Abstract
Seven research projects have been commenced under the Electric Research Council (ERC)'s underground transmission R & D program, in which Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) takes charge of a research project on a superconducting AC power cable system while General Electric Company is in charge of a project on a resistive-cryogenic cable system, and both are sponsored by the Edison Electric Institute and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The UCC Linde Division has made AC power loss measurements of pure niobium conductors and investigated a conceptual cable design and economic evaluation, and GE Co. has conducted dielectric characteristic tests at cryogenic temperature and made an evaluation of a cryogenic cable refrigerated by liquid hydrogen or nitrogen. Meanwhile, the Simplex Wire & Cable Company has made some tests of vacuum electrical insulations on a liquid nitrogen cooled cable at Waltz Mill testing facility funded by the ERC.
