Word: plutonium
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From within Washington's secrecy-walled atomic energy councils, a rumble of dispute occasionally bursts into notice like a volcano's reminder of subterranean turmoil. Such a rumble was audible in Washington last week in the debate over whether the U.S. should build another reactor to produce plutonium, a radioactive element now much needed for compact, low-fallout nuclear weapons. Yes, said Congress. No, said the President. Underlying the conflict was the chronic tension between the Administration's desire to avoid needless expenditure and military leaders' nagging fears that the U.S. is skimping on national defense...
Over the past two years, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have decided that the plutonium output of the U.S. Government's reactors at Hanford. Wash, and Savannah River, S.C. is not large enough to meet future needs for tactical nuclear weapons and air-defense missiles. This year, at the urging of the Joint Chiefs, the Atomic Energy Commission decided to put in a request for a third plutonium reactor. The nickel-nipping Budget Bureau, backed up by President Eisenhower and Defense Secretary Neil H. McElroy, overruled the request...
Convinced, the 18-member Joint Committee unanimously voted out a $145 million authorization for a third plutonium reactor, to be built near the 14-year-old veteran at Hanford. Last week, in the teeth of President Eisenhower's letter declaring that "there can be no justifiable basis to proceed" until the Administration decides that the third reactor is needed, both the House and the Senate lopsidedly approved the Joint Committee's bill...
...these materials are byproducts of plutonium manufacture, and their sudden drop in price is due to a big new plant that AEC has built in Oak Ridge, Tenn. to purify them. Some of the market possibilities: atomic batteries, radiation sterilization of surgical supplies, large-scale chemical processing, light sources...
...plants (TIME, Feb. 10). AEC would boost spending on civilian program from $124.3 million annually to about $200 million in next five years. Items: better research to cut high cost of uranium fuel, more Government money to build three new advanced reactors, higher price paid by AEC for byproduced plutonium to give industry healthier profit...