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UNCLASSIFIED
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REACTOR DEVELOPMENT

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CIVILIAN POWER REACTORS

Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Reactor Policies and Programs
An Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Reactor Policies and Programs was established in
September to review the AEC civilian power program andto advise on future power reactor
policies. It was planned that the committee would complete its task by December 31, 1958,

Mr. A. Tammaro, Assistant General Manager for Research and Industrial Development, was

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appointed chairman, Other members of the committee are Nsted below,
Dr. Henry D. Smyth
Vice-Chairman

Chairman, Board of Scientific and Engineering
Research, Princeton University

.

Mr. James Black

Chairman, Pacific Gas and Electric Company

Mr. Marion W. Boyer

Standard Oil Company of New Jersey

Dr. Harvey Brooks
.

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Dean of Engineering and Applied Physics,
Harvard University

Mr. Eger V. Murphree

President, Esso Research and Engineering
- Company

Mr. Eugene Starr

Bonneville Power Administration

Dr. Robert E, Wilson

Formerly Chairman of the Board of Standard
Oll Company of Indiana

AEC Experimental Power Reactor Projects
Pressurized-water type. The Shippingport Atomic Power Plant completed on August 14a
1,000-bour test at full power during which more than 60,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electrical
power were generated for the system of the Duquesne Light Company. The test provided
valuzble information in such areas as core life, primary coolant radiochemistry, and primary
plant radioactivity levels. Extended periods of steady power operation such as this 1,000-hour
test are necessary to obtain reliable data on these characteristics because they change slowly
with time and are affected by the plant power level. During the remainder of August and the
first 3 weeks of September periodic physics tests were conducted involving both critical and
subcritical operation. A period of concentrated operator training and routine plant maintenance
also was completed. A second 1,000-hour full-power test was begun on September 22.
Boiling-water type.

Test operation of the Experimental Boiling Water Reactor (EBWR)at

Argenns Nation2] Laboratory (ANL) with an intentionally ruptured fuel element was interrupted
on September 9 when a condenser leak was detected. The power level of the plant was decreased
from 20,030 thermal kilowatts to 5,000 thermal kilowatts while repairs were made to the con-

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censer. Personnel were able to enter the condenser to make repairs without receiving radiation
exposure above the maximum permissible limit. The reactor resumed operation at 20,000
thermal Eilowatis on September 10.
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BORAX IV was shut down at the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS) and is to be disrmantle¢. BORAX V, which is to use some of the supporting facilities of BORAX IV, is to have
2 fexible assercbly which can be used to evaluate new core configurations, void fractions,
water-to-fsel ratios, and nuclear superheat, as well as forced circulation, The facility is to be

completed about the end of the calendar year 1959,

DOE ARCHIVES

Homozeneous type. During the first part of the quarter the Homogeneous Reactor Experiment No. 2 (HR=-2) at Oak Ridge continued to operate 25 a quasi-two-region reactor. For2,,
:

UNCLASSIFIED

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