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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1967)
Mathis Scores Big First Half MATHIS DELIVERS Shortly before the campus-wide black-out, Mathis enter tains the audience with his renditions. Increase In Reactor Power Planned By Nuclear Center Work will beg-in next Septem ber to increase the Texas A&M nuclear reactor’s power to 10 times its present level, announced Dr. John D. Randall, Nuclear Science Center director. Announcement was made fol lowing contract signing for man ufacture of 26 improved fuel ele ments by General Atomic Divi sion of General Dynamics. Grants from the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission and National Science Foundation support the work, Randall said. “The upgrading will permit the reactor to operate continuously at 1,000 thermal kilowatts, a ten fold increase over the present power level,” he explained. “One megawatt operation will expand the reactor’s research capability and enable us to do present ex periments better, and do more of them. Experiments now requir ing 40 hours dosage may be per formed in four hours following the power increase.” The A&M reactor project was conceived in 1957 by Dr. Richard Wainerdi, associate dean of engi neering. In 1959, Dr. Robert G. Cochran, head of nuclear engi neering, directed design and con struction of the pool-type reactor using plate-type (MTR) fuel ele ments. MTR elements were the most advanced elements available for research reactors. New cores will have the addi tional capability of pulsing in stantaneous bursts of high ener gy radiation, in the range of 2,- 000,000 thermal kilowatts. “This advantage will allow in stantaneous irradiation of a test subject which now requires pro longed exposure,” the director went on. General Atomic invented TRI- GA fuel for increased perform ance levels. The elements contain a mixture of uranium and zir conium hydride which has a prompt negative temperature co efficient. “This characteristic, much like a built-in thermostat, cancels out any fuel temperature rise with out use of control rods or other mechanical devices,” Randall noted. Because of the built-in safety feature, the AEG can grant li censes for TRIGA reactor opera tion even in heavily-populated areas. The fuel has been extensively tested in General Atomic’s proto type reactors at San Diego eight years. Thirty-eight TRIGA reac tors are in operation or planned by universities, government-spon sored research labs and industrial corporations of 13 countries. Dr. Randall said installation, testing and analyzing character istics of the new reactor will re quire one month. The contract calls for General Atomic to pro vide a TRIGA conversion core and special equipment for pulsing operation. MATHIS BACKSTAGE Air Force Div. Lab Test Chief Speaks Thursday A. H. Abernathy, Laboratory Test Division chief of the Air Force Missile Development Cen ter at Holloman AFB, N.M., will speak here Thursday. The Graduate College Lecture, “Inertial Guidance Technology”, is set for 4 p.m. in room 303, Fer- mier Hall, announced Dr. Wayne C. Hall, academic vice president. Abernathy, a 1940 mechanical engineering graduate of A&M, heads laboratories which test and evaluate inertial guidance com ponents and systems. Eighty- five technical and scientific per sonnel are under his direction. The New Mexico native spent 22 years in Air Force technical assignments, including five years as an officer in World War II. He is a licensed professional en gineer, a member of the Ameri can Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Who’s Who in Space, and a colonel in the Air Force Reserve. Dr. Hall said Abernathy’s first assignment at Holloman was to construct a large high altitude chamber for balloon and sound ing-rocket testing. This work, Hall noted, began a series of highly technical projects which earned Abernathy deserved praise from experimental scien tists. PARDNER You’ll Always Win The Showdown When You Get Your Duds Done CAMPUS CLEANERS Michigan Students Set New Record For Beer Drinking ANN ARBOR, Mich. <A>> _ Weary, bleary and bloated, a doz en University of Michigan stu dents stumbled from a tavern Sunday night after 604 hours of beer drinking and happily claimed a record. The 12 had been engaged in a social research program at a lo cal tavern since Jan. 5. Their happy revels ended, they completed the task of estimating how much beer they had con sumed. At the rate of 12 ounces every half-hour, this amounted to an intake of 14,496 ounces of brew. More meaningful, it added up to tighter skirts for the girls in the drinkathon, and stretched belts for the men. The twelve students — nine men and three women — betook themselves to Fraser’s Pub, last month with the intention of drowning out the old beer-drink ing record of 302 hours set by a Michigan State squad in 1956. Drinking was done in relays, with a requirement that at least one of the guzzling team quaff a 12-ounce stein every half-hour. Ag Researchers Patent Discoveries Research findings of two ma terials researchers of the Texas Transportation Institute have been patented by the U. S. Patent Office. A slurry seal mixture for sur facing roads has been patented utilizing an otherwise waste ma terial (Rockdale slag aggregate) as a major portion of the mix. The material is useful in surface sealing of parking areas, streets, and highways, and airport aprons and runways. The typical American sends not one but five Valentines, accord ing to an estimate by Hallmark Cards. ATTENTION Civilian Sophomores and Juniors Pictures scheduled for 1967 Aggieland to be taken at University Studio. Feb. 13 to Feb. 18 - A-I Feb. 20 to Feb. 25 - J-T Feb. 27 to March 4 - U-Z and make-ups AGGIES ... DON’T DELAY! Order Your Boots Now For Future Delivery - Small Payment Will Do YOUR BOOTS MADE TO ORDER Convenient Lay-Away Plan ONLY $60.00 A PAIR Economy Shoe Repair & Boot Co. 509 W. Commerce, San Antonio CA 3-0047 Fidelity Union Life Insurance Company is proud to inform all of Charles’ friends and clients of his qualifying membership in the 1967 MILLION DOLLAR ROUND TABLE of the National Association of Life Underwriters Charles E. Thomas THE BATTALION Tuesday, February 14, 1967 College Station, Texas Page 3 Presenting RAY PRICE And His Cherokee Cowboys WEDNESDAY FEB. 15 8 p. m. - 12 p. m. LAKEVIEW CLUB OPEN YOUR ACCOUNT NOW! MATHIS & TROUPE Johnny Mathis is backed up by his “This Young Generation” singers. % s Per Annum Paid Quarterly on INSURED SAVINGS FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGS and LOAN ASSOCIATION 2913 Texas Ave. j\HQ4fr %l|!l Tropical Storm Seminar Scheduled Tropical storm development will be discussed by Dr. William M. Gray of Colorado State in a meteorology seminar here Feb. 23. The 3 p.m. seminar will be held in 305 Goodwin Hall, announced Dr. Vance E. Moyer, Meteorology Department head. Assistant professor in the Atmospheric Science Department at the Fort Collins university, Dr. Gray has traveled extensively for tropical meteorological research. He spent a year in Tokyo under a U.S. - Japan cooperative re search program. The professor is a native of Detroit, was raised in Washing ton, D. C., and received his B.A. degree in geography at George Washington University. WHATABURGER 1101 S. College — Across From Weingarten “WORLD’S LARGEST PURE BEEF BURGER” • 1/4 Lb. 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If, for some reason, you aren’t able to arrange an interview, drop us a line. Write to: Manager of College Recruiting, IBM Corporation, Room 810,1447 Peachtree Street, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30309. IBM is an Equal Opportunity Employer.