§ Mr. Masonasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what difficulties were encountered with the initial design of the nuclear marine propulsion unit at Dounreay; and what progress is now being made with its development.
§ Mr. C. Ian Orr-EwingThe problems experienced in the earlier work on the nuclear marine propulsion unit at Dounreay were of the kind likely to arise with any new venture in this field. Progress was being made towards solving these problems and they could have been solved completely by research and development effort in this country, but this would have taken time.
The knowledge acquired as a result of Anglo-American agreements for the exchange of atomic information, and in particular that which is being obtained as part of the contract under which machinery for "Dreadnought" is being obtained from the United States, has enabled us to make economies in the research and development programme for the Dounreay prototype reactor.