Breeder Reactor Generates Power.--Small amounts of electric power have been produced from heat energy released in the operation of the experimental breeder reactor, recently completed at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho, it was announced recently by A. Tammaro, Manager of the Chicago Operations Office of the Atomic Energy Commission.
In a trial run, electrical power of more than 100 kilowatts was generated and used to operate the pumps and other reactor equipment and to provide light and electrical facilities for the building that houses it. Test operations will be resumed after further adjustments of the reactor system.
The heat energy generated was removed from the reactor by a liquid metal at a temperature high enough to generate steam to drive the turbine.
The principal function of the breeder reactor is the long range goal of converting non fissionable material into fissionable material more rapidly than nuclear fuel is consumed, a process that would contribute to expansion of the current atomic weapons program.
The power generation phase is incidental but is being carried out to secure experimental information on the handling of liquid metals at high temperatures under radioactive conditions and on the extraction of heat from a reactor in a useful manner. The system at the breeder reactor can never generate large amounts of electrical power but it does provide a useful tool for carrying out such experimental studies.
No comparisons should be made of the cost of producing electric power from this reactor with power from conventional sources. Cost was not an essential factor in the power phase of the Idaho reactor and the experiment is in no way intended to establish the feasibility of producing electrical power economically from nuclear sources. The technical information gained, however, may be useful in the design of future reactors aimed at generating electricity at a competitive cost.