Energy Research And Development Administration Research Articles

Assessing the undiscovered resources of uranium and thorium in Mamuju, West Sulawesi

The exploration of nuclear minerals in Mamuju, West Sulawesi has been started in 2013 by the Center for Nuclear Minerals Technology (CMNT) – Badan Tenaga Nuklir Nasional (BATAN). There is a strong indication of uranium (U) and thorium (Th) minerals occurrences in the location. To follow the exploration result up, a resources assessment is needed. Due to the limited early exploration data, the concept of undiscovered resources can be used. Of all resource assessment methods suggested by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) method is the most appropriate method to be applied in the Mamuju case. In this research, Pocos de Caldas, Brazil (Osamu Utsumi Mine for U reference and Morro do Ferro Area for Th reference) was selected as control area due to its similarity on the geological condition and its more-advanced exploration stage compared to Mamuju. All the parameters for the assessment can be determined with the ERDA method based on the available information of the control area.

The Road to Yucca Mountain—Evolution of Nuclear Waste Disposal in the United States

The generation of electricity by nuclear power and the manufacturing of atomic weapons have created a large amount of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. There is a world-wide consensus that the best way to protect mankind and the environment is to dispose of this waste in a deep geologic repository. Initial efforts focused on salt as the best medium for disposal, but the heat generated by the radioactive waste led many earth scientists to examine other rock types. In 1976, the director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) wrote to the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), predecessor agency of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), suggesting that there were several favorable environments at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), and that the USGS already had extensive background information on the NTS. Later, in a series of communications and one publication, the USGS espoused the favorability of the thick unsaturated zone. After the passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (1982), the DOE compiled a list of nine favorable sites and settled on three to be characterized. In 1987, as the costs of characterizing three sites ballooned, Congress amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act directing the DOE to focus only on Yucca Mountain in Nevada, with the proviso that if anything unfavorable was discovered, work would stop immediately. The U.S. DOE, the U.S. DOE national laboratories, and the USGS developed more than 100 detailed plans to study various earth-science aspects of Yucca Mountain and the surrounding area, as well as materials studies and engineering projects needed for a mined geologic repository. The work, which cost more than 10 billion dollars and required hundreds of man-years of work, culminated in a license application submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 2008.

The Vice President as Policy Maker: Rockefeller in the Ford White House

During the telephone conversation in which he was offered the vice-presidency, Nelson A. Rockefeller recalled Gerald R. Ford saying: I want you on the domestic and Henry [Kissinger] on the foreign side and then we can move on these things (p. 52). At that time, Kissinger was both the secretary of state and the national security adviser. With this model in mind, Rockefeller, who had twice previously declined the vice-presidential nomination when he was governor of New York, accepted Ford's offer. He hoped that during the period of post-Watergate healing he could assume a domestic policymaking role in that office that would transcend the vice-presidency's traditional inconsequentiality. In the end, Michael Turner concludes, Rockefeller failed. There was ambiguity in Ford's initial commitment, ambiguity Rockefeller failed to clarify because it opened the door to one last slim shot at his lifetime ambition, the presidency. However, the long delay caused by the vice-presidential confirmation hearings kept Rockefeller from the scene while Ford's domestic White House was being structured in a decentralized way and while roles were being carved out by key aides. In addition, as New York's former four-term governor and a serious presidential contender for a decade and a half, Rockefeller as vicepresident could not function on a level of equality with other advisers. Such a role was uncomfortable for him and for the others around President Ford, especially Donald Rumsfeld, who himself harbored presidential ambitions. Two major attempts by Rockefeller to have an impact on Ford's domestic policy were his effort, after being appointed as vice chairman of the Domestic Policy Council, to define a comprehensive framework for the administration's 1976 legislative agenda and his proposal to meet energy financing needs through the creation of the proposed massive Energy Research and Finance Corporation (ERFCO). The first of these was shortcircuited when Ford announced a spending ceiling in October 1975 of $395 billion, thus severely limiting resources for any new domestic programs. The second survived major intra-administration infighting, only to languish in a Congress that knew the measure's prime mover, Rockefeller, was a lame duck vice-president, and suspected that the administration was not wholeheartedly behind it. Turner's treatment, based on a large number of interviews with high-level presidential and vice-presidential aides of the Ford era, offers excellent insight into peak executive decision-making processes. The author's understanding of Rockefeller's role would have been enhanced, however, by greater familiarity with his record as governor of New York. No one knowledgeable about that era, for example, can read of the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) proposal without thinking of its similarity in scope and concept to the numerous public authorities created by Rockefeller in the state. Such issues as the effect on the ERDA proposal of the fact that it was offered in the midst of the New York fiscal crisis (which was triggered by the default of one of these authorities, the Urban Development Corporation) are given insufficient attention by the author. The Rockefeller experience demonstrated that the vice-president is likely to be more effective as a minister without portfolio than as an on-line policy adviser. It also demonstrated, once again, that the vice-presidency can be only what the president wished it to

A comparative analysis of three of ERDA's major R & D programs

The benefits attributable to alternative energy R & D programs should be evaluated in terms of how well the technologies contribute as integral elements of the total United States energy system (rather than as isolated entities, as has typically been done in the past). Thus, the present model simulates the dynamics of the evolution of the total energy system by requiring both existing and new technologies to compete for introduction (i.e. commercialization) on a cost-competitive basis that considers the time phasing of 1. (1) retirement of energy conversion facilities, 2. (2) growth in end-use demands, and 3. (3) escalation of the costs of extracting depleting domestic energy resources. This approach contrasts with a static model used by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), wherein assumptions must be made for each future year of interest for 1. (1) maximum capacity constraints for alternative types of conversion facilities and 2. (2) the cost of energy resources. The present model is used to compare the relative consequences and merits of the technology products from the following three of ERDA's major energy R & D programs: 1. (1) the liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR), 2. (2) synthetic fuels derived from coal and oil shale, and 3. (3) improved efficiencies for end-use devices (e.g. space heaters). It is found that the development of synthetic fuels derived from coal and oil shale is the only alternative (of the three considered) that provides energy independence for the United States in the next fifty years. However, the possible collapse of the world oil cartel is shown to pose a major retardant to synfuels commercialization by the private sector until at least the end of the century. The substantial environmental impact from synfuels commercialization could be reduced significantly with the accelerated introduction of end-use utilizing devices with improved efficiencies. This latter program could result in a significant reduction in the costs of operating the United States energy ststem over the 60-yr period considered by the model. The discounted present value of this “cost reduction” (i.e. the “economic benefit”) would be two orders of magnitude greater than the R & D investment, at least one order of magnitude greater than the expected economic benefits from synfuels commercialization and two orders of magnitude greater than the economic benefits from the commercialization of the LMFBR. However, the lack of performance and cost studies of improved efficiency in end-use suggests increased funding for these technologies rather than reduced funding for the breeder.

Reaction paths in donor solvent coal liquefaction

The classic studies of Sol Weller and his collaborators 1,2 provided the working model for most American investigations of donor solvent coal liquefaction. The investigations, particularly at what is now the Pittsburgh Energy Research Centre of ERDA, at what is now Conoco Coal Development Company, at Pittsburg and Midway Coal Company and at the University of Utah, added notably to Weller's picture. Recently, however, new details have emerged that contradict the common interpretation of Weller's model, viz. that oils appear only after the coaly matter has traversed a sequence of reactions, coal → asphaltenes → oil. University of Utah studies at short residence times showed that coal can sometimes be converted very quickly to oil species, whereas asphaltenes hydrogenate to oils only slowly. 3 With interest in the conversion of coal to a clean ‘solvent refined coal’ for electricity generation, 4 researchers have taken interest in the portion of liquefaction product that is not soluble in benzene. Earlier, this portion had been implicitly regarded as ‘unreacted coal’ and held little interest, but it was found to be soluble in pyridine 5 and, as we shall see, differs from coal in important respects. We owe the new information to a sharp increase in research activity, both at the older, established centres and at newly recruited institutions which have responded to opportunities afforded by the RANN Program (‘Research Applied to National Needs’) of the US National Science Foundation, by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) and by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The increased activity has led to greater, in some cases pioneering, applications to coal science of sophisticated new tools for examining materials, such as advanced chromatographic separation procedures and pulsed Fourier transform 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. To a large extent, the recent additions of knowledge arise from new attention to the first few minutes of the sequence of reactions by which a donor solvent solubilises coal.

The neglect of socioeconomic research by U.S. energy and environmental agencies

The published research plans of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) have each been criticized by the Office of Technology Assessment for focusing largely on the development of technological “hardware” and giving little attention to socioeconomic research (broadly defined). This paper first examines socioeconomic research areas that EPA might be expected to cover and shows that its plans for doing so are inadequate. The paper then identifies gaps in ERDA's coverage of socioeconomic research that remain unfilled even in the agency's updated plan. Several reasons for this neglect of socioeconomic research are hypothesized, namely: the dominance of research management by scientists and technologists; the apparent irrelevance and/or lack of success of socioeconomic research performed in the past; the greater political acceptability of technological compared with non-technological approaches to pollution control: the public's apparent faith in our ability to develop technological solutions to energy and environmental problems; and the compatibility of new technology development with economic growth. Following a discussion of these reasons, it is concluded that senior management positions in both agencies must no longer be monopolized by those with solely scientific and technical backgrounds; instead, managers should be appointed who not only have appropriate social science or professional qualifications but are also able to communicate to their colleagues, to lawmakers, and to the public at large, the importance of having a balanced research program with both technological and socioeconomic components.

An Indian Reaction to U.S. Nonproliferation Policy

Two events of global significance have molded U.S. nonproliferation policies. First, increase in crude oil prices made nuclear power economical; simultaneously, export of nuclear power plants and nuclear technology became commercially attractive. dispersal of nuclear power plants is perceived by United States as creating technological infrastructure for weapons option. Second, Indian nuclear test of May 18, 1974 heightened American anxieties that a proliferation chain-reaction would follow. Although initial official statements were muted, Henry Kissinger stated a year later: The Indian nuclear explosion of a year ago raises anew spectre of an era of plentiful nuclear weapons in which any local conflict risks exploding into a nuclear holocaust.1 Early U.S. policies in post-1974 period focused upon strengthening International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards system. U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) was directed to study alternative fuel cycles for satisfying energy needs without recourse to breeder technology or reactors recycling plutonium. Other strategems were also employed. President Nixon agreed in 1974 to supply nuclear reactors to Egypt and Israel. intention could have been initially to obtain ingress and, later, control over Egyptian and Israeli nuclear programs. In 1976, Pakistan was offered sale of 110 A-7 aircraft to dissuade her from buying a plutonium reprocessing plant from France. Pakistan's conventional capabilities were sought to be thereby enhanced sufficiently to wean her away from acquiring sensitive technology. President Carter assumed office with a strong personal commitment to nonproliferation. This is evident from his nuclear power policy statement on April 7, 1977 in which he perceived the risk that components of nuclear power process will be turned to providing atomic weapons. elements of an American nonproliferation strategy are embodied in U.S. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978 (NNPA 1978). emphasis therein on denials of sensitive nuclear technologies and materials, and on constraints on nuclear exports through safeguards, is clear. No exports, for instance, of source material, special nuclear material, production or utilization facilities, and sensitive nuclear technologies would be made unless recipient non-nuclear weapon state accepts IAEA safe-

El Dorado Micellar-Polymer Project Facility

This paper investigates the feasibility of recovering additional oil with the micellar-polymer flooding method. A demonstration project in the El Dorado field of Butler County, Kans., allows a comparison of two different processes in the same field. The benefits and problems associated with each micellar-polymer flooding process are being determined. Introduction Liquid hydrocarbons currently supply about 50 percent of the energy consumed in the United States. However, recoverable domestic oil reserves are declining faster than they are being replaced. It is estimated that 59 billion bbl of additional oil can be recovered by enhanced oil recovery methods that include micellar-polymer flooding techniques.1 Cities Service Co. (CSC) in cooperation with the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) selected the El Dorado field in Butler County, Kans., for the demonstration of two distinctly different micellar-polymer processes (see Fig. 1 for location map). The primary objectives of this project are to investigate the economic. feasibility of enhanced (in this case, tertiary) oil recovery using micellar-polymer processes and to determine the benefits and problems that are associated with each method tested. The proposed project is being conducted in the 650-ft shallow sand of the Admire group in the base of the Permian section. Sand thicknesses varied up to 30 ft in association with numerous mini-structures. The 650-ft sand has been described as a deltaic environment with intermixing swamp, bay, and distributary channel deposits. The average porosity is 24 percent with permeabilities ranging up to 1,500 md. Other reservoir parameters for the project are shown in Table 1. The total areal extent of the 650-ft sand reservoir is more than 6,200 acres. The original oil in place is estimated at approximately 108 million bbl. Primary and air-drive operations recovered 23 million bbl of oil. Production records made it difficult to allocate the recovery to individual mechanisms. The waterflood phase recovered 13.5 million bbl of oil, which leaves an estimated 71.5 million bbl of oil remaining in place. Water injection was terminated in Feb. 1971 and essentially all wells in the 650- ft sand had been plugged before beginning this project. Accordingly, oil recovered from the demonstration project will be considered tertiary oil. Discussion Project Description The proposed project was designed to allow a side-by-side comparison of two micellar-polymer processes in the same field so that reservoir conditions were as similar as possible. The original pattern configuration was four contiguous nine-spots in each 25.6-acre pattern.2 Subsequent detailed modeling and pressure transient study indicated that the optimum pattern should be an array of four 6.4-acre five-spots.3,4 As shown in Fig. 2, the Chesney-Hegberg lease line divided the project area at the northern side of the south (Hegberg) pattern. Each pattern consisted of nine injection, four production, 12 monitoring, and two observation wells. The injection plant, shown near Well MP-104, was designed to serve both patterns. Project Description The proposed project was designed to allow a side-by-side comparison of two micellar-polymer processes in the same field so that reservoir conditions were as similar as possible. The original pattern configuration was four contiguous nine-spots in each 25.6-acre pattern.2 Subsequent detailed modeling and pressure transient study indicated that the optimum pattern should be an array of four 6.4-acre five-spots.3,4 As shown in Fig. 2, the Chesney-Hegberg lease line divided the project area at the northern side of the south (Hegberg) pattern. Each pattern consisted of nine injection, four production, 12 monitoring, and two observation wells. The injection plant, shown near Well MP-104, was designed to serve both patterns.

Alaska Pipeline is 11,000‐km conductor

Since the Alaska pipeline has been in operation the character of environmental questions surrounding it has changed somewhat. Focusing on the pipeline as a long electrical conductor that stretches an enormous distance, S. I . Akasofu, at the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska, reports that magnetic storms may generate sufficiently large electric currents along the pipeline to be a fire hazard. During a magnetic storm the usual 2‐A current flowing from the pipeline has peaked as high as 200 A .James Kane of the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) recently testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee saying, ‘The discovery that very large electrical currents will be generated in the Alaskan pipeline by sun‐induced magnetic storms will permit corrective actions to avoid serious corrosion problems and fire hazards prior to full operation of the pipeline.’

Failure Mechanisms in Beam Lead Semiconductors

Hybrid microcircuits (HMC's) designed for the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) by Sandia Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM, are manufactured by the Kansas City, MO, Division of the Bendix Corporation employing beam lead devices (BLD's) as active components. The HMC's consist of sputtered tantalum-nitride (Ta <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> N) resistors and evaporated chromium-gold (Cr-Au) conductors on alumina substrates with applique components and thermocompression bonded ribbons, lead frames, fine wires, and beam lead devices. During recent testing of HMC's for a new program, failures of the BLD's resulted in unacceptable yields and increased rework. These BLD failures showed up primarily as increased leakage failures, intermittent failures that repeated on a random basis, and in worst cases, as direct device shorts. An investigation of the problem showed that cracks often appear on the edge of the silicon and on the silicon nitride lip that overhangs the edge of the beam. These cracks appear at various phases of the processing, but primarily during BLD bonding. High temperature reverse bias (HTRB) tests of diodes and transistors combined with analysis of the devices that failed during these tests indicated that gold in the cracks was a primary cause of failures. The gold in the cracks is the result of gold "relocation" or migration from the gold beams on the semiconductor. The gold was detected by energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) and electron-beam induced-current methods. Gold was observed on the silicon cracks above the beams and in silicon nitride cracks on either side of the beams. Gold resistive leakage paths of this type have been observed only in devices such as p-n-p transistors and p+ silicon substrate zener diodes, where one of the gold beams is more than 1.42 V positive with respect to the body of the silicon chip. This indicates that the gold leakage paths are formed by electromigration of gold from the beam to the silicon chip. Results of HTRB tests on n-p diffused zener diodes,1 p-n diffused zener diodes, and n-p-n transistors are consistent with the gold electromigration theory. Several conditions are theoretically required for gold e!ectromigration of this type: the gold beam must be positive with respect to the silicon chip by more than some minimum voltage (the gold-gold electrolytic potential is 1.42 V); there must be a crack in the silicon nitride, or at the intersection of the beam and a chip, or a crack in the silicon above the beam; and an electrolyte such as moisture-containing halogen ions must be present in the crack. Vacuum baking of HMC's after cleaning and just before electrical testing, the elimination of water as a cleaning agent, and the elimination of trichloroethylene at final assembly cleaning have solved the leakage problem caused by gold electromigrafion in the devices.

Litigation of Sovereign Immunity before a State Administrative Body and the Department of State: the Japanese Uranium Tax Case

When President Nixon and Prime Minister Tanaka of Japan, held a summit meeting in Hawaii on August 31-September 1, 1972, doubtless no one expected they were laying the foundation for one of the most curious sovereign immunity cases in the annals of American jurisprudence. The resulting communique, however, which placed the leaders' seal of approval on extensive Japanese purchase commitments in the United States, became the basis for a Japanese claim that half a billion dollars worth of enriched uranium subsequently purchased by ten Japanese utilities from the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and stored on its reservation in Oak Ridge, Tennessee enjoyed sovereign immunity from local commercial property taxes. The Japanese claim, apart from posing a diplomatic issue between Japan and the United States, embroiled the Department of State and the AEC (and its successor, the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA)) with each other and with the Department of Justice, threatened controversy between Tennessee and Washington, and eventually resulted in the Japanese utilities’ settling the matter for $4.5 million. Although the settlement deprived posterity of a decision on the issue, this unique case remains not simply an entertaining episode but also a useful lesson in defense against claims of sovereign immunity. While the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 was intended substantially to eliminate the role of the Department of State in sovereign immunity disputes, the Act could not have been successfully invoked in this case, even had it been in effect, as related below.

Telecommunications: Meeting through your computer: Information exchange and engineering decision-making are made easy through computer-assisted conferencing

As you read this article, 15 scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and three Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) National Laboratories are meeting to discuss modeling the impact on several western states of strip and underground mining, new power plants, and other schemes for energy extraction. At another meeting, several administrators from USGS offices in Menlo Park, Calif., and Reston, Va., are evaluating a contract proposal. At a third meeting, econometricians and other specialists are exploring the problems associated with the various approaches to modeling the U.S. economy.

Indoor Vegetable Garden with a Solar Energy Bonus

Abstract Homes of the not-too-distant future may have their own year-round vegetable gardens in greenhouses that double as solar energy collectors. Such a demonstration is presently in operation at the Environmental Research Laboratory (ERL) of the Univ. of Arizona and is funded by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) and the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The model is a research and development tool to evaluate the economic and environmental desirability of developing such a unit as part of residential buildings to reduce the requirements for fossil fuels and at the same time enhance the home environment and add an increment of food production potential.

Toward a methodology for the implementation of energy saving technologies

ERDA (The Energy Research and Development Administration) was given the mandate to perform or cause to be performed the research and development of alternative energy sources and energy conserving technologies and strategies. However, answers to the energy dilemma not only depend upon the proof that a technology or strategies exist but that they reach the end user and actually conserve energy. At the same time there is an indication that R & D projects carried out by or supported by the Federal Government are seldom utilized. This lack of utilization can be partially blamed on a lack of concern and knowledge surrounding the implementation process. To avoid this pitfall in the case of energy research, the study outlined here is a beginning to understanding the implementation process and, specifically, the implementation of energy saving technologies.

Some Perspectives on Land Restoration in the United States

Rapid achievement of energy independence has become an urgent national goal in the United States. However public opinion, reinforced by general environmental legislation and specific energy-related legislation, demands that the development of energy alternatives will not be at the expense of the environment. One area of strong concern regards landscape restoration.This subject is highly controversial, and responsibility for research and regulation is currently scattered among a number of Federal and state agencies and bureaux. Examination at the programme level indicates that many groups are working in closely related scientific areas. The Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) is making a detailed project and task analysis to determine whether true duplication rather than complementation of effort exists. From this analysis and a subsequent interagency effort, an integrated and fully coordinated restoration research programme can be designed. The size of this programme will need to be commensurate with the size of the problem. Hence, reclamation activities must be geared to the great diversity of ecological systems that are present in the United States, with due consideration of the full array of alternative energy-development possibilities.Clearly, energy development involves a process of trade-offs. Thus it is the responsibility of ERDA to ensure that energy options, proposed for the future, are accompanied by a complete assessment of environmental costs—so that energy-environmental tradeoff decisions can be made early in the development of the technology, and can be based on a solid foundation of ecological knowledge. In order to carry out this mandate we shall need to establish sites for longterm energy impact research (in every major ecosystem), help design a coherent national land-reclamation programme, support an adequate amount of basic and imaginative applied research, and develop public demonstration areas where citizens, industrialists, and professional specialists, can observe longterm results of energy-environmental effects.Prompt action demands that we capitalize upon past studies and develop a programme to learn as rapidly as possible about basic reclamation processes, so as to provide the best available knowledge to society's decision-makers. Follow-on studies must be conducted to validate and improve our reclamation predictions and management activities. The Argonne National Laboratory, which will provide a central focus for the ERDA land-reclamation research, will gather and collate all pertinent data, so that models and generic statements regarding reclamation techniques can be developed to guide us.In order to have an adequate supply of clean, safe, and environmentally accepted energy, we will need the full cooperation of all. Only by moving together can we ensure for posterity an environmental heritage as rich as that which we ourselves have enjoyed.

From oil and gas to alternate fuels: The transition in conversion equipment

This Nation is facing a critical shortage of oil and natural gas resources. The Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) ∗ is responding to this problem with a broad strategy to open new energy choices. A major element of the strategy is a transition from oil and natural gas to alternate fuels. The subject of this paper is an approach to accomplishing this transition in energy conversion machinery. The paper looks at the transition in each of four major market sectors: electric utilities, industry, transportation and commercial/residential. The processes/devices which presently convert oil and gas into useful products are examined in each market for ease of conversion to or replacement by coal or other alternate energy sources. Alternate energy sources discussed include coal, coal derived synthetic fuels, fuels from waste, solar energy, nuclear energy and waste thermal energy. Based on this examination, a long range transition strategy is proposed which identifies transition approaches for each market sector dependent on the ease of conversion to alternate fuels in each sector. The strategy emphasizes near term transition in electric utilities to save petroleum resources for the more dificult to convert transportation sector. The roles of both improved efficiency and multifuel capability in the transition of conversion machinery are discussed.

Fluldized-Bed Combustion

The Fourth International Conference on Fluidized Bed Combustion (FBC) was held at The MITRE Corporation in McLean, VA, December 9 to 11, 1975. With attendees from Great Britain, West Germany, Japan, Canada, and Sweden, the conference apparently fulfilled its international scope and intent. The objectives of the conference were to review the current state of technology in FBC, to promote technical information exchange on FBC and related areas, and to generate a useful technical information base for further FBC development. Throughout the conference, the goal of commercialization was repeatedly emphasized. Sponsored by the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) and coordinated by MITRE, this meeting was the most comprehensive event in the seven year series of conferences on this subject according to attendees. ERDA, the government’s lead agency in FBC technology development, is the principal sponsor and coordinator of the National Fluidized Bed Combustion Program with the goal of advanci...

Observations on Federal energy research and development—December 1974

Much of our country's present stance in energy R&D is an embodiment of the recommendations presented in the Dixy Lee Ray report, “ The Nation's Energy Future” (NEF). Pa Pa A Report to President Richard M. Nixon, WASH-1281. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. (1 Dec. 1973). Since that report appeared just one year ago, the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) ∥ ∥ Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, Public Law 93-438, 93rd Congress, H.R. 11510. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. (11 Oct. 1974). has been established, and the Project Independence Blueprint (PIB) †† †† has been completed. To what extent does the passage of a year change the priorities or the scale of energy research and development which was outlined in NEF? This memorandum recommends a few specific R&D programs and related institutional changes that ought to be undertaken in response to events that have occurred since November 1973.

USA: Siting the sun set

In the United States, the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) has faced numerous complications over its solar energy plans. And, as Colin Norman reports from Washington, problems remain

Author List

Author List