 It's time for the Lawn Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour, brought to you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. A presentation of the Lawn Jean Wittner Watch Company, maker of Lawn Jean, the world's most honored watch, and Wittner, distinguished companion to the world honored Lawn Jean. Good evening. This is David Ross. May I introduce our co-editors for this edition of the Lawn Jean Chronoscope? Mr. William Bradford Huey, and Mr. Robert Colborn, an editor of Business Week Magazine. Our distinguished guest for this evening is Mr. Paul C. Abersole, director of the isotopes division of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Mr. Abersole, you, of course, have just arrived from that fabulous place, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and I believe you've spent most of your adult life in atomic energy. So I'm sure that you're equipped to give our viewers an up-to-the-minute report on developments in the atomic energy field. First of all, sir, can you illustrate simply for us how extensive the Atomic Energy program is today? Well, the Atomic Energy program is big business. It's about as large as any of the largest corporations in the United States at the present time when our expansion program is complete. Not quite as big as U.S. Steel. Not quite as big as U.S. Steel, but it'll be about $8 billion at the end of this expansion period, which means about $200 or more per family invested. In other words, every American family now has $200 invested in atomic energy. That's a total of about $8 billion. That's right. Everybody... How many people are working for it now? About 100,000 people work on the program and operations and construction is larger than... Most people are directly working for the government. These people don't work for the government. Only about 6,000 people work for the Atomic Energy Commission itself, so that most of the work is actually done by private industrial contractors. Well, is atomic energy a government monopoly at the moment? Well, in some senses it is because legally certain functions can only be done by under government supervision. But the commission is exploring ways of having certain phases of atomic energy program taken over by private enterprise. Now, what are your specific responsibilities in the program, sir? Well, I'm concerned with peacetime applications or by-products of atomic energy called radioisotopes. These are radioactive atoms that we make at Oak Ridge with the reactor. Can you explain that a little more, Mr. Anderson? Well, of course, that's a technical term, but I think it'll become as popular someday as radio, television, all other terms that were technical at one time. Can you show our viewers? Can you illustrate just what an isotope is? Yes, they're radioactive atoms. I have a couple of bottles here. This is a bottle of radioactive iodine. This is a bottle of radioactive phosphorus. And we can make radioactive forms of all the elements around us here. Well, that bottle of iodine is just like any other iodine except some of the atoms in it that give off radiation. Yes, by radioactive, I mean that they give off rays, atomic rays, that are like those with an instrument. Like those from radium and x-ray machines, so on. These give off similar radiations. All right, now what can you do with that bottle of iodine that you couldn't do with a bottle of ordinary iodine? Well, these radioactive iodine atoms can be traced because of the atomic rays that they give off. One can follow them with atomic instruments. You can follow extremely small quantities of radioactive atoms. You can follow as small as a billionth of an ounce. What does that mean in medical research, for instance? Well, they're called tracer atoms because we can put these into a biological system. I mean a plant or an animal or a man even, and trace where these atoms go. If I swallow that bottle, the iodine would go to my thyroid just the same as if it were ordinary iodine. It would behave in your system just the same chemically and physically just like iodine. Your body doesn't know the difference except that it gives off rays and you can find out where it is. Those atoms are saying, look, I'm iodine atoms. I'm here in your thyroid gland. And to the scientists, then you can tell where they are. And also, if I happen to need some rays in my thyroid, as I might if it were too big. That's right. There are two uses for these things. One is as tracer atoms, in which you use very, very small amounts to find out where these atoms are going. The other is to use them as sources of radiation to treat or to do something in industry like take pictures and so on. So that you can use the radiation in a practical way. How much use is made of these radioactivity isotopes now? Very many people using them? Well, there are over a thousand institutions in the United States that are using isotopes. And we've shipped out about 40,000 shipments all over the country. These would be hospitals and laboratories. Hospitals, research laboratories, and now several hundred industrial companies. How would an industrial company use it? Well, they again use them in two ways. One for research to find out mechanisms for how things act, what atoms are doing, and all kinds of processes. Well, how would you say, what could you find out about an engine? Well, you could, for example, you could send us a piston ring, and we could put it in our reactor at Oak Ridge, and the atomic rays in the reactor will make this piston ring radioactive. When you put it in a motor, when the piston goes up and down, you wear off a little bit of radioactive iron. We can detect that way as little as a hundred thousandths of an ounce of wear from the piston ring while the motor's running. You couldn't find that much if that much wear if it weren't radioactive. You would take you months to get the same answer on comparing one lubricating oil with another, or comparing the high speed operation of a motor with low speed, whereas with a radioactive piston ring, you can get this information a matter of hours. That is, I put this piston ring in, run it for an hour or so with one oil, run it for an hour or so with another oil, and from the amount of the radioactive stuff that comes through, I can tell which oil I was wearing it more. That's right, and you can do it without ever opening a motor and making no tests. I mean, you don't have to change the conditions at all. What are you contributing to cancer research? I'm glad you asked that because we've had a very active program. The Commission not only distributes isotopes for cancer research at reduced prices. There are about 500 hospitals around the country. But the Commission itself has a large number of research contracts in fundamental biology and medicine. Several hundred contracts in universities and research institutions throughout the country. So the Commission has had a very active program to help in cancer research. Well now, what about agricultural research? Are these isotopes useful in agricultural research? Well, they're used in all fields of research. As a matter of fact, agriculture, pure science and medicine and industry. Now in agriculture, they're largely used as tracer atoms. That is to find out how a plant utilizes fertilizer from the soil, or how the plant takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and makes sugar. I'd like to go back to this cancer thing a bit, Mr. Aversau. Are people curing cancer with isotopes? Well, the word cure isn't very popular in the cancer field because it's difficult to say that you've had a complete cure. But people can be alleviated of the disease, the symptoms of the disease can be reduced, so that people can live longer and live more comfortably. That is, you can get radiation to a cancer with isotopes more easily than you can with x-ray in some cases. We have machines that have been made using radioactive cobalt, for example, which gives off a million volt raise, a raise of a million volts of energy. That's like a very high powered x-ray. That's right, like a very high powered x-ray, except much cheaper. What about security and secrecy in this field? So you have shipped these isotopes overseas to all the free world, haven't you? That's right. In other words, our government is not imposing any security in this field. We are sharing the peacetime knowledge and uses of atomic energy with the rest of the world. That's right, we're very happy that in this particular field there is not any security. These atoms are just like atoms of ordinary elements except they're radioactive. There are other people in the world now who make radio isotopes. There are reactors or these atomic ovens as we call them in many other countries today. Well, now coming back to the atomic energy program in general, sir, was the free world hurt? Did we suffer from the atomic espionage? Well, certainly we did, but I'm happy to say that I don't believe that there are any US scientists of any note that were involved. I think that our own security program was very well handled and is being well handled today. Now, you recognize that there's still great need for secrecy as far as the weapons development program. In weapons development there's a need for secrecy, but even there there's a philosophy that it's possible to overdo secrecy so that it restricts your own development. It does, it can. Therefore, there's a philosophy that another phase of security is security by accomplishment. The more you can accomplish, keep ahead of the other fellow, do it faster. And we can do more that way by as much information as we can release that will help our own science and technology will further our... The two kinds of security can contradict each other to some extent. You can have security by secrecy and you need some of that, particularly in weapons and military applications. But if you overdo that, you're restricting your own scientific progress. Well, now, how much is the atomic energy program going to affect the life of the average American in our lifetimes? Well, it will not revolutionize our lifetime because we've already had a revolution in technology in this country in the last 50 years. So that it's hard to say that atomic energy is going to revolutionize things, but it will be a... it's a powerful new source of energy. There will be atomic power for useful purposes within the next decade, certainly. These research uses... ...repeating with present fuels like coal or oil... Well, not competing, but supplementing. I think that they won't... atomic power won't replace the coal or oil, but it will supplement and many... there will be many uses for this power. Well, now, you mentioned that we now have about $8 billion invested in the atomic energy program. Now, is most of that waste? I mean, is most of that in weapons or in material that can be used only for weapons? I'm glad you asked that because actually only about 15% or something like that of our expenditures are on a purely military program in which you might not get anything back. But about 75% of the effort is in making the atomic explosives, fissionable material we call them, uranium, uranium and plutonium. And those can be used... that material can be used for useful power, and it's stored there... How would you do that, Mr. Chairman? Well, you see, this doesn't decay rapidly. Plutonium and uranium don't decay rapidly, and they're just as good as gold, except that they are a source of energy. So we're storing up a future potential source of energy. Well, now, the final question, sir. Most Americans have heard it said that maybe atomic energy was going to be the device by which we just destroyed all human life on this planet. Do you feel that the program is going to end an eventual destruction of human life, or do you think that it may be an agency by which human life is made better for everyone in the world? I don't think man was put here to destroy himself, and I think that our stockpile of atomic weapons is really a great thing for national security. I don't think other nations will risk war with us, as long as we keep foremost in the atomic energy, atomic weapon field, it's a very great thing for national security. In the long run, I think there'll be greater contributions from the peacetime aspects than from the military. Well, thank you very much for being with us this evening, sir, and this has been very reassuring. The opinions you've heard our speakers express tonight are entirely their own. The editorial board for this edition of the Laun Jean Chronoscope was Mr. William Bradford Huey and Mr. Robert Colborn, an editor of Business Week Magazine. Our distinguished guest was Mr. Paul C. Aversold, director of the isotopes division of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Playing a Laun Jean is like acquiring a watch custom made to your individual order. We have always recognized that those who buy a watch of Laun Jean quality expect such exclusiveness. And among the many hundreds of models which we produce each year, there is a Laun Jean made just for you. Of your Laun Jean, as of every Laun Jean, it can be said, this is the world's most honored watch. For every Laun Jean watch is made with that meticulous care that has won for Laun Jean 10 World's Fair Grand Prices, 28 gold medal awards, and highest official honors for accuracy from the great observatories. Yet unbelievably, you may buy the Laun Jean made just for you for as little as $71.50, so if you are interested in buying just about the finest watch made anywhere in the world, choose Laun Jean, the world's most honored watch. The world's most honored gift, premier product of the Laun Jean Written or Watch Company since 1866, maker of watches of the highest character. We invite you to join us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening at this same time for the Laun Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of important issues of the hour, broadcast on behalf of Laun Jean, the world's most honored watch, and Wittnor, distinguished companion to the world-honored Laun Jean. This is David Ross reminding you that Laun Jean and Wittnor watches are sold and serviced from coast to coast by more than 4,000 leading jewelers who proudly display this emblem, agency for Laun Jean Wittnor watches. C. J. and Fulman's USA canteen on the CBS television network.