power available in abundance to decent men and women everywhere throughout the world.

As Americans, we may find it difficult to understand why the ideaor better, the actuality-of low cost atomic power can be so revolutionary in its impact. This land of ours has been uniquely blessed by God. We have large reserves of cheap coal and oil and hydroelectric power. Even so, our requirements for energy from all sources-both atomic and conventional-will expand enormously in the coming decades. We are going to need all the help which both atomic power and conventional fuels can give us if the production of energy is to keep pace with our spiralling demands.

But now take the case of Asia, Africa, or Latin America-or most of Europe for that matter. Over those vasts areas of the world, conventional fuels are scarce or even non-existent and electricity is very high in price. Turkey, for instance, is now making a valiant effort to industrialize and raise the standards of life for its people. But power in Turkey is about three times as costly as power in our United States-and this fact is a tremendous obstacle to future economic development.

What I am saying is simply this: Cheap and abundant power, for most of the world, is now a matter of economic life or death. Without cheap and abundant power, the economically underdeveloped areas cannot hope to end their age old proverty and privation. Yet if they could secure cheap power, they would have a magnificent opportunity-their first real chance in all history-to raise their standards of life to a new plateau.

Eighteen months ago, President Eisenhower stood before the United Nations and presented for the approval of the world our atoms for peace plan. He expressed our nation's willingness to help others help themselves to achieve atomic plenty. A year ago, the Congress of the United States went on record as favoring these same objectiveswhen it passed a new atomic energy law permitting our nation to enter into agreements for peacetime atomic cooperation with other nations. Next month, the eyes of the world will be focused on the International Conference on the Peacetime Uses of Atomic Energy to be held at Geneva. The idea of this conference was originally proposed by us, and in a sense, our representatives at this conference will stand on trial. What we do-or do not do-will be watched and weighed by the entire world.

What will we offer the world at Geneva? Will it be merely pious hopes and expressions of good intention? Or will we offer the world some reasonable assurance that low cost power will be widely available in the relatively near future? Will we, furthermore, offer the world some real assurance that those nations willing to accept the obligation of peacetime atomic partnership with us can count on our wise and generous assistance in meeting their needs? And above all, will we be able to show the world that our nation is simply not talking aboutbut is actually working upon-every possible way to develop low cost atomic power at the earliest possible date?

The fission power reactors which can be built today produce heat through the fissioning of uranium and other heavy elements in a controlled chain reaction. In turn, this heat is used to produce steam, which, for its own part, may be then used to generate elec

tricity. In short, these are simply power plants which run on atomic fuel-just as conventional power plants run on coal and oil. But the atomic reactors we know how to build today are cumbersome and costly. It is necessary to rely on complex heat exchangers and conventional turbogenerators to translate the heat into electricity. Over 65 percent of the available energy is lost and wasted in the conversion process. When compared to the reactors of future decades, the atomic power reactors of today will no doubt be regarded as primitive machines.

Notwithstanding this, however, today's reactors could compete favorably with conventional electricity at this very moment through most of Europe, Africa and Asia. So I believe we have the obligation of showing, at Geneva, that our development program on these conventional reactors is intelligent enough, and bold enough, to assure their practical use at the earliest possible date.

But the real technological breakthrough in fission reactors would occur if we could convert atomic energy directly into electricity without going through an expensive stage of heat exchangers and turbogenerators. I refer, in short, to the direct generation of electricity. No one has ever accomplished this-but scientists have long suspected that atomic power might lend itself to such direct generation. Will we be able to tell the world, at Geneva, that we are doing our best to see if this revolutionary technological advance can be accomplished? Finally, there is the dramatic possibility of controlling thermonuclear energy-or hydrogen energy-to produce power from the light elements. This would be equivalent to using the energy from the sun and stars for constructive purposes here on earth. Our hydrogen bombs prove that uncontrolled thermonuclear energy can be released here on earth. It has long been known, on theoretical grounds, that it might be possible to harness hydrogen energy for constructive uses. In fact, references to this possibility were in public hearings before the Senate Special Committee on Atomic Energy ten years ago. And on the news stands this very moment, there is an article dealing with the subject of the possibility of controlling hydrogen energy for man's benefit. It appears in Foreign Affairs and it was witten by Mr. John S. Walker, a former counsel of the Joint Committee. Will we be able to tell the world, at Geneva, whether we are trying our hardest to find out whether this technique can be mastered? Our nation now leads the world in both military and peacetime developments of atomic energy. At Geneva, the world will decide whether we are living up to the responsibility of that leadership.

It will be my good fortune to attend the Geneva Conference as an official American participant. When the Conference is over, all of us associated with the atomic energy program and all responsible American citizens as well-will have the duty of measuring how well we discharged our responsibilities at this critical meeting.

Let us hope that, when the Conference has ended, we will be able to say: It was in the City of Geneva that the idea which is stronger than marching feet first set mankind to marching toward a new city of man-a city made rich by the power of the atom bent to the ways of peace.

Remarks of Senator Clinton P. Anderson, Chairman, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, at the Dedication Ceremonies of the First Sale of Atomic-Electric Power, Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, West Milton, N. Y., July 18, 1955

For all those whose faith in the peacetime promise of atomic energy has been unswerving, this is the day of vindication. On this day steam from a prototype submarine reactor is being channeled into a turbine generator to produce electric energy which can light homes and turn the wheels of industry. Today, we again have proof positive that the fantastic power of atomic energy-which in its military applications threatens to destroy all we hold dear-can also be bent to the ways of peace.

This is a day of fulfillment, but even more, it is a day of promise and a day of challenge-promise of the material bounty which can be ours if only we develop the peaceful atom in the way it must be developed to contribute fully to the welfare of our nation and the world as a whole.

I salute all those responsible for the splendid achievement which brings us together today. But in our due and proper rejoicing on this occasion, let us realize that today we have simply passed another milestone on the road to useful peacetime atomic power available in abundance and at low cost. The goal now stands clearly above the horizon-but it will not be reached quickly without renewed dedication-and without still greater ingenuity, boldness, and willingness to sacrifice.

The atomic engine which produces the steam and heat which today is being translated into commercial power is a triumph of scientific and engineering skill. The power plants of the U. S. S. Sea Wolf and the Nautilus promise to revolutionize naval warfare. From the vantage point of history, these first atomic submarines will rank with the invention of Robert Fulton and the ironclad. Yet these remarkable power plants, nonetheless, were designed specifically for efficient underseas atomic propulsion. The peacetime application we are witnessing today is incidental to their main purpose-they are not intended to generate electricity at competitive prices.

Yet, as I am sure those responsible for today's historic demonstration would be the first to agree, the deepest meaning of this occasion lies in its promise of things yet to come. We can best commemorate this achievement by now pledging ourselves anew to an attack on those problems which must be surmounted before the widespread use of atomic power is commercially practicable.

I take it that there will be no dispute concerning how this goal can be reached most quickly. It is through a team effort of government and industry-with each partner taking on the responsibilities it is best prepared to assume. Above all, the goal of commercially practical atomic power will be most quickly reached if we pursue it with all the skill, all the ingenuity, all the daring, and all the resources our free enterprise system can muster.

The Atomic Energy Law of 1954 gives private enterprise new opportunities in atomic energy. But side by side with this, it presents private enterprise with new challenges, new burdens, and new risks.

It could be said that atomic power will not be widely competitive with conventional electricity here in the United States for several

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years to come. I agree but I say in return that atomic power would be a commercially attractive proposition at this very moment in the high-cost power areas of our nation. I say also that it could now stand on its own feet in the power-starved areas abroad-in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

It could be pointed out that hard and knotty technical problems require solution before power reactors of advanced design can be built. It could be said also that large sums of money must be risked if we are to construct large-scale power reactors with private funds: Again I agree. But ingenuity, boldness, and risk-taking are the very foundations of the economic system which has made our nation prosperous and great.

Recall the history of the atomic submarine. Ten years ago, the prophets who wished to play it safe declared that atomic propulsion was a full generation away. It was hard to argue against such prophets. All the narrow statistics, all the supposed hard facts, all the precise calculations were apparently on their side. With slide rules and graphs, they could prove, in advance, that the job of putting an atomic engine in the hull of a submarine would require twenty or thirty years of arduous and painstaking research. They could prove, in advance, that neither our skill nor our available materials were equal to the task of constructing such a vessel at an early date.

Fortunately, however, our atomic submarines were designed and built by men who refused to play it safe. They were designed and built by men with boundless faith in the future of atomic energy, and in man's ability to harness this new force.

Faith triumphed over so-called hard facts. Dedicated to the single cause of building atomic submarines as quickly as possible-no matter how great the difficulties-our goal was achieved and not in the 1970's but twenty years sooner.

Should our experience with the atomic submarines not teach us a moral? The principles underlying the design of atomic propulsion units and peacetime power reactors are of course closely related. And if we achieved the atomic submarine with altogether unexpected speed, does it not follow that we may also achieve practical commercial atomic power far in advance of pessimists' timetables-if only we attack the problem with the same vigor we brought to the development of the engines for the Nautilus and the Sea Wolf?

It would be easy to make hard-headed practical arguments in urging American industry to go all-out in peacetime atomic development. We are the greatest industrial nation on earth-and we propose to remain so. We will remain so only if we lead the world in every race for new technological discoveries.

And the harnessing of atomic energy for peacetime power may well be the decisive factor determining the future outcome of the contest for world industrial and technical pre-eminence.

But I will not stop with this. Man has now discovered, within the nucleus of the atom, a force which, if uncontrolled, may bring the story of mankind to a hideous close. Is it therefore not our simple and unadorned moral duty to take this new force and use it to bring new life, new warmth, and new abundance to our troubled planet?

We pride ourselves on being a nation of pioneers. This historic region where we now gather was first settled by pioneers who made their way up the broad Hudson and across the Mohawk Valley. We

were still a nation of pioneers when we won the fateful races for the atomic and the hydrogen bomb. Let us now continue to be pioneers as we address ourselves to the even greater challenge of controlling atomic energy so that it will be used not to destroy but to improve the lot of mankind all over the earth.

Remarks by Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman, United States Atomic Energy Commission, for Generation of Power From SIR Mark A, West Milton, N. Y., July 18, 1955

Looking ahead to this occasion during the past few days, I found myself thinking back to an event that preceded this one by twelve and a half years.

I tried to create in my mind's eye what the scene must have been on that raw winter's afternoon of December 2, 1942, under the stands of Stagg Field Stadium at the University of Chicago. There, you will remember, Enrico Fermi and his small group of associates prepared to start the first atomic reactor.

What were their emotions in that moment of eternity? Did any vision of the future reveal itself to them as the control rods were slowly inched out of the slots in that primitive pile of uranium and graphite?

Of course, there could be no public celebration of that event. Another two and a half years were to pass before the secret could be told of man's success in mastering the energy of the invisible atom by means of a self-sustained chain reaction.

Dr. Fermi and the other scientists who were guardians of that awesome secret foresaw even then just such a day as this when the energy they had brought under control would be used to light homes, provide propulsion and turn the wheels of industry.

They knew that one pound of uranium-a piece no larger than a golf ball-if fissioned completely, could produce as much energy as two-and-a-half million pounds of coal. The energy bound up in such a one-pound ingot of natural uranium would represent about 3-million kilowatt hours of electricity. Or to express it slightly differently, 400 to 500 pounds of natural uranium could provide all the electric power currently used in the United States, assuming that complete fission could be achieved. Furthermore, it was early recognized that, in a reactor designed for the purpose, the uranium could be so handled as to breed more fissionable material at the same time it was furnishing heat. In this respect, uranium has a potential which conventional fuels do not possess.

However, on that December day in 1942, the men gathered around that first atomic reactor had little time to speculate on the future. Dreams of atomic power for man's peaceful pursuits had to be put aside. We were at war, and the goal was to win a deadly race to produce an atomic weapon. We had good reason to believe that the Germans were working on such a weapon, and it was clear that we had no recourse but to see that we were not bested and beaten to that goal.

Once the war was over, we were compelled to continue the development of nuclear weapons, because no other prudent course lay open