Show Idaho Atomic Energy Center to Seek Peaceful Use of New Power Source Utah joins with the people of Idaho in acclaiming the decision of the U. U S. S atomic energy commission to establish a new testing station for atomic reactors In a acre area in southeastern Idaho between Blackfoot and Arco According to reports from Washington Washing Washing- ton the atomic energy plant will compare compare compare com com- pare in size to the Hanford center on the Columbia river in Washington No exact figures on the physical aspects of the plant are available but initial reports sa say it is expected some workers will willbe willbe willbe be employed on construction and ultimately ultimately ultimately ulti ulti- when the plant is in full scale operation there will ill be about 2000 permanent permanent per per- permanent manent many of them scientists scientists scientists and technicians Plainly this new plant will be a decided decided decided de de- economic asset for the state of Idaho It is reported that the selected area is today largely uninhabited Preliminary Preliminary Pre Pre- studies according to the atomic energy commission indicate only 75 to persons live near the outer edges of the area All but acres of the designated area is now government- government owned Practically the only utilization o of the land has been for grazing grazing and and valuable though that may have been it is a drop in the bucket compared to the economic value of 2000 paid high-paid steady jobs Anything that benefits southern Idaho will to some e. e extent tent benefit Utah because we are all part of the interdependent interdependent interdependent pendent intermountain empire state line or no state line We Ve are therefore happy over this new development both for the direct economic gain it will mean to our good neighbor state stale of Idaho and for the indirect benefit which may come to Utah However there is an even broader reason for pleasure in this development This new atomic energy station is being established for the purpose of testing nuclear reactors which were developed as a means of releasing atomic energy at ata a controlled rate so that the energy can be used for peace rather than for war It is hoped at this experimental station to develop machines or devices which can be used to put atomic energy to work propelling ships aircraft and machinery ma ma- machinery chinery or for conversion of such energy into heat or electricity This is the field of atomic energy development development development de de- de- de which offers offer hope for real progress in the world The atom bomb is only destructive We Ve hope it will never again be necessary to use it save perhaps in an experimental fashion But atomic energy itself has untold possibilities for human welfare It is conceivable that atomic energy could finally provide such sucha a cheap and easily transported source of energy as to end much of the international international international competition for control of such sources of power as coal and oil The development of ways of using atomic energy efficiently and cheaply for peaceful peaceful peace peace- ful purposes might therefore be of the greatest import to the future progress progress ress and security of the world It is a source of satisfaction to the people of the intermountain empire that thata a major center of experimentation with such uses of atomic energy will be located here We Ve welcome it We Ve hope it willbe will willbe willbe be not only a benefit for Idaho and Utah but an advantage for all the world |