REPORT ON THE ATOM

you [Music] [Applause] all right sir we'll take the reactor up to power [Music] the reactor is now going up to 250 kW safety rods out at 10:21 cooling pumps [Music] kyle is now operating at 250 kW the United States Atomic Energy program today in its seventh year is one of the world's biggest integrated industries it is owned exclusively by the people of the US who have invested in it more than three billion dollars the development of atomic energy in the u.s. is the responsibility of the Atomic Energy Commission the AEC from Washington the AEC with David a Lilienthal as chairman and Carole Wilson as general manager conducts the affairs of a far-flung public enterprise in which ten mature plants and laboratories more than 60 colleges and universities and some 900 industrial firms play a part at Hanford Washington is produced one of the explosive materials used in the atomic bomb plutonium Los Alamos New Mexico is a EC's bomb development and atomic weapons center and at Oak Ridge Tennessee where the large-scale atomic energy program was launched in 1942 uranium-235 the basic fissionable material is separated from natural uranium today as the AEC faces the task of maintaining the atomic supremacy of the US in an unsettled world one of its biggest problems is to ensure an adequate supply of uranium now heavily dependent upon rich or imported from Canada and the Belgian Congo the AEC is encouraging the development of domestic uranium deposits on the Colorado Plateau the ore is plentiful but because it is a very low-grade uranium mining in Colorado is for the most part a small-scale operation nevertheless it is proving reasonably profitable for the miners [Music] at a a cease raw materials office in Grand Junction Colorado samples of the mined uranium are carefully analyzed on the basis of any impound in the sample the price paid the miners for each pound of ore is determined [Music] the AEC is constantly working to improve milling processes so as to extract the greatest possible amount of the vitally needed uranium from the low-grade ore [Music] meanwhile at its operations office in New York the AEC is examining hundreds of samples sent in by prospectors from nearly every state in the Union for in an effort to increase the domestic supply the Commission offers a ten thousand dollar bonus for the delivery of the first twenty tons of high-grade ore from each new discovery but most of the samples are found to contain no uranium whatever and few have been good enough to warrant field investigation [Music] ayyyy sees most successful peacetime operation today is the manufacture of radioactive forms of various materials the materials or isotopes are made in a huge nuclear reactor or uranium pile which is encased in a thick wall of concrete to protect workers from dangerous radioactive rays inside are blocks of graphite a material which causes atomic particles to travel at the proper speed uranium the source of the particles needed to make isotopes is placed in aluminum tubes and thrust through the concrete into the graphite a control rod regulates the rate of the chain reaction inside the pile by absorbing some of the radiated particles the material to be made radioactive is then placed on a long graphite holder and pushed into the atomic furnace there under bombardment by neutrons the atomic structure of the substance is altered that it emerges as a radio active isotope atomic workers must take extraordinary precautions to avoid exposure to dangerous radiation with Geiger counters they keep a continuous check on the intensity of the radioactive rays protected from the pile opening by alleged shield the worker looks into a mirror as he places the materials to be irradiated into the graphite holder for research in biology and medicine in agriculture and industry radioactive isotopes are already widely employed some Radio isotopes have been made to users in the US and the problem among the materials irradiated for industry are a quantity of automobile piston rings for a full month the rings are cooked in a nuclear furnace until the iron content becomes radioactive then they are shipped to a West Coast laboratory where they become a valuable tool for research in improving automotive fuels and lubricants [Music] [Applause] the radioactive rings are installed on the Pistons of a standard automobile engine after two or three hours of operation the oil is removed from the engine and tested the amount of radiation it contains reveals to one millionth of an ounce the amount of metal worn off the Rings in biological as well as Industrial Research Radio isotopes are today serving mankind in a study of photosynthesis at the University of California the growth of plants cultivated in flasks of water is traced through the use of radioactive carbon such experiments biologists hope will disclose the secret of the process by which plants gather energy from the Sun thus pointing the way to improved crop production and a solution for the world's food problems more immediate results are likely to come from the studies agricultural scientists are making with fertilizers in which radioactive substances are used as tracers by mixing small quantities of radio phosphorus and other isotopes with standard fertilizers agronomists are attempting to find more effective ways of using these fertilizers thereby increasing the yield of such staple crops as potatoes beans tomatoes and corn [Music] [Applause] [Music] as the fertilizer compound is applied in varying depths and patterns its intensity of radiation is monitored for the safety of the workers the radioisotope is assimilated by each plant treated with the experimental mixture the amount of isotope present enables agricultural researchers to gauge the absorption and distribution of the fertilizer at any stage of plant growth by testing molded samples of the leaves and stalks for radiation at Oakridge industrial scientists and doctors of medicine are taught how to use Radio isotopes in research through this phase of its program the AEC hopes radioactive tracers will become more widely utilized in diagnosing diseases the four-week course offered by the Institute includes instruction in the use of the Geiger counter one of the instruments without which doctors would be unable to record the path from the concentration of radioactive materials on the human system [Music] the effects of exposure to nuclear radiation are also being studied at Oakridge because of their rapid development to maturity mice and rats make possible the study of these effects on many generations in only a few years time [Applause] today the chemical isotopes which the AEC is producing in ever-increasing numbers and varieties are already contributing to the progress of medical science on the treatment of disease but for the world of tomorrow a project of far-reaching significance is in progress only 25 miles from the University of Chicago where men achieved the first controlled chain reaction in 1942 and thus entered the Atomic Age a group of scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory are seeking a way to harness atomic energy for commercial power but though an atomic power plant is entirely possible the most optimistic forecasters believe that it will be 8 to 10 years before even an experimental plant can become a reality [Music] of the countless technical problem standing in the way one of the most challenging is to find a liquid capable of transferring to a power plant the intense heat generated in an atomic furnace almost as difficult is the development of structural materials which can withstand extreme temperatures and are capable of retaining their properties under intense radiation in developing and improving materials for building an atomic power plant scientists and technicians at Argonne Oakridge and other laboratories are devising tools to meet the special requirements of atomic energy ingenious devices like the master/slave manipulator make it possible for atomic workers to handle safely and with precision even the most dangerously radioactive material [Music] because powerful rays can destroy tissues and cells causing serious injury or even death to those exposed to them contaminated equipment must be carefully disposed of to safeguard laboratory and plant personnel waste materials are buried deep underground but protection for those working to develop an atomic power plant is only one of the problems confronting AEC through important experiments at Brookhaven in New York scientists are discovering how potentially dangerous waste gases from an atomic plant can best be prevented from contaminating nearby population centers to study wind currents at Brookhaven where the new atomic pile will be closed down when weather conditions are not favorable a harmless type of test smoke is emitted into the air from a tower 420 feet high as it drifts over the countryside the distribution and density of the smoke in various localities for miles around is detected and reported by mobile meteorological units meteorology this is unit 2 we are at 285 degrees at Brookhaven meteorological station reports from the field units are correlated and the diffusion of the smoke under varying conditions of wind and weather is recorded despite the complex problems yet unsolved and the power development program some scientists are hopeful that within a decade the first field plant will be actually serving some remote community as custodian of the US atomic energy program the AEC is obliged to take extraordinary measures for security its key installations are heavily guarded by a force of several thousand men it's armored vehicles are manned and maintained for the patrol of the land area surrounding the production plants it's air patrol covers the 620 square mile Hanford area in Washington checking up on the movements of motorists throughout the sparsely settled but highly secret reservation in a divided and hostile world secrecy of information as well as physical security is imperative but that too much secrecy of information as possible is a belief held by many including AEC's chairman Lilienthal in the absence of international control some very vital aspects of our progress must be kept secret and this Commission is keeping them secret now the fact is that secrecy if applied in an unintelligent and hysterical way can actually impair our own security this may be a shock to some people but it's true we're working in a field in which it's of the utmost importance that we develop new ideas the great modern technical achievements the radio the airplane the automobile think how secrecy would have slowed up and even smothered if this country is to maintain its lead in weapons and peacetime applications of life our secrecy policy must be a sensible one otherwise our own progress our own security is imperiled just how much secrecy is needed has become a matter of sharp debate among members of the Joint Congressional Committee on atomic energy now we publish a tremendous number of pamphlets about atomic energy take the Russians for example so far as I know they've published nothing and we must therefore be very careful that we screen everything thoroughly but there is immediate and grave danger that if we carry this security and hush-hush too far that we will pull 1/3 of total ignorance over the American people we are being called upon to appropriate billions of dollars for defense and unless we have the right information it is possible that we could perpetuate old-fashioned and outmoded armies and navies but whether or not the restrictions imposed by military necessity are eased America's scientists and engineers will continue relentlessly their efforts to release the energy of the atom at the University of California the world's greatest cyclotron capable of bombarding the atom with 350 million electron volts is already in operation with this potent machine and others that will be even more powerful us atomic scientists are determined to maintain their nation's lead in the struggle to unlock the innermost secrets of the universe time marches on [Music]