MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: OSI Assessment of Progress inilateral Agreement Project on Energy; Development ofcale, Open Cycle MHD Power Plants
The initial estimate of Soviet capabilities in the MHD field prepared in2 has been supported in general by information gained since then during the course of the US-USSR exchange. No significant new technical knowledge has been obtainedesult of this exchange, but the US has become much more familiar with the capabilities of the25 MHD generators. This information probably would not have become available without the exchange.
Current Assessment of Benefits and Disadvantages to the US:
quid pro quo from thisto be fairly even. The mainthe US will probably be in the moneynot having toarge pilot MHDtohannel. lantbeen built in the US several yearswas not. In this exchange the USSSR plant for test purposes.
the Soviets may thinka lot to offer the US in materialsducts, they may be surprised at some of
the recent results of the US MHD materials approvedffort just getting underway. esult date:4 of this effort, direct coal combustion may prove to be the easiest route to practical MHD power generation instead of the "clean fuel" route the Soviets have chosen.
SUtSSTivii>ed
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SUBJECT; OSI Assessment of Progress in the SST Bilateral Agreement project on Energy: Development of Commercial Scale, Open Cycle MHD Power Plants
C* There is some question as to whether development of an MHD generator capability is necessary and practical for the US in the area of commercial power production. The US has the technical capability of manufacturing and maintaining advanced gas turbinesarge scale whereas the Soviets do not. While the level of maintenance for an MHD generator is not as stringent, demanding and precise as it isas turbine, MHD generators may need more servicing than gas turbines. In any economy such as that of the USSR obtaining help forabor intensive device such as an MHD generator would not present as muchroblem as it would in the US or Western Europe.
Goals in.this Exchange:
The Soviets are eager to get5o get an output ofoWe for at least an hour, so they will assure ample funding in the next Five-Year Plan to carry ons they have in the past.
of Cooperation the US Side MightMake this Activity of Greater Benefit to the US:
A. The US might press for an exchange of information on closed-cycle MHD. Recently the Soviets have been quite uncommunicative about their efforts in this area. All US work in close-cycle MHD has been published in the open literature. It would be useful to determine whether we are correct in our assumption that US work in this area is more advanced than that of the Soviets.
SUBJECT: OSI Assessment of Progress inilateral Agreement project on Energy: Development of Commercial Scale, Open Cycle MHD Power Plants
B. There have been some reports in the open literatureoviet pulsed MHD device to aid in predicting earthquakes. Thisood MHD capability according to the best estimates we can make with the information at hand. Accordingly, the US might want to tie in with the MHD workers at the Institute of Atomic Energy at Krasnaya Pakhra where this generator was developed. This might be very difficult to do, however, given the bureaucratic composition ofn the USSR.
Original document.
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