Magic of the Atom, The: The Atomic Zoo (1940s)

[Music] [Music] [Music] peace time atomic energy has found its way into the animal kingdom here it helps answer important questions relating to our daily living how does food containing radioactive materials affect animals what affect if any has an atomic processing plant on the vegetation and livestock in its area how are certain foods used in the growth of to the American economy experimenting with sheep scientists at aec's Hanford works are gathering Vital Information that safeguards the import lamb and wool industry in that area since waste products such as radioactive iodine from chimney Stacks at Atomic plants often settle on soils and vegetation eaten by sheep it is important important to know the exact effect this has on them sheep are fed food pellets containing varying amounts of radioactive iodine in addition to balanced diets of alala and Grain and are then tested this helps biologists and doctors and it aids engineers in the design of future Atomic plants the pans are carefully monitored after each feeding r ration instruments are used to measure to what extent the material is being retained in the bodies of the sheep since much of the radioactive iodine is deposited in the thyroid it is this area that is first [Music] tested also at regular intervals blood samples are taken from the Sheep this permits the scientist to determine the effects of radioactive products on the blood cell count and the chemical constituents of the blood as we said the Sheep are fed varying amounts of radioiodine ranging from quite minute to fairly appreciable quantities thus the test will give much valuable data this technician is preparing the blood samples for a white cell count she dilutes the blood with a special fluid and puts a measured amount into a pip pet the pipet holder will be kept in constant motion to ensure proper mixing the results of these experiments will furnish valuable information both to the medical profession and to the livestock industry the next step in the count is to remove the pipets from the Shaker place a sample of the blood on a plate and by means of a microscope make the actual count The Offspring of the sheep will also be studied for several generations to determine the physical changes that may have been caused by the effect of radiation on the first group of sheep results to date C to knowledge that we are not harming the animals foraging near Atomic installations and valuable data for engineers who will build the new Atomic plants in this age of the atom now the blood count has been completed it will be tabulated and recorded for future reference one of the Mysteries scientist have been attempting to solve is the way in which the hen absorbs through her food calcium and and phosphorus and builds them into the various components of the egg studies at the University of Tennessee are breaking through this barrier of knowledge this hen is receiving a feeding of radioactive calcium and phosphorus which will find their way into the egg but this is a very special egg the calcium and phosphorus in it give off little bursts of radiant energy that can be traced by radiation counter [Music] the egg is separated into white Yol and shell each of these components will be studied individually to note the amount of calcium and phosphorus that have been made part of their construction these experiments are aimed at Gathering vital data about eggs Universal food products perhaps the knowledge may lead to better methods of feeding hens so that someday we may have a bigger production of more nutritious eggs such fascinating research is attracting more and more young scientists and technicians into the atomic energy field the separated parts of the egg will next be placed in a muffle furnace for drying and ashing the temperature of the furnace is kept at a constant level and the drying process takes 2 days the overall Atomic biological research program includes both plant and animal work and it is hoped that it will result in major gains toward understanding plant and animal life processes and soil plant relationships which combine to give you improved agricultural production but let's get back to our egg which has now been thoroughly ashed acid is added to dissolve the residue after it is completely dissolved it will be poured into a petri dish and placed under a radiation counter this is just one of the experiments conducted at the University of Tennessee many radioactive materials are being used to learn how animals absorb certain elements and build them into bone and muscle which then become food products for mankind this particular count takes 4 minutes to complete and tells the scientists the amount of radiation in the sample this helped to trace the course of calcium and phosphorus from the laying hen to the egg and in the continuing cycle to Future Generations at Hanford a small fraction of the Columbia River water is pumped through the giant plutonium producing reactors to to carry off heat generated by the production processes this activity makes the minerals in the water slightly radioactive after being stored in retention basins long enough for most of the radioactivity to dissipate the water is dumped back into the river what effect do the remaining radioactive materials have on the river and its plant animal and Fish Life in this sequence you will see some of the work done by the aquatic biolog ology Group which hatches 25,000 fish a year in special controlled mixtures of pure river water and contaminated water from the reactors this technician is determining the ratio of river water to contaminated water for the purpose of the test he runs the water into a graduated cylinder and then gives the readings to a biologist fish of all sizes are used used in these tests from the fingerling stage to the mature salmon which are kept in the outdoor pool they are raised in water containing varying degrees of radioactive materials concentrations run from 1% to 50% of contaminated water to fresh water the fish are fed carefully balanced diets and at intervals are subjected to laboratory tests in this operation they are gathered in a hand net and counted as they slip into a container tests are made on fairly large groups at a time this method enables the scientists to arrive at a more valid answer to their questions when a sufficient number have been netted the water is poured off and the fish will be weighed this is to determine the rate of growth of the fish by dividing the overall weight against their number it is possible to arrive at the average in order to determine what effect the radioactive water has on the fish some of them will be weighed individually and classified this data enables the biologist to observe individual fish from the tanks containing varying amounts of radioactive materials to test accurate the amount of radiation the fish has absorbed to see how it has affected the fish and in which organs it is concentrated all this knowledge is important not only for protecting America's fishing industry but also from the standpoint of planning for future atomic energy reactors which may need large quantities of cooling water now that the fish has been weighed examined and recorded it is placed into a glass Beaker for the next step here the fish are dissolved in nitric acid a step preliminary to ashing it has already been established that the radioactive materials in the water from the Hanford plant do not hurt the fish life of the Columbia River however the fish used in these experiments were subjected to a much higher level of radiation in order to gain data important for the future after the addition of the acid the material is placed under a heat lamp until it completely dissolves now that the small fish have been reduced to a liquid they will be placed in the furnace here the acid will evaporate and leave only the radioactive Ash after the time has elapsed for this process to be completed the glass beakers containing the fish tissue are removed now the samples will be prepared for the first radiation count the technician drops acid into the ash tissue and mixes it the material thus dissolved can be applied evenly on a counting plate then it has to be dried again under a heat lamp here in the radiation Counting Room the final step of the experiment takes place the individual plates containing the specimens of Ash are placed into the counter which will record the results from this and many more tests the effect of radioactive materials upon fish and aquatic plant life will be determined for the benefit of All Mankind through the magic of the atom [Music]