In fact, it had already ordered much of the steam plant equipment. Instead of waiting for whatever was decided by the AEC, it moved to construct a conventional coal fired plant on the site. While the AEC had been forced to solicit new bids on the project, RCPA was faced with a dilemma it needed the power that the plant would have provided, on something like the original schedule. The AEC rural nuclear plant project, and with it RCPA's plans for its own nuclear plant, were back on track.ĪCF Nuclear Energy Products Division brochure illustration Will Davis collection ACF immediately hired Sargent & Lundy as architect-engineer, and the Maxon Construction Company as general construction contractor. In March 1958 ACF Industries Nuclear Energy Products Division won the bid to provide a rapid replacement NSSS for the project it also offered an indirect cycle boiling water reactor. Like AMF Atomics, it had started with pool type research and training reactors but had plans for power reactors under development from the time it decided to enter atomic energy as a reactor vendor. Gravgaard was quoted by the Atomic Industrial Forum (now NEI) in its FORUM MEMO magazine as saying that when the price impasse was reached, AMF Atomics withdrew its offer, and the AEC put the project back up for bids.ĪCF Industries was also attempting to get into the nuclear energy business. AMF Atomics could not come to an agreement with the AEC on a flat price for the nuclear steam supply system.

With the temperature feedback from the steam generators that varied with the demand on steam, the reactor would respond somewhat automatically with increasing or decreasing fission rate (and thus power.) The size of the steam generators was intended to provide a 'flywheel effect,' damping the rate of change of power and simplifying control.īy October 1957, the fledgling project was already in trouble. The indirect cycle of boiling water reactor (BWR) was selected for this small, rural reactor to simplify both design and control. The plant concept did not include any sort of containment building beyond what is shown above. This early style pressure suppression containment included a quench tank under the reactor, with an internal containment vent connected to it from the area of the steam generators. In the illustration above, the simple nature of the nuclear steam supply system is obvious, as is the concrete containment. From AMF Atomics brochure in Will Davis collection. AMF Atomics indirect cycle, natural circulation boiling water reactor nuclear steam supply system and containment.

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