another 5 years, he had to be up there today, and he is in an executive meeting with the Joint Committee. On the staff level in the Commission, I have been assigned the responsibility to carry out the work with the Appalachian program. In turn, I have Dr. Donnelly with me, who spends a good part of his time on this. So Commissioner Ramey asked me to express his regrets. He has been very interested in this program and has been working closely with the former Commission that was working on this legislation. I have a statement for Mr. Ramey which I can read. If you feel it is too long, I would be happy to summarize it for you. Mr. DAVIS. How long is it? Mr. TREMMEL. I believe it is eight or nine pages. Mr. DAVIS. If there is no objection, if you can summarize it, it would be appreciated, and we will make Mr. Ramey's statement a part of the record at your conclusion. Mr. TREMMEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What we point out in our statement is that the AEC has been interested in this Appalachian program. One of our main reasons is that one of our major facilities, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is located in the heart of the Appalachian region. Most of you have heard about Oak Ridge. We have a number of facilities there such as a gaseous diffusion plant, which produces uranium 235, and the famous Oak Ridge National Laboratory. We also have our Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Science through which southern colleges and universities take part in research and development there and which offers training for teachers and scientists. To give you some feel of what we have at Oak Ridge, our investment in plant and equipment has totaled around $1.478 billion. That was as of June 30, 1963. Our facility at Oak Ridge is a very large user of Appalachian electricity, requiring at the moment a supply of 1,510 megawatts. We have 14,626 employees from the surrounding area, around Oak Ridge. We believe that the future economic well-being of Appalachia will benefit upon the commercial and industrial application of research and development for nuclear energy. Chairman Seaborg has often stated that all of us are in the midst of a technological revolution which is changing our lives and will change even more the lives of our children and their children. We believe that the Appalachian program should help this region to catch up with this peaceful revolution, as Dr. Seaborg calls it, and should encourage and enable industry to expand apace with the national economy. Soon after the President's Appalachian Regional Commission was formed, we suggested that our role probably in this program would be somewhat less than people who are going to build highways, and the water people who will worry about water problems, but we did suggest several steps to Mr. Roosevelt at that time that we thought the AEC could carry out. We wanted to encourage research in atomic energy, to stimulate the use of radiation and radioisotopes, in order to anticipate these uses and try to get these uses to develop in that area. We also offered to provide a consultant to the Appalachian program. This would probably be somebody from our technical groups at Oak Ridge. We offered to provide consultants on setting up the institute that is being considered for the Appalachian area, because we have people who have had a lot of experience, and we offered to furnish consultants on the use of radiation in industry. One of the suggestions we made is that we might get a group of people to go to some of the areas of Appalachia and take a look at the industries there and see if we can show them how to use radiation or isotopes to improve their products and help their industry be stronger. A related suggestion was proposed exploring the practicability of establishing a facility within the region for experimentation with the uses of radiation. Finally, we informed the State reresentatives of our recent developments in the Commission's peaceful nuclear explosives program. Of course, this would be the use of a nuclear device to excavate for highways in the mountains. We have talked about a demonstration project along this line in California. We thought such a project might be the type of thing we could carry out in Appalachia. However, we cautioned them that this is something that would not bring a lot of immediate employment because we are probably 3 to 5 years away from actual, practical applications to any great extent. But we thought these were the kind of things we ought to be looking at for the future in that area. As recently as April 1, our Division of Industrial Participation set up a meeting in Atlanta with representatves of the Appalachian States to review the suggestions we had made. We had a small informal meeting with State industrial and development officials. We had a chance to spend a half day with the people there talking about what the Atomic Energy Commission would do to help them. To be honest with you, part of the idea was just to sit across the table and talk to the people from the States and from the industries, to see what suggestions they had and how we could be of help. We think the meeting confirmed that the field of radiaion and radioisotopes seems to be one of the areas that we ought to concentrate on, and see what we could do. One very interesting application that we looked at was in connection with the radiation of wood. We found that if we impregnate softwoods with a plastic under pressure and then submit the wood to massive ionizing radiation, that the wood then gets characteristics of hardwood. Since there is a lot of softwood in this area, we felt that if we could get this principle accepted by some of the industries in the area it would help them. It means that softwood can be made into desired shapes more easily than hardwood. Then by impregnating the softwood with a plastic, and processing it with ionizing radiation, the product takes on qualities of hardwood. We are looking now at how we might be able to get something started in the Appalachia area that would apply this principle to their timber. As we have said, we do not expect most of the applications we are talking about to have an immediate large effect on the area. But they are the kind of things we think the Commission can help with, because we do have this large installation at Oak Ridge. I might also mention that we have another big installation at Savannah River, Ga., which is right outside the Appalachian area. We have assigned a man at both Oak Ridge and Savannah to work directly with the Appalachian program, to offer our services, and our people as consultants. We have offered to furnish any equipment we can. So in essence we are trying to explore ways we can help these people to get right at the problems in the area. One thing we stressed a lot in our comments on this program was the improvement of human as well as natural resources within Appalachia. We tended to highlight the education and training, and would expect that as the Appalachian program develops, the people in the region can benefit from the experience and knowledge of our Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies. This institute is an independent organization of 40 southern colleges and universities, and provides a major means through which facility members, their faculty can participate in research for nuclear energy and through which educators and people from industry can get training in nuclear energy. This institute has direct ties with and detailed knowledge of related research at all 40 of the universities. In summary, we have said in our statement is that we support the proposed legislation before your committee. We think it is an important step to help the region catch up with the industrial progress of the Nation in order for the region to become a full participant and contribute to the technology that is expanding and increasing today. This is my summary of the formal statement that we have given you. (The statement follows:) STATEMENT OF JAMES T. RAMEY, COMMISSIONER, U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I am pleased to appear before you at this time to discuss the proposed legislation to establish an Appalachian Regional Commission and to carry out the program recommended in the report of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission. Ever since this Commission was established by the late President John F. Kennedy, the Atomic Energy Commission has actively participated in its activities. We have met and worked with its members-both State and Federal-and believe the proposed program establishes a logical way for the Federal Government to mobilize its resources to assist the people of Appalachia to help themselves. We have reviewed the proposed legislation and support its enactment. You may wish to know why the Atomic Energy Commission is interested in Appalachia. There are two good reasons, aside from our natural sharing of the concern of President Kennedy and President Johnson that this region is being passed by in our growing economy. Our first reason is that one of our principal centers for production and for research is located virtually at the geographic center of the Appalachian region. This is our facility at Oak Ridge, near Knoxville, in Tennessee. Its functions and operations are so widely known that I need only summarize them. It pioneered in the production of uranium 235 and today has one of the Commission's three gaseous diffusion plants that produce this material. It is also the site of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies. The AEC's investment in plant and equipment here totaled $1.478 billion on June 30, 1963, with new construction in progress estimated to cost an additional $108 million. Our facility also is a large user of Appalachian electricity, requiring at the moment a supply of 1,510 magawatts. This will be cut back in step with our reduced production of uranium 235 to 705 megawatts by October 1, 1968. Situated in the heart of Appalachia, Oak Ridge, in March, had 14,626 employees from the surrounding area, giving them experience with nuclear science and technology. It has inspired their children to seek to become scientists, engineers, and technicians in their own right, thus strengthening the human resources of the region. Our staff at Oak Ridge has a knowledge of, and insight into, the economic and human problems of this region that has helped us greatly in working with the President's Appalachian Regional Commission. Second, we believe that the future economic well-being of the country will depend very much upon the commercial and industrial application of research and development. Chairman Seaborg has often stated the theme that all of us are in the midst of a technological revolution which is changing our lives and will change even more the lives of our children and their children. We believe the proposed Appalachian program will help this region to catch up with this peaceful revolution, and that it will help to encourage and enable industry there to expand space with the national economy. We are hopeful that growing industry in Appalachia can profitably use some of the nuclear science and technology, coming from the programs of the Atomic Energy Commission. The report of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission specifically calls attention to industrial and commercial development. It points out that private business is essential to the future growth of the Appalachian region; that among its most important human assets are the businessmen who with vigor and imagination can turn the resources and capabilities of the region into good jobs. The State institutions and public bodies which enable the businessmen to do this should be used to the fullest extent. We note also the attention given the PARC report to training and education. This attention is well taken, for the colleges, universities, and technical schools of Appalachia have a great responsibility to furnish the scientists, engineers, and technicians needed for new industry and new uses of modern science and technology. In this connection, soon after the President's Appalachian Regional Commission began its studies, we suggested several steps to Mr. Roosevelt, in his capacity as PARC Chairman, to advance the economic well-being of the region. Their essence was that nuclear science and technology could improve and add to regional products and services. We realize, of coruse, that nuclear energy is no panacea for the major problems of Appalachia. However, we believe that with imagination some of the ideas, information, materials, and techniques available at Oak Ridge, at our Savannah River plant, which is our large industrial complex near Appalachia at Aiken, S.C., and at our other plants and laboratories could be used to open opportunities for new jobs. Our suggestions sought to encourage research and development in atomic energy, to stimulate the use of radiation and radioisotopes, and to anticipate the possible peaceful uses of nuclear explosives. We provided a consultant, who recently assisted the Department of Commerce's current study of the role and functions of an Appalachian institute; and AEC technical advisers, who worked with the PARC task groups that studied natural resources. We called attention to possible loan of AEC equipment and materials, to use of AEC facilities and furnishing of technical consultants without charge as ways of stimulating regional research and development. In particular, we suggested that consultants could visit selected industrial establishments to encourage the use of isotopes and radiation to improve products and manufacturing. A related suggestion proposed exploring the practicability of establishing a facility within the region for experimentation with various uses of radiation. Finally, we informed the State representatives on PARC of recent developments in the Commission's peaceful nuclear explosives program and have received requests for additional information. As recently as April 1, we met in Atlanta with representatives of the Appalachian States to review the suggestions. Our meeting, while small and informal, was successful for it showed the interest of State industrial development officials and encouraged us in our approach. Also, in keeping with a recommendation in the PARC report, we invited the Southern Interstate Nuclear Board to cosponsor the Atlanta meeting with us, and we look forward to future close cooperation between the board, the proposed Appalachian Regional Commission, and the AEC in following through on our suggestions. Our offices and our operating contractors at Oak Ridge and Savannah River are useful sources of information for this cooperation and will be encouraged to work directly with groups in Appalachia in carrying out the suggestions. Let me be more specific about possibilities in nuclear technology for Appalachia. Radioisotopes and radiation have proved useful in certain instances to improve existing products, or to produce new ones. They can help to improve the use of Appalachian natural resources. Consider their application to two of the great natural resources of the region, coal and timber. There are several ways in which nuclear energy could assist the coal industry. Radiation and radioisotopes can be used to improve exploration and prospecting, mining and processing, storage and handling, testing and analysis and safety. Likewise, heat from nuclear reactors may speed the day when gasification of coal is an economic reality. It is worth noting that coal industries abroad are beginning to use radiation and radioisotopes to reduce costs and improve quality of their production, and so improve their competitive position in the fuel markets. A detailed review of such applications appears in the spring, 1964, issue of Isotopes and Radiation Technology, an AEC technical progress review. The Commission has a modest research effort relating to coal. Our isotopes development program includes several projects to develop uses of radiation to reduce costs of coal mining and processing, to improve the quality of the product and to increase mine safety. A few weeks ago the Coal Research Center of the U.S. Bureau of Mines at Morgantown, W. Va., demonstrated a working model of equipment to measure moisture in coal. Last December the Texas Nuclear Corp. reported favorably on work it is doing for continuous sampling and analysis of coal for heat content, ash and other qualities. The equipment they are developing under AEC contract uses radioisotopes to measure these qualities. Because coal is sold increasingly on the basis of specified heat, ash and sulfur content rather than by weight, accurate and rapid coal analysis is important. In another related project, the Consolidation Coal Co. of Library, Pa., is studying use of this type instrumentation to measuring coal delivered by Unitrain. Because present methods of sampling the coal require 24 hours for analysis, it is quite possible for coal to be delivered by modern high speed methods and to be used before the operators know its heating value or ash content, which could adversely affect efficiency of, or even damage the burner. A fast, automatic method of checking would be of obvious advantage. The Commission is working, also, with the Bureau of Mines in an experimental coal gasification project. The idea is that hot gases when passed through a bed of processed coal can extract products more valuable than the untreated coal. High temperatures are required, from 2,000° to 2,500° Fahrenheit. If this work fulfills our joint expectations, it may point the way to using nuclear reactors to supply the hot gases required, and provide another possible application for reactors based on our ultra high temperature reactor experiment at Los Alamos. This project, now under construction at Los Alamos, is designed to evaluate the problems of operating a helium-cooled reactor at temperatures up to 2,400° Fahrenheit. The initial research and development for this reactor began in July 1959. Concerning timber, the AEC sponsored research at the University of West Virginia has created a promising new wood product produced by impregnating wood with plastics under pressure and subjecting it to massive ionizing radiation. Samples are now being distributed with wood-using industries. The next step is a pilot plant to demonstrate the process on an industrial scale and to provide definitive design and cost information. We have been considering such a plant and would welcome participation by Appalachian personnel and funds. Ideally, the Appalachian wood industry itself could build and operate a pilot plant for the benefit of the entire region. As I noted earlier, these applications will not have the same immediate effect as the proposed highway, or livestock raising, or timber programs. But they can improve products and processes and, perhaps even more important, by example they can stimulate closer attention to using science and technology in Appalachian industry. We are hopeful that the PARC recommendations concerning industrial development will be carried out to encourage this attention, for it is essential for progress in our rapidly changing times. The PARC report stressed improvement of human as well as natural resources within Appalachia, and highlighted education and training. We expect that as this part of the proposed program develops, it may well benefit from the experience, knowledge, and capabilities of the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies. This independent organization of 40 southern colleges and universities provides a major means through which faculty members participate in |