THE STORY OF SHIPPINGPORT

[Music] la [Music] shipping Port is a Pennsylvania town on the Ohio River Northwest of Pittsburgh it's also the name borne by a new power plant built on this Rivers site nearby it's a power plant with two important missions to further peaceful Atomic power knowledge and to demonstrate that atoms can help Supply our growing electrical needs as man grows so does his need for power to run his cities the places where he earns a living and to make home livable they say we've only seen the beginning of our electrical growth today most powerhouses make electricity by burning coal oil and gas fossil fuels that are taken from the ground essentially these powerhouses have similar systems the fuels are burned in furnaces where their heat energy transforms water into steam the steam is piped away and the energy used to turn the rotor of a turbine which then Powers an electrical [Music] generator but the supply of fuels that are burned in furnaces will not be enough for our growing needs every source of power must be utilized in the future both here and abroad what is needed is a new fuel a new source of power Atomic power Atomic reactors to provide heat to make Steam to generate more electrical power everywhere in short Atoms for Peace after nearly 2,000 years of theorizing the the power of the atom was harnessed the Bettis plant of the atomic energy commission was one place it was tamed here under the direction of and in technical cooperation with the naval reactors branch of the aec the Western housee Electric Corporation pioneered untried ground they developed and built the reactor for the world's first atomic submarine the Nautilus the story of the Nautilus is Legend because of its success and the success of its Bettis made reactor it was used as a starting point in the development of an advanced design reactor for shipping Port its name pwr pressurized water [Music] reactor it was a time for Pioneers they were the aec Westinghouse who designed the reactor and Duane light company of Pitt ber who was to build the generator portion operate the entire plant and who supplied down the Ohio the 400 Acre Site President Eisenhower on Labor Day 1954 waved a neutron wand in Denver and 1100 M away an unmanned bulldozer broke ground at the shipping Port site in what had been a farmer's pasture Adams would soon go to work for peace at shipping Port nearly half a million cubic yards of Earth were moved the skills of 34 different trades and professions and the work of 18800 men were needed 10,000 tons of steel were used but these are not what called World attention here it was called because these tools and the drawing board and straight edge at Bettis were being used to practice man's newest science nucleonics it is a science of many Mysteries some unstable atoms such as u235 can be split by a neutron and the cosmic force that held it together is released this is atomic fishing Chain Reaction keeps fishing going the result heat and [Applause] radioactivity to the man of Bettis the job was to harness this Universal mystery efficiently and dependably they used electronic computers to speed the thinking processes and with special equipment and techniques they handled and studied materials in the hot lab what happens to Metals after 6 months of intensive radiation with newly learned skills sophisticated tools and with just plain reading glasses handled remotely in hot cells they learned how radiation affects Metals the cells are busy around the clock examining and dissecting fuel samples the object is to learn the effect of long-term radioactivity on fuel materials for better reactors to [Music] follow in complex testing stands they could examine metals to learn if they would resist the extreme heat and pressure of the reactor system from these studies the future performance of plant materials could be calculated but the central problem was the reactor time and again designs were developed based on Research then on a full scale reactor mockup like this one they were proved or discarded the result was a new reactor concept they called it a seed and blanket reactor its core contains the seed fuel U23 5 set in a hollow square around and within the seed is the blanket natural uranium mostly u238 physically the core looks like this first there is an outer cage of solid stainless steel at the top and bottom are grids together they will accept and hold Assemblies of fuel in exact position those are the seed assemblies going in now indicated in green to to control the reaction and so the amount of heat to be produced metal rods of rare Neutron absorbing hafnium are inserted in the [Music] seeds finally to complete the core the blanket assemblies are added both inside and around the square of [Music] [Applause] seeds the function of the seed fuel is to provide neutrons to keep the reaction going but but here the reactor isn't working because the neutrons are going too fast they just pass right through there is no fishing so no heat but when water is added things begin to happen water which is a moderator slows down the speed of the [Applause] [Music] neutrons now the neutrons are causing fishion energy is being released the reactor is working the apum control rods which are cross-shaped have been adjusted to permit enough fishing to produce just the right amount of [Applause] [Music] heat in the completed core 145 assemblies all told will produce heat to rival the output of a giant furnace water at about 2,000 lb pressure is circulated in an endless cycle up and around the hot fuel elements the water is heated and carries the heat away to the heat exchangers that's the simple principle of the shipping Port pressurized water reactor it's a new kind of furnace for the atomic age designed to use a new and different kind of fuel by taking one blanket fuel assembly from the reactor we can see how different it is the fuel is encased in metal tubes and precisely arranged ranged in bundles like this one producing not quite 800 of them took 3 years the fuel units were made in a special isolated area at Bettis fuel for the blankets was received in the form of a powder highly refined natural uranium oxide it was actually too fine to flow freely for processing the particles were too small they had to be literally glued together to make them larger a process of carefully blending sifting and mixing with a plastic binder the uranium powder with its new larger grain size was fed to a stamping press and after the manner of aspirin tablets was formed into pellets nearly 2 and A2 million of them would be needed for the reactor 14 tons of pellets although formed at a pressure of 125 tons per square in the pellets were still not sufficiently compressed so they were fired or cented at high temperature to further increase their density each cus full received 8 hours of high temperature heat to drive off unwanted elements and remove air spaces the result was that the pellets were reduced in size permitting design of a reactor with a maximum amount of fuel in a practical minimum space the smaller pellets no longer fill The Crucible then the pellets diameters were Ground to less than a hair's breadth tolerance for final success depended on Dimension 166,000 pellets of the required 2 and A2 million were spot checked in the lab to make sure they were [Music] right every step of the way was one of precision measuring weighing or checking here pellets were slipped into a holder to transfer them to the following operations first their combined length and weight was [Music] verified in the completed Reactor Core the pellets were contained in metal tubes not just any metal but zeroy made from zirconium however because of the high temperatures required to manufacture the tubes oxide formation appeared on the zircalloy to prevent it and thus protect the tubes from damage and corrosion while being hot extruded every zeroy piece had a copper jacket welded to [Music] it even with all the Care that was used to make them Bettis checked every one of the nearly 95,000 tubes for length wall thickness and diameter typical quality control zeroid caps were made to seal both ends of the tubes everyone was stamped with a number so if anything ever happens to a tube inside the core the number will help Trace its history to find the reason why the first cap was placed welded and checked for leaks then the tube was ready for [Music] loading 26 pellets previously weighed and measured were assembled in each zeroy [Music] tube then they were ready to be sealed with a second cap to keep oxygen out until the cap was welded tight the welding was done in a helium atmosphere within hermetically sealed Chambers circolo plates called tube sheets have been Precision machined and drilled now it remained to assemble the tubes between these tube sheets the kn for precision was only partly understood when you're beginning a new age there's complete lack of design manufacturing and operating experience there was no seed in blanket history so only the best could be accepted in the engineering and construction of shipping Port operating experience will prove if this meticulous design and Fabrication of the fuel bundles and other core elements was necessary that is one of the purposes of shipping port to help design tomorrow's Atomic reactors [Music] the tubes were welded to the tube sheets again in special Chambers using Fusion welding in a helium atmosphere 240 welds per bundle the assembled bundles were Precision machined and holes were drilled to permit the free passage of water then finally the bundles were checked to the last 10,000 of an [Music] inch a corner Notch was provided for piping to sample the reactor [Music] Water Seven finished bundles assembled end to end in a carefully fabricated zeroy shell make one blanket assembly in the core seed the uranium fuel takes the form of plates rather than pellets manufacturer began with a steel frame now zeroy strips and a steel [Music] spacer then a zeroy cover followed by the fuel plate itself zeroy alloy with uranium another zircaloy cover more strips another spacer and the final sheet of Steel to make a sandwich the edges were welded to hold the parts together and the sandwich was hot rolled under great pressure me the result this eye-shaped fuel element of zircaloy and uranium 15 of these were stacked and welded along their ends to make subassemblies like this [Music] one the fuel elements are spaced for the free passage of water along their length in this cross-section gray stripes can be seen in each element they are the highly enriched alloy fuel four subassemblies are welded together to form a cross-shaped channel for the control rod this is a seed cluster 32 of these make up the seed portion of the core here the hnum control rod that absorbs neutrons the farther the rods are inserted in the seed the more neutrons they absorb so less fishion and less heat will result 3 years were required to develop and make all the fuel for the Reactor Core 3 years of pioneering the core is located near the bottom of the reactor this combination is the first of its kind in history the development space and clearance problems of Designing it were checked in this full-size model that duplicates all the instrumentation tubing and fuel assemblies in the finished [Music] reactor this is the look look of shipping port's source of power and while the reactor was building thousands of other components for the plant were being made throughout the country for instance pumps must move the water from the reactor core to other parts of the system but ordinary pumps are sure to leak and won't do at shipping Port the pumps Motors and all are completely enclosed Ed or canned to prevent leakage so the chance of radioactive water getting where it shouldn't is reduced to the vanishing point these special pumps made with care and precision illustrate how even routine jobs become extraordinary problems in an atomic plant in everything there are added hours of meticulous effort and wide use of non-corroding materials here flame is used to expand the pump housing when slipped over the winding it will shrink to make a tight fit without bolts or holes and there inevitable leaks the caned pumps cycle the reactor water every 10 seconds although over 500° hot the water remains liquid because it's under pressure but the turbine needs steam it's made by pumping reactor water through stainless steel tubes of heat exchangers other water flowing around the tubes hits their 538 de surfaces and turns to steam for the [Music] turbines two kinds of heat exchangers were installed to provide experience in both this is a straight tube heat exchanger the tubes are stainless steel to avoid corrosion products in the water that might increase the radioactivity hazard in the whole system the second heat exchanger is u-shaped and was made with the same attention to detail and quality both heat exchangers are now providing the data needed to make the path to the better Atomic plants of the future more direct and sure but the most massive single component is the 153 ton pressure vessel made to enclose the Reactor Core it has 8 in walls to take 2500 lb pressure stainless inner cladding once again protects against the corrosive action of the hot reactor water Machining prepared The Vessel for a Precision Fit with its closure head openings in the head provide access for instrumentation mechanisms that will raise and lower the hnum control rods and for refueling meantime at shipping Port work was going ahead with the plant itself excavators had reached bottom and the forms were ready for pouring the foundation [Music] slab concrete was poured 7 ft thick and laced with tons of reinforcing at 70 ft below the surface here is the base for the reactor [Music] to guard against releasing any radioactivity to the atmosphere all the nuclear components of the shipping Port plant are enclosed in four welded Chambers steel tanks each with room to accommodate a five-story building all four are interconnected and in effect make one great container when Earth has been bulldozed in place the chambers will be underground and compartmented by concrete walls [Music] other walls form a canal in which the expanded fuel will be submerged in Water by now the plant layout was becoming apparent the canal runs into the heart of the building and the reactor chamber will be at the far end on each side of it are two large Chambers now partly boxed in concrete that will contain the heat exchangers pumps and a maze of connecting pipes leading to the reactor and to the steam turbine when the major components began arriving the relatively small access openings of the plant Chambers posed special rigging problems for the crane operation here is the YouTube heat exchanger with its tons of stainless steel tubing and months of production time being eased downward with only inches to spare Springs of at the top of the chambers were used to leave The Heat exchangers free to expand and contract while in operation getting the components into place required planning and scheduling every inch of movement the special constructing and rigging skills of ship Builders had to be [Music] enlisted Elsewhere on the site the engineers were building to provide the thousands of gallons of water required by the plant much of it demineralized and deated a 50,000g storage tank was to be supplied by a pump house at The River's Edge an efficient Waste Disposal system was designed to meet the requirements of aec state and US Health agencies in these tanks radioactive liquids will be stored for reuse or until they've become completely safe for disposal [Music] by now all the major installations were started and the look of America's first atomic power station was emerging soon the bulldozers would return and cover the lower Ling structures under a shield of Earth Earth will also cover the concrete boxes that now completely enclose the chambers a building is rising over the canal and inside a traveling crane is about to lower the pressure vessel into a steel chamber whose base is now 70 ft below the [Music] surface the skilled Workforce passing into the chambers through airlock doors redoubled as activity increased on the growing miles of interior wire and pipe every main pipe weld was a specimen weld perfect to the eye perhaps but not to be passed until checked by x-ray this care for detail was essential if the model and plan were to grow to life-size success the reactor in its chamber and the pipes and wires that connected the reactor to all the pumps Valves and controls now were real a mixture of Daring plans centuries of learning and human time and talent devoted to an tried concept had made a generation's old idea materialize here and now all that remained was to activate the reality the plant was ready for fuel the careful handling of every part as the men prepared to make the final core assembly told how well they knew the years of work behind every piece the fuel assemblies had been test fitted in the core grids or checked by gauging at shipping Port the core was a assembled in a specially built clean room with Immaculate surroundings a last step was to install a tube which will carry water samples to be monitored for detection of possible radioactivity this was just part of the final assembly of the core at shipping Port other instrumentation will tell the station operators temperatures pressures and coolant flow rate within the [Music] reactor [Music] then the fuel assemblies were lowered into the core cage there was no nuclear danger in any of these operations because the completely assembled core is safe as long as it's dry and the control rods are inserted in the [Music] seed the core is assembled and the most breath stopping moment has arrived it must must now be transported and lowered into its chamber far below the ground the core made the most valuable load ever carried by a crane patience and Care were used during the 8-hour period while the vessel was edged downward a few thousands of an inch at a time part of the way with clearance of only 6 hundreds of an inch to the end building shipping Port was a job of incredible detail and care with the Cor in its vessel the head could be eased in place it has 46 ports to admit a maze of wires and tubes and mechanisms to raise and lower the control rods and for refueling following this two months of exhaustive tests were run before all components could be judged perfect the plant was prepared for Operation the interior was cleared of construction equipment every pipe and joint was checked again and every space scrubbed and painted the thousands of electrical circuits were tested again Duane light company Personnel had been trained to master them and all the other systems in the [Music] plantet shortly will come a signal from the president of the United States that will automatically put shipping ports full power on the line this plant has a secure place in American history it is the first of the world's large scale nuclear power stations exclusively devoted to Peaceful purposes it is with pride in what has been accomplished at shipping Port Pennsylvania and with equal confidence in the future that I now dedicate this shipping Port Atomic Power Station to the cause of scientific progress to the cause of peace I will now use this neutral on Rod to generate fishing which will start the reactor supplying electrical power at PL deep in the reactor at shippingport encased in layers of Steel and buried below earth and water atoms are working for peace every unit of heat every ampere of current every hour of successful operation is proof to the world that Nature's greatest forces can work for man's good the fact is recorded here 60,000 Kow are on the line going out to a city living in peace with atomic energy the this is the power and the promise of the [Music] atom