Building the Atomic Era

The post-war era saw an enormous boom in radiation research and application. With atomic energy at the forefront of international scientific work, the commercial application of radiation became a driving concern for many physicists and engineers. Studies on the construction of nuclear reactors, first for academic use and then for commercial exploitation, started to appear in the scientific literature.¹ In the late 1940s, nuclear fission as an alternative power source began to garner support in both scientific and political circles. On December 21, 1951, electricity was generated from an experimental reactor station in Arco, Idaho.

In order for nuclear power to become a feasible alternative to conventional coal and oil plants, massive amounts of experimental testing were necessary. An entire subsection of the atomic research industry grew up around the need for instrumentation, radiation shielding, and calculation technology.²³⁴

Indeed, the post-war era proved to be a perfect time for the development of the nuclear sciences. Thousands of physicists, chemists, and biologists were completing their war research and preparing to renew their own programs. Nuclear research was an obvious choice for many of these unoccupied scientists. It was new and exciting, of national importance, and held a sort of glamour not often associated with the experimental sciences. Many of these researchers began to study radioelements - what they were, how they could be manipulated, and even how they could be created.⁵⁶

Notes

1. 1657. Nuclear Reactors for Research. Ed. Beck, Clifford K. Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1957. QC786 .B4. Return to text ↑
2. 1664. Biuro Urzadzen Techniki Jadrowej. Nuclear Measuring Instruments. Warzawa: Palac Kultury I Nauki, 1961. Return to text ↑
3. 1631. American Concrete Institute. Concrete for Radiation Shielding. Detroit: ACI, 1956. Return to text ↑
4. 1669. Group Constants for Nuclear Reactor Calculations. Ed. Bondarenko, I.I. New York: Consultants Bureau, 1964. QC787.N8 B6 1964. Return to text ↑
5. 1681. Brownell, Lloyd E. Radiation Uses in Industry and Science. Oak Ridge: USAEC, 1961. TK9145 .B78. Return to text ↑
6. 1677. Broad, Engelbert. Advances in Radiochemistry and in the Methods of Producing Radioelements by Neutron Irradiation. Cambridge: University Press, 1950. QC795 .B7. Return to text ↑