PROSPECTS OF POWER
WITH the delivery last Monday of sixteen tons of documents to the Central Electricity Authority headquarters in London from the four nuclear energy groups in British in- dustry, this country's ambitious programme to exploit nuclear power moves smoothly into top gear. On January 1. 1957, tenders will be placed for at least three very large nuclear power stations, one in Essex, one in Gloucestershire and one in South- West Scotland. So much is certain. What is less clear, however, is what now is the full scope of the programme to produce electricity from the atom. Officially, nothing has been said which supersedes the plans laid down in the White Paper published early in 1955. This looked forward to the construc- tion within ten years of twelve nuclear power stations which might eventually contribute as much as 2,000 megawatts. But in June this year some observers were suggesting that by 1965 the output of atomic power might be as much as twice what was originally suggested. And only a fortnight ago it was surmised that the target has again been raised to something nearer three times the original estimates, which would in fact give Britain 6,000 megawatts of nuclear generating capacity within ten years—about a third of total generating capacity.
The explanation is that developments have rushed ahead far faster than even the experts thought possible. Sir Edwin Plow- den confessed to the International Bank last week that the engineering improvements so far attained were greater than the Authority had felt it could count on, and to the same gathering Sir John Cockcroft revealed that in ten years' time Britain hoped to be able to build a nuclear power station at a capital cost, close to that of a conventional power station. Yet only eighteen months ago in the White Paper it was estimated that the capital cost would be twice that of a coal-fired station. The result of all this is that Britain is already preparing to build stations with output of about 400 megawatts. far larger than anything that is being attempted elsewhere. In America, for instance, the first large reactor—already behind schedule— may produce about 60 megawatts by the end of 1957. Shortly, the Queen will attend the ceremonial opening of the Calder Hall power station in Cumberland, which has, of course, been at work for some time. This ceremony will draw attention to the lead which Britain has established in this field, and should provide an opportunity to pay tribute to the brilliant leadership of Sir John Cockcroft and Sir Christopher Hinton and the devoted efforts of the staff at Harwell and the other atomic energy establishments.
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