Ridge is continually fluctuating as new data are secured, At the time of our visit some disturbing corrosion results from small "in-pile" tests had evidently had a depressing effect. irradiation has not yet progressed very far. Testing under We were shown a corrosion "test-— lowp" ready for insertion in a pile which was stated to represent $750,000 of development expense. We feel that the Homogeneous Reactor approach has such potentialities that strong and aggressive efforts to develop it as a workable and reliable system are well justified. Whether it will prove practicable in its present