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Show March 21, 1969 OIL & MINING JOURNAL Page 5 Southwest group gets reactor permit WASHINGTON-- A license for initial low power operation of the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) near Fayetteville, Ark. has been issued by the AECs Division of Reactor Licensing. Southwest Atomic Energy Associates, composed of 17 private power utilities from the Southwest and Midwest, and the General Electric Company have built the SEFOR reactor under an AEC construction permit issued on September 25, 1965. The facility is located at Cove Creek, about 16 miles southwest of Fayetteville. SEFOR is a fast-spectru- The experimental reactor, designed to be representative of power large fastwillbreeder not reactors, produce The facility will be experimental electricity. used to demonstrate that large reactor designed to operate at 20 fueled breeder with reactors fast megawatts thermal. Initial ceramic elements made of a up 1 operation will be limited to of mixture plutonium and megawatt thermal during initial can be built with oxides uranium fuel loading and preliminary and safe operating reliable A subsequent The research testing. amendment to the operating conditions. be performed will program license will be necessary to under the AECs program to authorize full power operation. develop economic fast breeders. sodium-coole- d Court upholds shale claim ruling WASHINGTON The United States Court 'of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has upheld a ruling by a U.S. district court that the Secretary of the Interior lacked to passage of the Mineral Leasing Act. The District Court ruling was based on decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court which held that is challenging such claims on the basis that oil shale is not a applications for oil shale mining claims which were located prior to perform work. Interior Department trial examiner. the Department cannot authority to reject patent invalidate such claims for failure annual assessment The Interior Department also valuable mineral within the of the U.S. nining laws. meaning This contention is before an EGG SHELL TESTER The Atomic Energy Commission and the U. S. Department of Agriculture have developed a nuclear device to measure the strength of eggshells. The gauge shown in use at the USDA's Engineering Research Division at Beltsville, Md., uses a radioisotope to hurl harmless beta particles at the egg, then measures how many particles bounce back. The thicker the shell, the more beta backscatter is recorded. Commercial processors lose about $25 million a year through egg breakage. Researchers are using the device to measure the effects of egg temperature, hen house humidity, and the hens diet, age and rate of production on shell strength. The tests, demonstrated above by Agriculture Engineer Paul James and his assistant Della Harden, will be used to determine egg packaging requirements and the design of egg (USAEC Photo by Westcott) handling equipment. Morton salt expands GSL ponds Morton Salt Co. will expand its Saltair plant operations in Utah by increa- sing its ponds acreage by nearly a third. Morton will spend about $100,000 adding 300 acres of evaporation ponds and the engineering for several hundred more acres of ponds is now under way. The incresed evapora- tion area, is expected to compensate for production loss from the unduly heavy precipitation last summer and the declining presence of sodium chloride in the Great Salt Lake, according to F. G. Colladay, general manager of the Saltair operation. The Saltair facility the only continental solar evaporation operation by the Chicago-base- d company now has about 1,000 acres of evaporation ponds 7 miles west of Salt Lake Inter- national Airport. The ponds are flooded in the spring and harvested in the fall after the sodium chloride has precipitated and settled to the bottom of the brine. The Saltair expansion is part of a broad $12.5 million program involving the construction of new facilities and enlargement of production and storage operations at Morton properties throughout the coun- -- try. Utah C&M sells assets Not included in the deal are Utah's interest in Haas and Haynie Corp., its interest in joint ventures and its Belair Yard. non-sponsor- ed "The transfer of our construction operations to Fluor will allow Utah's management to concentrate its efforts on the (From Page 4) expansion of its mining activities attention can be employed to which have become the better advantage in furthering our mining interests. company's principal business, said. "Funds Littlefield FURTHER PROGRESS was employed by the company in reported in the company's construction had dropped to less of than ten per cent of its total ore claims, assets, and the funds from the on Vancouver Island in British Fluor sale and managment Columbia. its investigation copper-molybdenu- WESTERN STEEL SERVICE CENTER COMPLETE WAREHOUSE SERVICE All Types. & Sizes of STRUCTURAL STHEL BARS - PLATES - SHEETS A REINFORCING STEEL m TEST DORIHGS ALL TYPES TEST HOLES IN All WESTERN STATES Core Drilling Wire Line or Standard Air or Mud Rotary Mine Underground Lang Hole Drilling Cable Tool Water Wells or Sampling OFFICES - Crandall Bldg. PLANTS -- 651 West 17hSo. Salt Lake City, Utah PHONE 328-05- 41 LATEST TYPE EOUPMENT SKNlfD . PERSONNH. Phone Springvillo long Distance 489-48- 00 WlSTtRH STEEL COMPANY of Stouctufuil Steel" ALSO FABRICATORS OF PLATE AND REINFORCING STHL STEEL ERECTION A Building the WEST with KIG&NG WESTERN STEEL CONSTRUCTION & DRILLING CO. 1045 W. MAPI MAPICTON 590 W. 19th St, Breach Offices: Irish Fills, Irish 3418 Wester Aw, Mis. Irish |