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The atomic nursery

Sean F. Johnston

in The Neutron's Children: Nuclear Engineers and the Shaping of Identity

If the war gestated atomic energy specialists, then the decade after it saw their birth and early development in special environments. They did not thrive unaided: the new experts were nurtured with ... More

If the war gestated atomic energy specialists, then the decade after it saw their birth and early development in special environments. They did not thrive unaided: the new experts were nurtured with copious resources, cosseted in secure environments, and isolated from contaminants. This period of incubation shaped their development and mature identity. National laboratories grew from the American and Canadian wartime projects, and were created anew in Britain to serve post-war goals. Each embodied a distinct complement of engineering and scientific competences, industrial support, and national aims. And each served to segregate the growing knowledge in a regime of high security. Secrecy both helped and hindered the new specialists, providing freedom to explore atomic energy but sublimating their working and professional identities.Less

Sales

Angela N. H. Creager

in Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine

This chapter stresses the uneasy relationship between the U.S. government and industry in developing the civilian uses of atomic energy. The partially public, partially private nature of nuclear ... More

This chapter stresses the uneasy relationship between the U.S. government and industry in developing the civilian uses of atomic energy. The partially public, partially private nature of nuclear industry in the 1940s and early 1950s reflected the contradiction of government policy that promoted “free enterprise” while stringently guarding materials and technologies related to national security, which the 1954 revision to the Atomic Energy Act aimed to redress. Over the 1950s, a retail industry of radiolabeled compounds and radiopharmaceuticals was established. Some radioisotope production began to shift to the private sector in the 1960s, though the AEC remained involved in regulating the distribution and handling of radioactive materials.Less

“Alert, Not Alarm” The First Ten Years, 1945–1955

Dee Garrison

in Bracing for Armageddon: Why Civil Defense Never Worked

This chapter discusses President Harry Truman's reluctant creation of the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) in 1950 and the predominant role it assigned to women; the importance of the ... More

This chapter discusses President Harry Truman's reluctant creation of the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) in 1950 and the predominant role it assigned to women; the importance of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to civil defense history; and the content and purpose of early civil defense propaganda. It describes the reasons why Congress regularly cut civil defense funds by 80-90% during the Truman and early Eisenhower period. The chapter ends describing the United States' 1954 Pacific bomb test, called Bravo, which contaminated 7,000 square miles of the Pacific.Less

Atomic Tracings:: Radioisotopes in Biology and Medicine

Angela N. H. Creager

in Science and Technology in the Global Cold War

The U.S. government developed atomic energy for peacetime after World War II in the form of radioactive isotopes, produced in a former Manhattan Project reactor and distributed to civilian ... More

The U.S. government developed atomic energy for peacetime after World War II in the form of radioactive isotopes, produced in a former Manhattan Project reactor and distributed to civilian purchasers. These radioisotopes provided physicians with new tools of diagnosis and therapy and equipped biologists to trace molecular transformations from metabolic pathways to ecosystems. This chapter juxtaposes postwar developments in biochemistry, nuclear medicine, and ecology growing out of this new supply of radioisotopes. In each of these areas, one can see how government policy and infrastructure integral to the Cold War decisively shaped scientific opportunities and knowledge. Routine practices of radiolabeling and radiotracing remained in place long after the positive political valence of radioisotopes dimmed in the 1960s and 1970s, in the wake of the debates over radioactive contamination of the environment from atomic weapons tests and nuclear waste.Less

Dividends

Angela N. H. Creager

in Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine

Following World War II, the publication of accounts such as John Hersey’s Hiroshima (1946) documented the devastating effects of atomic weaponry on inhabitants of the two Japanese cities targeted by ... More

Following World War II, the publication of accounts such as John Hersey’s Hiroshima (1946) documented the devastating effects of atomic weaponry on inhabitants of the two Japanese cities targeted by atomic bombs. Yet the American government presented a positive image of the atom, particularly in medicine. This chapter examines this apparent paradox. In the late 1940s and 1950s, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) sought to harness atomic energy for humanitarian uses, including advancing cancer research, therapy, and diagnosis. Yet the growing concern about the hazards of low-level radiation exposure, particularly from atomic weapons fallout, changed the public perception of radioactivity. The fear of cancer, which in the 1940s could be exploited by the AEC to justify its status as a civilian agency bringing medical benefits to the citizenry, was by the 1960s a threat to viability of the agency’s other long-term benefit prospect, nuclear energy.Less

Embargo

Angela N. H. Creager

in Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine

The fourth chapter explores the ways in which radioisotopes were used as political instruments—both by the federal government in world affairs, and by critics of the civilian control of atomic ... More

The fourth chapter explores the ways in which radioisotopes were used as political instruments—both by the federal government in world affairs, and by critics of the civilian control of atomic energy—in the early Cold War. Congress established a civilian agency for atomic energy, with support from scientists, with the expectation that peacetime benefits would materialize. But the controversies the AEC faced in the immediate postwar years, particularly whether to ship radioisotopes to foreign scientists, demonstrate the program’s political vulnerabilities. The core of this chapter analyzes these debates, particularly during the first year of the program, during which time no shipments were sent abroad.Less

The Debate over Nuclear Power and Radiation

J. Samuel Walker

in Permissible Dose: A History of Radiation Protection in the Twentieth Century

The fallout controversy with respect to nuclear power and radiation of the 1950s and early 1960s largely disappeared as a prominent public policy issue after the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963. But ... More

The fallout controversy with respect to nuclear power and radiation of the 1950s and early 1960s largely disappeared as a prominent public policy issue after the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963. But many questions about the consequences of fallout remained unresolved, and the debate left a legacy of ongoing scientific inquiry and latent public anxiety about the health effects of low-level radiation. The major issue was the hazards of radioactive effluents released from nuclear power plants. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), which the 1954 Atomic Energy Act had made responsible both for encouraging the development of nuclear power and for certifying its safety, stood at the center of the new debate over radiation risks. Critics emphasized the AEC's dual and inherently conflicting mandate to promote and to regulate nuclear power technology in their indictments of the agency's performance.Less

Just Drop Us a Card

Scott Kaufman

in Project Plowshare: The Peaceful Use of Nuclear Explosives in Cold War America

This chapter looks at some of the Atomic Energy Commission's (AEC) Plowshare experiments. The first one, Project Chariot, was motivated by US Information Agency Director Arthur Larson’s suggestion to ... More

This chapter looks at some of the Atomic Energy Commission's (AEC) Plowshare experiments. The first one, Project Chariot, was motivated by US Information Agency Director Arthur Larson’s suggestion to conduct a nuclear excavation blast in Alaska. Two were named Oilsands and Gnome, while the other one was unnamed. The AEC and its supporters believed that together, these four tests would prove the multitude of uses for the peaceful atom, while simultaneously protecting America's military and economic security. The focus for Gnome was heat and isotope generation; for Oilsands and the unnamed experiment, it was the stimulation of petroleum production. Chariot was intended to create a harbor beneficial to the people and corporate interests of Alaska. More importantly, it would provide crucial information to what would become the keystone of the Plowshare program: the construction of a sea-level isthmian canal.Less

Ten Million Reasons to Disappear

in The Pontecorvo Affair: A Cold War Defection and Nuclear Physics

This chapter discusses Bruno Pontecorvo's decision to leave the West, which stemmed from his growing concerns about proceedings against the Atomic Energy Commission in relation to the slow neutron ... More

This chapter discusses Bruno Pontecorvo's decision to leave the West, which stemmed from his growing concerns about proceedings against the Atomic Energy Commission in relation to the slow neutron patent. Pontecorvo felt the looming danger like a cloud hanging over his head, and it led him to risk ruining his already shaky career and private life. These preoccupations made him behave erratically during his holiday in Italy, and ultimately propelled him toward life-changing decisions. Both Bennett Boskey's response to Gabriello Giannini's claim and the Patent Compensation Board proceedings regarding the slow neutron patent were informed by analysis of the security issues regarding the claimants in general and Pontecorvo more specifically, especially in light of Emilio Segrè's doubts. The publication of his name could have developed a scandal of major proportions, indicating that a communist atomic scientist was now ready to challenge the US government in court.Less

Tracers

Angela N. H. Creager

in Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine

This chapter introduces the book’s story, themes, and argument. The role of radioisotopes as tracers was especially important to their widespread utilization in biochemistry, physiology, molecular ... More

This chapter introduces the book’s story, themes, and argument. The role of radioisotopes as tracers was especially important to their widespread utilization in biochemistry, physiology, molecular biology, nuclear medicine, and ecology. The focus of “tracing” also refracts from my historical subjects to my own study: Just as scientists used radioisotopes as tracers to make visible previously inaccessible processes of transformation, this book analyzes the movement of radioisotopes through government facilities, laboratories, and clinics, both in the U.S. and around the world, as a way to make visible key transformations in the material culture and research priorities of postwar biology and medicine.Less

Advising on the Super

Ken Young and Warner R. Schilling

in Super Bomb: Organizational Conflict and the Development of the Hydrogen Bomb

This chapter looks into the business of campaigning for or against nuclear development. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and its committees were at the epicenter of this debate. Here, the array of ... More

This chapter looks into the business of campaigning for or against nuclear development. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and its committees were at the epicenter of this debate. Here, the array of advice and potential pressure on the question of the Super as it existed in late 1949 offered no clear direction to the president. Powerful congressional opinion challenged the advice of the most powerfully placed scientists, but that had not yet been sufficient to swing Truman behind the Super's development. His views, however, began to take shape in mid-January after receiving a report on the military aspects. Furthermore, the scientific General Advisory Committee (GAC), chaired by the former Los Alamos laboratory director J. Robert Oppenheimer, enjoyed a privileged position that it used to block, as it seemed, further activity beyond the theoretical work already accomplished at Los Alamos.Less

A Decision Reached

Ken Young and Warner R. Schilling

in Super Bomb: Organizational Conflict and the Development of the Hydrogen Bomb

This chapter recounts the arrival at the decision. Before the commissioners, split three to two against the Super, resumed their discussions in November 1949, Truman had been made aware of the ... More

This chapter recounts the arrival at the decision. Before the commissioners, split three to two against the Super, resumed their discussions in November 1949, Truman had been made aware of the differences of views. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer threatened to put the General Advisory Committee's opposing view directly to the president rather than going through the commission, in the event of the full Atomic Energy Commission deciding in favor of the Super. By the end of January 1950, the tide of opinion within the closed circle of participants was beginning to flow against the dissenters. They were skillfully outmaneuvered to provide the authoritative advice that Truman needed to close the debate and authorize not just the expansion of theoretical work, but the path ahead to development and testing.Less

The Role of Federal Agencies in Radiation Protection

J. Samuel Walker

in Permissible Dose: A History of Radiation Protection in the Twentieth Century

The radiation controversies of the 1950s and 1960s had focused on the Atomic Energy Commission's (AEC) programs, and the AEC had played the most visible role among the various federal agencies ... More

The radiation controversies of the 1950s and 1960s had focused on the Atomic Energy Commission's (AEC) programs, and the AEC had played the most visible role among the various federal agencies involved in radiation safety. The creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave the AEC a potentially strong rival. The new agency took over the duties of the Federal Radiation Council, and its functions included the protection of the population from environmental radioactivity. The scope of the EPA's regulatory mandate under Nixon's reorganization plan extended, potentially at least, to all sources of radiation. Despite the breadth of its mandate, radiation protection was not a priority issue for the EPA. The importance of radiation safety to the EPA and the ambiguity of its role under Reorganization Plan No. 3 soon led to contention with other agencies. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare has disputed the EPA's claim that its responsibilities included medical uses of radiation. Differences also quickly arose between the EPA and the AEC over their respective roles in radiation protection.Less

“Black Film” and the Bomb: Spies and “Cowboys,” Red Professors and Thieves

Robert Miklitsch

in The Red and the Black: American Film Noir in the 1950s

In the prototypical ‘50s nuclear noir, the protagonist is an elite scientist—a nuclear physicist, to be precise—who’s either overtly opposed to or intimately aligned with the nation state and its ... More

In the prototypical ‘50s nuclear noir, the protagonist is an elite scientist—a nuclear physicist, to be precise—who’s either overtly opposed to or intimately aligned with the nation state and its institutional agencies. Although the FBI, as in the anticommunist noir, is the dominant investigative figure in these espionage films, it’s dramatically subordinated to other, more pressing issues and agencies such as treason, homosexuality, and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) (in The Thief), Native Americans, national security, and the nuclear family (in The Atomic City), and bombshells, bikinis, and “B” movies (in Shack Out on 101). While City of Fear is not an atomic espionage film—call it a nuclear-epidemiological noir--the film’s representation of the LAPD and metropolitan Los Angeles as well as the rhetoric of disease and contamination, contagion and radioactivity, renders it a quintessential late ‘50s “B” noir.Less

Special Assistant for Disarmament, 1955–1958

Lawrence S. Kaplan

in Harold Stassen: Eisenhower, the Cold War, and the Pursuit of Nuclear Disarmament

It was apparent from the beginning that the Foreign Operations Administration would have a short life. Arms control and disarmament played a larger role in Eisenhower’s thinking than did the ... More

It was apparent from the beginning that the Foreign Operations Administration would have a short life. Arms control and disarmament played a larger role in Eisenhower’s thinking than did the management of foreign aid. After appointing Stassen his special assistant for disarmament, the president appeared to be unnerved by the complicated program he proposed. Eisenhower was particularly put off by the numbers—the 20,000 to 30,000 non-Russian inspectors on Russian soil that Stassen recommended. Dulles, too, derided those figures as unrealistic. Ultimately, according to historian H. W. Brands, Stassen failed to win the president’s support for his plan. Political scientist David Tal phrased Eisenhower’s disapproval more starkly, claiming that he “excoriated the plan” and that the only thing it achieved was to unite. the Atomic Energy Commission, the CIA, the Defense Department, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff against Stassen’s ambitious program.Less

Heliotropes: Solar Ecologies and Pacific Radiations

Elizabeth DeLoughrey

in Postcolonial Ecologies: Literatures of the Environment

This chapter explores the complex relationship between Cold War ecology and radiation, with particular emphasis on the solar metaphor—the heliotrope—and its byproduct, radiation, as traces of ... More

This chapter explores the complex relationship between Cold War ecology and radiation, with particular emphasis on the solar metaphor—the heliotrope—and its byproduct, radiation, as traces of modernity, figures for alterity, and the material legacy of the militarization of the Pacific Islands. It considers the Atomic Energy Commission’s radiological surveys of the Pacific Islands and how they constituted the field of ecology. It also examines how the concepts of global ecology are intertwined with the literal fallout from the Cold War, and highlights solar and military forms of radiation as key indicators of globalization. Furthermore, the chapter likens nuclear weapons to the sun within the context of atomic discourse before concluding with a discussion of the use of natural figures of solar radiation in Pacific Island literature to articulate a heliocentric global modernity.Less

A Program on Hold

Scott Kaufman

in Project Plowshare: The Peaceful Use of Nuclear Explosives in Cold War America

This chapter examines the bioenvironmental studies sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in order to determine whether Project Chariot could safely take place. Botanist Albert Johnson ... More

This chapter examines the bioenvironmental studies sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in order to determine whether Project Chariot could safely take place. Botanist Albert Johnson invited wildlife biologist Les Viereck to join the studies as his assistant, which the latter accepted. Joining them as an independent contractor was geographer Don Foote, who had extensive experience in studying Arctic climates. Their studies ranged from the ecology of the ocean near the Chariot site to marine mammals and limnology. Driven by their determination to defend US security as they defined it, AEC officials made two assumptions: that the researchers could complete these comprehensive studies no later than August 1960 with the appropriations provided, and that the studies would alleviate any concerns Chariot’s detractors had about the safety of the blast. Ultimately, these assumptions proved invalid.Less

Ecosystems

Angela N. H. Creager

in Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine

Ecology was profoundly shaped by the AEC through the agency’s investigations of the environmental consequences of radioactive contaminants and ecologists’ use of radioisotopes in analyzing the flow ... More

Ecology was profoundly shaped by the AEC through the agency’s investigations of the environmental consequences of radioactive contaminants and ecologists’ use of radioisotopes in analyzing the flow of materials and energy through ecosystems. This chapter traces how radioisotopes became tools in ecology and argues that this research strategy favored the development of ecosystems ecology. The ecological contributions of G. Evelyn Hutchinson and his collaborators at Yale feature in the early part of this chapter. One finds a surprising degree of conceptual commonality between this use of tracers in radioecology and in metabolic biochemistry and physiology. The second part of the chapter focuses on the development of radioecology at three AEC installations: Hanford, Oak Ridge, and Savannah River. In these sites, radioactive waste itself provided tracers for ecological research, yielding information about the movement of materials through aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In the end, radioisotopes became “model pollutants” for developing means of detecting other environmental contaminants, especially synthetic chemicals.Less