REACTOR DEVELOPMENT
Argonne Low Power Reactor (ALPR)
The ALPR, a boiling water reactor designed to produce 200 kilowatts of electricity and
400 kilowatts of space heat, achieved criticality on August 12 at the National Reactor Testing
Station (NRTS). At the end of September the plant was undergoing zero-power tests. Considerable progress was made in developing a low-cost powder-metallurgy approach using an alumi-
num alloy to fabricate ALPR-type fuel plates. Plants of the ALPR type are intended for use at
small, remote military installations,
Selection of a contractor was under way to replace the Argonne National Laboratory as
operator of the ALPR on January 1, 1958, The contractor is to carry out research and development work on small boil{ng-water reactor power plants to Include over-all system analyses,
preparation for higher power operation, and study of packaging techniques to reduce onsite
erection time of subsequent plants,
Gas Cooled Reactor Experiment (GCRE)
Criticelty of the GCRE is scheduled for the summer of 1959 at NRTS. Fabrication of the
nonnuclear portion by Farnsworth & Chambers Co., Inc., of Houston, Texas, was 12 percent
complete and is scheduled to be finished at the end of April 1958, Aerojet-General Corporation
.
submitted the final working drawings for installation of the reactor and control equipment, end
completed preparations to assemble the fuel elements from plates to be furnished by M&C
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Nuclear, Inc. Testing of the reference fuel element continued at the Battelle Research Reactor
loop. (End of UNCLASSIFIED section.)
Portable Gas Cooled Reactor (PGCR) (SEREIDEDIE
In August the Department of Defense requested that the AEC expand its efforts in the development of gas-cooled reactors to include design, construction, and test operation by June 30,
1962, of a prototype mobile nuclear power plant. The plant, which is to have a capacity of 400
electrical kilowatts and 300 thermma! kilowatts for space heating, must be capable of operating
Advanced Reactor Studies
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Form2i zpproval was given to the three contractors performing studies on compact reactors for the Army to proceed with the preliminary design of an initial reactor experiment
(Task II) in the development of a compact, lightweight, mobile power plant with 2 czpacity of
up to 3,000 electrical kilowatts. To meet these requirements the three contractors, Curtiss-
Wright Corporation, General Electric Company, and the Nuclear Development Corporation of
America, hac each previously proposed (Task I) a version of a liquid-metal-cooled, fast reactor system. Final submission of the studies is due in December. (End of @@@8%S@isq section.)
NAVAL REACTORS(QaRSeENTE:
Nuclear Submarines in Operation
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with the Navy are tabulated on the following page.
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DOE ARCHIVES
The miles traveled and core life consumed by nuclear-powered submarines in operation
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under extreme environmental conditions and must be adaptable to transportation intact by
trailer or cargo aircraft. (End of pRRiy section.)