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NEWS
the newsmagazine off the chemicaC world VOLUME 36, NUMBER 35
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SEPTEMBER 1, 1 9 5 8
Atom Tools a n d People . . . go to G e n e v a as S e c o n d I n t e r n a t i o n a l ference on p e a c e f u l a t o m begins HIS WEEK visitors to Geneva can get a first h a n d look at the world's programs in peaceful atomic energy. T h e Second United Nations International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy is n o w on and will continue through Sept. 13. Sixty-five nations will take part in technical discussions at t h e Swiss city. But a highlight of t h e conference is the exhibits and demonstrations set u p at the Palais des Nations by 20 of these countries. Here, tourists a n d industrialists will find a balanced picture
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illustrating the accomplishments to date in peacetime atomic energy. A m o n g these displays is the U. S. exhibit, worth $500,000—not counting the cost of time and borrowed e q u i p ment. It's the largest in the show, takes up 36,000 square feet of a new building built for the conference exhibits. • Big -Effort. T h e U. S. part in the conference is handled jointly by the D e p a r t m e n t of State and the Atomic Energy Commission. Our program there breaks into three broad sections:
V. S. emphasizes its fusion research a t Geneva. Among equipment on display is a modul vA Princeton University's "figure-S^ Stellerator, a magnetic bottle for hot, ionized gases
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• A 50-part technical exhibit on peaceful uses of atomic energy. •Technical papers presented by leading American nuclear scientists. • Technical films which describe many devices used in American nuclear research. The exhibit is highlighted b y t w o operating reactors and many research demonstrations and experiments. Fusion research—the work done at Princeton University (Project Matterhorn), the Radiation Research Lab at the University of California, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos—is emphasized strongly. But AEC points out that what's shown is essentially a status report on the major paths being taken by U. S. scientists to find a controlled, sustained, thermonuclear reactor. Some examples:
Argonne National Laboratory is demonstrating its device for continuous and controlled feeding of food labeled with radioactive carbon-14 to four rats. D e vice was designed by Robert Swick ( a b o v e ) w h o will work with it at Geneva
Removal of shielding plugs gives access to fuel plates in the Argonaut reactor which is being operated by scientists from Argonne National Laboratory. Checking fuel plates is Rudi Y. Yang, former student at ANL's International School 26
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• A working model of the Princeton Stellarator, which heats a plasma of ionized gas, confined in an endless tube by external magnetic fields. Also shown is a model of a newer and larger unit slated for completion in 1960. • The UC Radiation Lab shows three basic approaches to the problem of heating and containing a plasma: the pinch; the magnetic mirror machine, and the Astron. • Oak Ridge contributes an operating thermonuclear experiment: The direct current experiment which involves the collision of tiny carbon particles with deuterons. • And the Los Alamos part of the show features the Perhapsatron and other devices used in thermonuclear research. Besides thermonuclear fusion, the other major sections of the U. S. exhibit illustrate work being done in basic sciences, life sciences, and "ordinary" fission reactors. Here will be found displays which describe or discuss topics such as neutrino physics, radioisotope research, and catalytic action of the mu-meson in deuterium fusion. And two operating reactors will be perking away: the Triga, a 10- to 30kilowatt unit, and the 10-kilowatt Argonaut training reactor. • Popers and Pictures. AEC invited many leading industrial and academic nuclear scientists to prepare abstracts of topics they might present at the conference. Over 1500 abstracts were received and sent to various committees for review. The reviewers picked 7 0 0 papers for full write-up,
then sent the completed papers to a United Nations committee which made the final selection of papers for presentation. About one fourth of the U.S. texts will be given orally at Geneva but all those submitted t o the UN will be published in a 33-volume proceedings which should be available next summer. Just as the U. S. had to select papers to fit into a >alanced program which should show U. S. work, the UN had to select papers for oral presentation to fit into a balanced over-all program. A EC people were happy that about 859V of the papers they recommended for oral presentation were approved by the UN committee. In some cases, the UN asked that a paper AEC had given a low priority be presented orally because of general interest. Also expected to draw general interest is the film program mapped out by the U. S. It consists of 44 films with a total projection time of about 15 hours. Part of these will b e shown with those of other nations in a general program. The remainder will he technical films shown in a four-bay miniature theater in the U. S. exhibit. These will cover specialized phases of U . S. work such as high energy accelerators, power reactors, fuel processing, and reactor safety experiments. Sound tracks can IK heard with earphones in English. French, Russian, or Spanish. Going on simultaneously in Geneva is the Second United Nations Interna tional Exposition on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. It will b e held at the Palais des Expositions and will feature displays from companies in tlie nuclear 'business. Firms from 15 na-
tions are showing the wares they make for the nuclear field. Over 50 American companies are participating. • Direct Result. The 1958 conference is a direct result of the success of the first conference*, held in Geneva in 1955. That meeting was t h e outgrowth of President Eisenhower's atoms-for-peace speech before the U N General Assembly in December 1953. A year later the General Assembly endorsed the Presidents proposal for hoth an International Atomic Energy Agency and a scientific conference on the peaceful uses of atomic energy. When the Conference came off in August 1955, it drew 1428 official delegates who represented 73 nations. Besides, then* were 135() observers (commercial and academic) and about 1000 reporters, TV, and radio people. This year the L'N figures a total of about 5000 people will be there*. The I'nited States delegation numbers about 500. Members were picked on the basis of their contribution to the U. S. program at the conference. Those coining from industry are participating as individuals rather than as representatives of their employers. The first conference stimulated declassification of large amounts of information on the peaceful uses of atomic energy in the U. S., the tT.S.S.R., and elsewhere. So has the present conference. And this time, not only the big atomic powers-America, Hussia, and Britain—hut also many other nations are presenting significant amounts of information which shows the broadening concern with atomic power throughout the world.
Scientists and spectators from many nations are heading for Geneva, Switzerland, this week for the Second Internationa] Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. Above: Pont du Mt. Blanc and the cathedral
Technician checks back of the display panel which explains experiments designed to test conservation of parity in certain nuclear reactions. Display is part of U. S. basic science exhibit SEPT.
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