REACTOR DEVELOPMENT

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Gas-cooled, Graphite-moderated Nuclear Power Plant
On September 22 a public announcement was issued inviting proposals to desSgn, develop,
construct, and operate a gas-cooled, graphite-moderated nuclear power plant on the basis of a
cooperative arrangement under which the AEC would provide research and development assistance to be agreed upon. The proposals were to be submitted by November 21, 1958. A site

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selection board was established on September 22 to evaluate possible AEC sites for location of
the gas-cooled power reactor in the event that acceptable proposals are not received,
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Summary of Power Demonstration Projects
Table 1 contains general data on specifications and construction schedules and costs for
those projects which are under contract, or for which a basis of contract negotiation has been

‘approved. The following paragraphs summarizethe status of these projects at the end of

September.

First Invitation

for

Construction of the pressurized water reactor plant for the Yankee Atomic Electric Company at Rowe, Massachusetts, was approximately 9 percent complete and slightly ahead of
schedule, The foundation for the reactor and vapor container was placed, and the steel structure for the building was completed. Fabrication was completed of the in-pile test loop to be
inserted in the Materials Testing Reactor.
The contract between the Yankee Atomic Electric Company and the AEC was signed June 6,
1958. The Westinghouse Electric Corporation is the designer, and the Stone and Webster Engineering Company is the architect-engineer and construction contractor.
Construction of the power plant building and the control building was in progress for the
Power Reactor Development Company (PRDC) fast breeder power plant at Monroe, Michigan.

The contract between PRDC and AEC was signed on March 26, 1957. Atomic Power Development Associates, Inc., of Detroit has been selected by PRDC to design the reactor.
Commonwealth Associates, Inc., of Jackson, Michigan, is the architect-engineer. United
Engineers and Constructors, Inc., of Philadelphia is the erection engineer. The Detroit Edison
Company, one of the 21 companies comprising PRDC, will build, own, and operate the electric
power generating facilities of the plant, and will distribute the power over its system.
Preliminary design was completed for the Hallam Nuclear Power Facility, the sodium
graphite reactor project which is to provide steam to the power plant of the Consumers Public
Power District at Hallam, Nebraska. At the end of September the preliminary design was
being reviewed, work on engineering design was initiated, and the preliminary safeguards

report was being evaluated. The possibility was being studied of using the radioactive sodium

coolant from the reactor to irradiate various industrial products and food. This application
appears promising.
Atomics International was selected to perform the research, development, and nuclear
design of the reactor by Consumers Public Power District under the terms of its proposal of
April 1955, which contemplated that the reactor would be constructed by Consumers. However,
under the terms of the contract executec September 20, 1957, between AEC and Consumers,
AEC will construct the reactor, while Consumers will provide the site and a turbogenerator,

will contribute $5,220,000 toward the cost of the construction of the nuclear portion of the
plant, and will operate the plmt for 5 years. Following execution of this contract, continued
responsibility of Atomics International for research, development, and design work for the
project was provided under Atomics International’s existing contract with the AEC. The HIVES

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