The Helpful Atom

At least once a month some investment expert asks plump, balding Robert E. Wilson, 61, chairman of Standard Oil of Indiana, the same irksome question: How will atomic power affect the oil industry? Last week Oilman Wilson* stood up before the third annual atomic energy convention of the National Industrial Conference Board to give the oil industry's answer. Said he:

"There will be few, if any, atomic power plants built for purely commercial purposes in this country within ten years. These would be only at points remote from conventional fuel supplies . . . without direct or indirect subsidy from the Government . . . The Shippingport plant (TIME, March 22) does not qualify as an unsubsidized plant, since the Government is justifiably paying well over half the total cost. [In ten to 25 years, a few unsubsidized atomic] power plants might be built, [but] no existing plant of reasonable efficiency would be shut down or converted to atomic fuel . . .

"The country's needs for energy are expanding so rapidly that the ultimate problem is not what fuel is going to be crowded out, but what can come along to help carry the rapidly growing load. [Atomic energy] will be not a competitor but a burden sharer."

* No kin to Defense Secretary Charles E. Wilson, or former General Electric President Charles E. Wilson.

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