ay * a . “ae bop REACTOR DEVELOPMENT reactor unit) were revised by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, the Alr Force prime con' tractor for the Air Force Advanced Reconnalssance Satellite, Weapons System 117L (WS-1171L). The revisions were made in accordance with AEC’s recommendations. Destructive tests of SNAP I cores, less the fuel, were made under conditions simulating launching faflures, Complete Integrity of molybdenum cores and flame spray coatings was maintained. The availability and use of curium 242 were under investigation as a possible alternative to cerium 144 as a radiolsotope fuel for satellite auxiliary power units. Final design specifications of the SNAP II Power and Environmental Test Facility at Santa Susana, California, were completed on May 5. The Ralph M. Parsons Company was selected as the architect-engineer for the facility. Direct conversion of heat to electricity was under investigation for use in small, low-power auxiliary power units, The Martin Company negotiated a subcontract with the Westinghouse Electric Corporation for the development of a 1- to 3-watt conversion device, Thermionic con- version techniques of General Electric Company, Atomic Power Equipment Department, and the Thermo Electron Engineering Corporation were also being considered for development. (End of GEG section.) ARMY REACTORS Army Package Power Reactors (APPR) APPR-1 (UNCLASSIFIED). The 2,000-electrical kilowatt plant at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, continued in normal operation and had generated approximately 12,000,000 gross electrical kilowatt-hours by the end of June. Core life for the plant passed the halfway mark with 7 thermal megawatt years of its expected 13 megawatt-year life expended. ck Alco Products, Inc., the plant operator under 2 jointly funded Army-AEC operating contract, continued its research and developmenttask of evaluating operating characteristics of the plent and improving component performance. The plant continued to serve as a training facility for military operating crews during the period, in addition to providing operating data. APPR-1A. Fort Greeley, Alaska, is to be the site of the APPR-1A, the Army’s first field model reactor, patterned after the Fort Belvoir prototype. Peter Kiewit Sons, Inc., was selected in May by the Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District, to construct the plant. (End of UNCLASSIFIED section.) APPR-1B BEg@eog ). In response to a Department of Defense requirement, the AEC is developing an improved APPR-type core system, designated as the APPR-1B, capable of producing about 2.5 times the reactor heat of the present APPR-1 core and having a minimum core (v life of one year at full power. The intended application is to provide electric power for the Nike- Zeus air deferse system. (End of08 section.) APPR-2 (UNCLASSIFIED). The AEC agreed to participate in a 2-year joint development project with the Air Force to develop, procure, and test a second generation APPR-type plant, designated as APPR-2. The design will emphasize the optimum packaging of components in order to reduce construction time and effort at remote sites. Argonne Low Fower Reactor (ALPR) :tt DOE ARCHIVES Construction of the ALPR,a boiling water reactor designed to produce 200 electrical kilowatts and 400 thermal kilowatts for space heating, was essentially completed at the National “4