Power from the Atom
Attention to the destructive power of atomic energy must not be allowed to preclude consideration of its revolutionary potentialities when applied to industry. Sir Amos Ayre, chairman of the Ship- building Conference, told the Institute of Maritime Engineers on Tuesday that the use of nuclear energy for the propulsion of ships now appeared to be a probability—if a distant one. And a report on the use of atomic energy for power production on a commercial basis has been submitted to the United Nations Atomic Commission by Mr. Baruch. Although the estimated cost is at present higher than in the case of standard fuels the surprising fact is that it is so little higher—.8 cents a kilowatt-hour compared with .65 cents for coal. Assuming that the upward trend in prices for coal production is maintained, and allowing for the reduction in cost of nuclear energy when experimentation has proceeded beyond its present exploratory stage, it will be seen that financially there is every reason to believe that the use of the new force in industry will soon be a practical paying proposition. This raises very important considerations in the field of future commercial development. For instance, any long- term plan for the electrical and coal industries must obviously take into account the fact that the length of their productive life in their present form will now inevitably be influenced by the early avail- ability of an energy not only incomparably more efficient, but quite possibly considerably cheaper.
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