Jan 14 1973
From The Space Library
A building boom of nuclear power plants in 1972 was reported by the New York Times. The Atomic Industrial Forum, a group seeking to foster development of atomic energy for peaceful uses, had reported 33 plant commitments made, with a total capacity of 36.3 million kw. The Atomic Energy Commission had reported 29 nuclear power plants operable in the U.S. with a total capacity of 14.7 million kw, or 3.8% of total electric utility capacity. Fifty-five plants with a total capacity of 47.8 million kw were being built and 76 with 80million-kw capacity were planned. AEc had predicted that in 1980 nuclear power capacity would be 23% of total U.S. electric capacity. (Smith, NYT, 1/14/73, 5:3)
January 14-17: The American Chemical Society held a regional meeting in Washington, D.C. Dr. Cyril A. Ponnamperuma and Dr. Peter M. Molton, Univ. of Maryland chemists, presented results of studies in which a Jupiterlike atmosphere of methane and ammonia had been produced in a flask at the University's Laboratory of Chemical Evolution. Results had shown the chemicals necessary for establishing life probably existed in Jupiter's upper atmosphere. "Jupiter today may have the kind of atmosphere that the primitive earth had 4 billion or 41/2 billion years ago," Dr. Ponnamperuma, former NASA specialist in life chemistry, said.
Further studies had shown that bombarding primitive chemicals with electrical discharges triggered complex chemical reactions forming Amnonitriles-precursors of purees and pyrimidines, main components of DNA and RNA, chemicals dictating the genetic make-up of every living cell. Aminonitriles combined with water became amino acids, ingredients of all proteins. Ponnamperuma and Molton said they would ask NASA to explore Jupiter's atmosphere during the planned 1977 flyby mission to that planet. If a scientific probe could find the same life building blocks as produced in the laboratory, life in Jupiter's clouds would be almost a certainty. (Kirkman, W Star & News, 1/17/73, A9; Cohn, W Post, 1/18/73, A14)
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