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A contract for the design, engineering, and construction of a nuclear reactor has been awarded by Battelle Institute, Columbus, Ohio, to the American Machine and Foundry Company, New York.
The reactor will be a key component in a 1ยฝ-million-dollar atomic research center Battelle is building fifteen miles west of downtown Columbus. This reactor will be one of the first in the country to be owned and operated by a private organization.
The reactor will be designed to be of broad use in the study of problems of industry by providing an intense source of neutrons and atomic radiation for research uses. It will supplement a large cobalt-60 gamma radiation source now being installed by Battelle, and reactor development and hot-cell laboratories planned by the Institute.
One of the most important uses of the reactor will be to furnish neutrons for conducting exponential experiments on power-reactor cores. Such experiments are necessary in the development of nuclear plants for the generation of electricity.
The reactor will also be used in Battelle's research for the chemical, petroleum, metals, machinery, ceramics, electronics, food processing, textile, and pharmaceutical industries. Its intense radiation will make possible new explorations in the field of radiation-activated chemical reactions. It will provide radioisotopes for tracer studies in agriculture, medicine, wear and lubrication, and many other fields of science and technology. An important application will be in the study of the effects of radiation on engineering materials that will be used in atomic engines.
The reactor, together with auxiliary equipment and the building in which it is to be housed, will cost an estimated one-half million dollars. Design work will start immediately. Construction will begin after review and licensing by the Atomic Energy Commission. The target date for "going critical" (starting the nuclear fission reaction) is February 1, 1956.
Actively engaged in atomic energy development since the earliest days of the United States atomic energy program, the American Machine and Foundry Company has designed and developed a variety of special atomic energy equipment. The company has been especially engaged in reactor design and in the development and manufacture of reactor-control and remote-handling systems. American Machine and Foundry was one of the first companies to join on an individual basis
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