Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Isotopes and Radioactive Material (1960)

Synopsis

Produced in cooperation from Union Carbide and the Atomic Energy Commission, this circa 1960 color film shows some of the peaceful uses of radioactive isotopes in medicine, food preservation, and other areas. Union Carbide's Nuclear Division, which started out as Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Company, operated the Atomic EnergyCommission/Energy Research and Development Administration/Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge, Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio, until 1984, some 40 years. The film begins in the control room of the nuclear reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, where an operator watches as slugs of uranium are fed into channels (mark 00:18 ). Workers are shown working remotely with radioisotopes enclosed in rooms with thick walls and heavy windows to protect them from radiation. The narrator explains that while dangerous, radiation can also prove beneficial. When injected into living things in minute quantities it shows the path they take as they course through tissues which can show damage to a human body or a plant (mark 02:33 ). It can also be used to kill cancerous tissues. At mark 03:19 the film explains the uses of radioactive iodine in medicine, and also how food can be preserved via the use of radiation (mark 05:10 ). The radiation kills bacteria that can spoil food, a narrator explains, as researchers are shown irradiating cuts of meat. Such studies, the narrator explains toward the end of the film, will help scientists develop new ways…

Uploader's description on archive.org

Details

Running time

9 minutes

Language

English

Collection

Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

• Stock Footage