Ordinary locomotives traversing the U.S. must either follow expensive power lines or make regular stops to take on coal or oil. But the atomic locomotive could easily trevel twice around the world without refueling once. Called X-12, this concept was created by Dr. Lyle Borst and his physics students at the Univeristy of Utah after consulting the Association of American Railroads and a dozen different companies. Its components are revealed in the cutaway drawing above. As big as the largest steam engine, the two-sectioned X-12 would be 160 feet long, would be powered by a steam-generating atomic reactor in a 200-ton shield to contain its intense radiation. The whole engine would weigh a massive 360 tons, and its wheels would be driven by electric motors. The reactos itself, designed by Babcock & Wilcox Co., consists of a cylindrical tank three feet in diameter and a foot long, filled with a solution of fissionable U0235. As the control rods are withdrawn, chain reaction in the uranium heats the solution to 460°F. Water piped into thousands of tubes running through the cylinder is turned to steam by reactor's heat. After passing through a moisture trap the steam goes on to turn the turbine, which drives four electric generators, two on each side of the reactor shield, producing 7,000 hp. On leaving the turbine the steam is reconverted to water by a condenser, then flows back to the reactor once more. Since a second water system is necessary to cool the condenser, Dr. Borst's design calls for a 65-foot radiator car behind the locomotive. Cold water from this car enters the condenser at the bottom, flows upward through it. Heated as it condenses the steam, the water then returns to the radiator car for cooling. Because the steam generated in the reactor is slightly radioactive it cannot be used to heat the train, and an additional steam generator is provided.
Dr. Borst estimated that it would cost $1.2 million to build his locomotive, almost twice the price of a four-unit Diesel of comparable power.
_________________________
images and info provided by the LIFE Magazine / LIFE Magazine International / LIFE Magazine Atlantic ARCHIVE from the Zetu Harrys Collection
.jpg)
Social Plugin