§ 48. Mr. Sydney Irvingasked the Paymaster-General, as representing the Lord President of the Council, what he 63W estimates will be the effect on the development of atomic energy of the new methods of inducing chain reactions discovered by American scientists; and whether such information as results from this discovery will be available for use in British plants.
§ Mr. MaudlingI presume that the hon. Member refers to the discovery that fusion of hydrogen isotopes can be brought about by mesons. The discovery has no practical application at the present time because the meson exists for only about a millionth of a second after its formation. But basic information of this sort is normally published in scientific journals and is therefore freely available to British scientists.