The US Army’s Nuclear Power Program in FilmANS Nuclear CafeFebruary 14, 2020, 11:03PM|Will DavisOur ANS Nuclear Cafe Friday Matinee feature this week is a film produced to detail the United States Army’s nuclear power program; it was archived and then put online by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore.Particularly in the decade of the 1950’s there was an enormous rush in all quarters of the varied branches of the military forces of the United States to determine whether or not nuclear energy could be put to any practical use. Sometimes, there were projects that just didn’t make sense; usually these were cancelled early. However, quite a number reached hardware stages even without any real guarantee of operational deployment; the Air Force’s nuclear powered bomber concept comes to mind as one of those projects not really likely to be deployed but for which much was spent and some hardware built before cancellation. (This includes a 3 MWt air cooled reactor carried aloft in the converted NB-36 bomber, as well as GE aircraft power plants now displayed at INL by EBR-I.)The Army had unique ops problems, some of which nuclear power theoretically could solve. Operationally it was felt that nuclear power could and should displace power generation in many areas, particularly in a potential land war scenario where generation would be set up as the Army advanced; this would free up diesel fuel (being used in stationary generator sets) for use in forward deployed vehicles such as combat tanks and ease logistics. Aside from potential mobile combat operations the Army was tasked with operating a wide variety of fixed or semi-fixed outposts worldwide such as remote radar stations near the arctic – a deployment that nuclear could certainly solve if built in the proper way.Because of these needs for mobility and/or deployment to distant locations it became, more or less, the hallmark of Army nuclear proposals to be mobile – which is to say constantly movable, or else unitary in construction to allow transport by air or truck to such location as the plant was to be operated, which would then become semi-fixed. The design creativity required to meet these mobile demands pushed the limits of the technology of the day and encompassed both light water and what we’d call “advanced” reactors today as well.Our film runs just about 24 minutes and unfortunately the sound level is very low in this transcription, so you’ll need to turn you volume up considerably or else use headphones. Even with this the film has much to offer – and shows a glimpse of what can be done when there’s a major government and private cooperative effort to develop and deploy a variety of technologies rapidly.For more information: The first operational Army nuclear plant was the APPR, later called SM-1, located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Read more about that plant here at ANS Nuclear Cafe!Will Davis has been a member of the Board of Directors for the N/S Savannah Association, Inc. He has been a contributing author for Fuel Cycle Week, and wrote his own popular blog Atomic Power Review. Davis is also a consultant and writer for the American Nuclear Society, and serves as Vice Chair of ANS’ Book Publishing Committee. He is a former U.S. Navy reactor operator and served on SSBN-641, USS Simon Bolivar. His popular Twitter account, @atomicnews is mostly devoted to nuclear energy. He likes to collect typewriters and early pocket calculators, which are piling up.Tags:army nuclear power programfriday matineenuclear historyu.s. armyShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Army Off-Road Nuclear Train – 1958At the end of the 1950’s the US Army was looking at its entire operational sphere to determine in what areas nuclear energy could be of benefit. While many of these are fairly well known today – for example, the small nuclear plants that were to have been installed at remote locations for powering bases like the Defense Early Warning stations – there are a few applications that remain obscure.Go to Article
Thoughts on THRESHERAs is the case on every 10APR, I find myself – even in the midst of the present national and, really, worldwide crisis – returning to thoughts of the USS THRESHER on this date in 1963. All of us who have been through the Naval Nuclear Power Program and served in submarines are aware to greater or lesser extent what happened; my experience, having served aboard one of the SUBSAFE boats whose development was a direct result of the accident, lends perhaps to more sustained reflection.Go to Article
Power and Promise: Early Atomic Power in Film!Our ANS Nuclear Cafe matinee feature this week is a fascinating in-depth look at the fabrication of major components for, and the construction of, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station. In this film you’ll get to see some very interesting, rarely seen things; I will add some comments above and beyond what’s described in the film below. Go to Article
Experimental Breeder Reactor I: A retrospectiveIn the not-so-distant 20th century past, our planet was in an uncertain new-world order. The second of two major wars had dramatically reshaped the landscape of the world's nations. It was not by any means assured that the extraordinary nuclear process of fission, which itself had been discovered mere years before the second war's end, would be successfully utilized for anything but the tremendous and frightening powers realized in thermonuclear warheads. In the years following, a humble project materializing out of the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho was to challenge that assertion and demonstrate that nuclear fission could indeed be a commercial, peaceful source of electrical power for civilizations around the globe.Go to Article
RadioNuclear 22: HBO’s Chernobyl: A Setback or Opportunity? Episode 22 of RadioNuclear is now available. In this episode, we discuss the recent miniseries "Chernobyl", which recently concluded on HBO. We debunk some of the more egregious articles written in the wake of the show (see links to these articles below). We also discuss good ways to engage with individuals who are captivated with the show, and not necessarily familiar with nuclear technology.Go to Article
Anniversary ObservationsThe seismic event was huge and was felt all over the world. With a moment magnitude of over 9.0, the earthquake and was the fourth largest ever in the more than 100 years of recorded history. Huge land masses shifted as much as 2.4 meters, and the rotation of the earth was changed so that days were suddenly just a little (but measurable) bit shorter. It had sped up the world.Go to Article
EBR-1 in PhotosDecember 20, 1951 marks an important date in the history of nuclear power; it's the date on which the first useful electric power was generated by atomic fission. While the now-famous event at that time only powered four light bulbs, the somewhat stunt-like nature of the day obscured the fact that the plant was actually set up to generate considerably more power, and did so. Let's take a look at this fact and, at the same time, the facility through illustrations from my collection and from photographs that I took myself while touring EBR-1 earlier this year.Go to Article
Listen: ANS Member Dr. Christopher Morrison on Space Radiation & MoreANS member Dr. Christopher Morrison was a recent guest on The Space Show. Dr. Morrison covered space radiation, lifetime radiation limitations, legal limits, rodent GCR and radiation experimentation, terrestrial radiation simulations, space nuclear power & propulsion, super-cooling conductivity.Go to Article
Today in History: Einstein Presented World with Famous Equation in PhysicsAlbert Einstein is one of the most well-known physicists throughout history. Among other things, he is also known for formulating the world-famous equation E=mc2, the equation that relates that energy and mass as not separate, but rather a single entity. This equation opened doors to numerous scientific advances.Go to Article
Nuclear Plant Construction Delay and Cost 3 Reactor vessel delivered to Calvert Cliffs; from brochure in Will Davis collection.The year 1971 saw a continuation of the general trend of rising capital costs for all types of power plants, described by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in its publication for 1971 as having "risen rather rapidly." According to the AEC, the aggregate major causes for the increases in costs specific to nuclear electric power plants were as follows, with author's analysis accompanying each:Go to Article