é To and sh . 75 y ' 4 REACTOR DEVELOPMENT Reactor Testing Station (NRTS). Following review of the ALPR hazards summary report by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, operation up to 3,000 thermal kilowatts was au~thorized. Fuel element and core fabrication was completed. Attainment of criticality was expected in August. Gas-Cooled Reactor Experiment (GCRE) Fabrication of the nonnuclear portion of the Gas-Cooled Reactor Experiment (GCRE)at NRTS was begun by Farnsworth & Chambers Co., Inc., of Houston, Texas. Completion is scheduled for April 30, 1959, Final specifications for the fuel elements were established. Fuel plates are to be furnished by M&C Nuclear, Incorporated. Reactor fabrication was under way at Aerojet-General Nucleonics, with completion planned for December 1958. Critical experiment investigations continued at the Battelle Memorial Institute and testing of the reference fuel element was in progress at the Battelle Research Reactor Loop. (End of UNCLASSIFIEDsection.) Advanced Reactor Studies ¥ The Department of Defense in June requested the AEC to develop a prototype plant to meet military and naval needs which could be satisfied by a compact, lightweight, mobile power plant _ with a capacity of up to 3,000 electrical kilowatts. Army Compact Reactor studies were being performed in anticipation of this Department of Defense requirement. Task I, which was completed by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, General Electric Company, and the Nuclear Develop-~ ment Corporation of America, required each of the three contractors to recommend a reactor system which showed the most promise for the above use. The principal concept proposed by maintaining the power plant. Until such time as a firm requirement is received from the Depariment of Defense for such anuclear power plant complex, no further work is planned on this project. (End of BVankr? section.) NAVAL REACTORS ( Naval Reactor Facility (S1W) Criticality of the second replacement core of the S1W plant was achieved on May 3. lsitial power operation began on May 23 and the plant resumed operations for testing and training of BN erewetet we cand “~ 4 personnel on Mzy 30. . 2: DOE ARCHIVES ore eenee « Lideeeettie ed sternal i. Pere! j Investigation of the relative practicability of using barge-mounted or extensible piermounted plants to reduce the costs and construction time for a nuclear power plant complex at Thule, Greenland, was completed by Moran, Proctor, Muesser & Rutledge, and Gibbs & Hill, Inc. After considering the unique site and weather conditions at Thule, it was recommended that separate barge-mounted plants, towed to the site, grounded, and interconnected to form a power plant complex, would be the most practicable method of transporting, installing, and ewe eae each was a version of a liquid-metal-cooled, fast reactor system. Tentative approval of Task I was given by the AEC pending more detailed staff review and evaluation of the proposed concepts, The three contractors were proceeding with Task II—the preliminary design of an initial reactor experiment—with their respective systems.