Consultants Interim Report: Vickers Submerged Duct

Last year, due to the lack of time for many of the Device Teams to advance their work to an adequate stage, it was necessary for the Consultants themselves to generate much of the information required for their report. The basic work included the development of reference designs from information supplied by the teams to a degree of detail sufficient for quantities to be taken off and for productivity to be assessed and the cost of power to be calculated. This year, the Device Teams are responsible for the reference designs with the Consultants commenting upon the schemes and the data presented. The stage of development reached by the various Device Teams differs widely due to the varying starting dates and resources. In addition, the philosophy adopted by the Device Teams in their approach to presentation leads to differing emphases or degrees of optimism when considering the data available to them. The Consultants feel that it is an important part of their task to comment on devices from a common standpoint and in particular to differentiate between the facts established by the Teams and the ideas and hypotheses which they introduce to complete their presentations. In view of this, it was considered essential to establish the scope and degree of development of the various key aspects related to each device. The first section of this report sets out to present the full range of information available to the Consultants, together with its status as judged by its suitability and degree of completeness for incorporation in the development of a reference design which can be assessed and costed. The second part of this report contains the Consultants' appraisal of the information, discussed under the most significant headings. In order to avoid contention, this report in draft from has been discussed with the Device Team. There is no disagreement as regards the extent and status of the information made available to the Consultants and, except where specifically noted, the Consultants' appraisal has been generally accepted. NOTE - THIS REPORT IS TO BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE DEVICE TEAM'S REPORTS. THE CONSULTANTS HAVE NOT REPRODUCED THE DEVICE TEAMS DRAWINGS IN THIS REPORT.