ANP QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT as an integrated system, irrespective of <strong>the</strong> type of test installation chosen. In all but <strong>the</strong> fourth installation, <strong>the</strong> assembled reactor would be surrounded by an aircraft type of shield of lead and borated water, and, in all installations, it would be coupled to heat dumps consisting of banks of aircraft-type NaK-to-air radiators through which cooling air would be circulated. Appropriate confro1 systems, along with auxiliary shielding, equipment, and services, would comprise <strong>the</strong> balance of <strong>the</strong> test installation. A generalized flow sheet for this setup was shown in Fig. 2.1 of <strong>the</strong> previous rterIy progress report.7 All but <strong>the</strong> first of <strong>the</strong> above-listed installations would be located in Oak Ridge. The first installation is illustrated in Fig. 2.4. It was devised to permit operation of <strong>the</strong> reactor surrounded by an aircraft-type shield with a heat dump on ei<strong>the</strong>r side simulate <strong>the</strong> turbojet engines. Of <strong>the</strong> installadered, it offers <strong>the</strong> most compact of <strong>the</strong> equipment with <strong>the</strong> least amount of shielding and minimum provision for containment. This scheme was developed with <strong>the</strong> thought that it could be built in Oak Ridge so that all <strong>the</strong> welding of high-temperature-liquid piping could be made, inspected, and pressure tested and some preliminary testing carried out, probably including a hot critical experiment, before <strong>the</strong> unit was shipped to NRTS. The dimensions of <strong>the</strong> unit are such that it would fit on a flat car and comply with standard railroad side and overhead clearance regulations. To do this, it would be necessary to dismount certain elements, such as <strong>the</strong> pump drive motors, <strong>the</strong> blowers, and <strong>the</strong> blower drive motors. This could be done easily, since only bolted connections would be involved, The reactor would be set up with a heavy, water-cooled pan beneath it. This pan would catch, hold, and cool <strong>the</strong> fuel in <strong>the</strong> event of an accident. A control room would be built as a unit and shipped to NRTS on a second flat car. The contrd room and <strong>the</strong> reactor would probably be placed a quarter of a mile to a mile apart, and <strong>the</strong> two would be coupled by telemetering ipment. The pumps in <strong>the</strong> layout are shown as ing driven by d-c electric motors, but air turbine tors would serve equally well if a source of ed air were available. If <strong>the</strong> tests were RTS and Air Force, portable, gas-turbinetype air compressors were used, a compressed air 'A. P. Fraas, ANP Quar. Prog. Rep. Sept. IO, 1954, <strong>ORNL</strong>-1771, p 21. 30 source might be more easily arranged than a d-c generator set. In examining <strong>the</strong> NRTS installation design, a number of points became evident. First, <strong>the</strong> prob- lems associated with operating a reactor at NRTS seem to be ra<strong>the</strong>r serious, particularly from <strong>the</strong> standpoint of <strong>the</strong> amount of time that would be lost in maintaining an operation 2000 miles from Oak Ridge, The distance would make it particu- larly difficult to cope with unforseen problems. Any relatively small difficulty that might arise would be likely to introduce a major delay if that difficulty were not forseen. It appears <strong>the</strong>refore that an NRTS installation would entail a loss of at least six months in getting <strong>the</strong> reactor into opera- tion, The second major point that developed in connection with <strong>the</strong> examination of <strong>the</strong> design was that <strong>the</strong> major hazards appeared to be much less serious than had originally been presumed, The very compact installation achieved through careful design directed toward simulation of a full-scale aircraft type of power plant led to a very low in- vestment of sodium and NaK, about one-twentieth of that required for <strong>the</strong> KAPL-SIR reactor designed for <strong>the</strong> same power level. Fur<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong> use of circulating fuel with its high negative temperature coefficient gives a reactor in which a nuclear explosion seems almost out of <strong>the</strong> question. In view of <strong>the</strong> relatively small amounts of energy released under conditions of a total reactor tragedy, designs were prepared for <strong>the</strong> installation of <strong>the</strong> ART in a closed building. The layout shown in Fig. 2.5 envisions a sort of circular Quonset building about 200 ft in diameter. The test unit would be built and operated on <strong>the</strong> test floor behind supplementary shielding, and a heavy, water-cooled pan would be placed beneath <strong>the</strong> reactor, This pan would catch, hold, and cool <strong>the</strong> fuel in <strong>the</strong> event of an accident. Such an arrange- ment would give plenty of floor area in a relatively inexpensive building that could be sealed to con- tain any fission products that might be released, in line with <strong>the</strong> philosophy underlying <strong>the</strong> use of <strong>the</strong> Hortonsphere at KAPL. A similar type of building, but shaped as a hemisphere ra<strong>the</strong>r than as <strong>the</strong> circular Quonset building, might be used in order to reduce <strong>the</strong> amount of steel required in <strong>the</strong> framing of <strong>the</strong> building. The arrangement shown in Fig. 2.6 follows a quite different philosophy. It provides for con- taining <strong>the</strong> reactor assembly within a pressure
PERIOD ENDING DECEMBER 70, 7954