Daily News from New York, New York • 235

DAILY NEWS, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1979 9 uuueneu success, Smukks mlwre v-viJ By JUDITH RANDAL "Under way on nuclear power First Operational Message from the submarine Nautilus, Jan. 17, 1955 Washington (News Bureau At a time when the phrase "nuclear power" has conjured up fear and uncertainty, the vessel that gave nuclear power its first real start is heading toward its final port. The Nautilus, the first submarine ever fueled by the splitting of atoms, is en route from the East Coast to the West for decomissioning. Increasingly expensive repairs are sending the sub into retirement. The Nautilus has sailed on and under the seas for 24 years and during those years has created maritime history that would put to shame the feats of Jules Verne's fictional Nautilus in "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." It was, for example, the first vessel ever to travel underneath the polar icepack and by doing so opened up a new passage between the two major oceans of the world in 1958.

The decision to haul down the flag of this oldest member of the world's nuclear navies comes just after the Navy landed the world's largest submarine a $1.2 billion Trident missile sub, the nuclear-powered Ohio. But as the atomic program of the Navy is in full swing, atomic power is in serious trouble on land. The question arises: Why should a technology that has been so successfully pursued in ship propulsion be faced with so many problems in commercial power generation? After all. the principle behind the power plant fitted into the Nautilus and 113 of its sister submarines is identical with the one that caused a near-catastrophe at Three Mile Island last month. Indeed, the whole family of pressurized-water reactors 41 in all licensed to operate in the.

United States, in addition to Three Mile Island s' two are a direct outgrowth of the propulsion program pioneered a quarter-century ago by the Navy. Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, the "father" of that program, was an obscure and not very popular captain Mi the Engineering Corps after World War II when he began to push for atomic propulsion of undersea vessels. He convinced President Truman and Congress if not his superiors that nuclear power was the only way for the submarine fleet of the future.

Reactor abandoned As far as is known without access to classified military records, the Navy has never had a major nuclear accident. There have, however, been incidents involving radioactivity. For instance, a sodium breeder reactor for the atomic submarine Seawolf was abandoned when it became apparent that radiation leakage was a problem. In addition, testimony last year before the House health subcommittee mentioned an instance of possible sabotage aboard the Nautilus, as well as a mishap ihat occurred-at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, in AP photo The Nautilus first nuclear submarine Is heading Into retirement. which a worker was said to have been sprayed acci partment of Energy historian and co-author of the book, "The Nuclear Navy." "1 think the differences lie not so much in (he hardware, but in the management and organizat: of the two projects," Hewlett said.

"The nuclear Navy is essentially a military project where you have better opportunities for control than in a civilian project, where you are trying to encourage private industry develop power on their own, so to speak, with a minimum of regulations." Hewlett noted, for example, that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been ordered by the President to put one of its own inspectors at every nuclear dentally with water containing radioactivity. Rickover's reactor concept, first tested at sea by the Nautilus, laid the groundwork for commercial nuclear power when it was converted to experimental use two years later at Shippingport, Pa. Although its original design has been replaced bv another one testing the breeder" technology, which creates more atomic fuel than it consumes that land-based reactor is still churning out power on the banks of the Ohio River, northwest of Pittsburgh. Rickover would not respond to questions that would compare his highly successful naval reactor program with the often stumbling civilian power business. But another expert did: Richard Hewlett De (Continued on page 34, col.

1) Asphalt plant coming up roses for East Side neighbors By MARTIN KING By MARTIN KING City General Services Commissioner James Capalino, state energy officials and community leaders announced yesterday a plan to construct a $1.6 million sports and arts center in a landmark building at 91st St. and East End Ave. The center to be called Asphalt Green, will occupy the unused city asphalt plant there and include a gymnasium, a theater and an art studio. It will be used also for a series of solar energy research projects, Capalino said. Dr.

George Murphy chairman of the Asphalt Green Neighborhood Committee, said the eommunitv started working on the project in 1972. The land surrounding the 37-year-old plant is already used as a sports field, and the makeover of the 100-foot-high, parabolic reinforced concrete will begin early next year, he said. The asphalt plant, a familiar sight long the East River Drive because of its curved shape, was designated as a city landmark in 1976. Trees for the park Centra! Park also was brightened a Ml yesterday when Mayor Koch accepted nearly 150 flowering Jaoanese cherry trees from Tokyo shipbuilder Ryoichi Sasakaw. Sasakaw also pledged to pay for restoration of the park's Cherry Hill Fountain near the" 72d St.

-ti-HSvefse-rottd Koch said the donation amounts to I News photo bv Robert Rosamilio Sports and arts complex will center abandoned asphalt plant. $150,000 a sum the city can't afford for York a sister city to Tokyo and that "Asi.i has Inner hpn a honnFnfAf News photo bv Wary DiEiase Ryoichi Sasakaw, (left), who donated cherry trees, and wife join Parks Commissiifloerr. (iordeu i Pla.vis. Aqtjl look at trees in Central Park. Deautiiication.

"This gitt will live and Jsusakaw sal Tie coaoci'ed "sew.