ABUNDANCE FROM THE ATOM

New Zealand Listener, Volume 39, Issue 988, 25 July 1958, Page 31

ABUNDANCE FROM THE ATOM

HILE some scientists are viewing atomic energy as the ultimate in destruction, others more hopefully are convinced that nuclear power is the key to a new way of life in an age of atom abundance, and that we stand at the threshold of a second industrial revolution with prospects far exceeding the accomplishments’ of the first. In The Beginning, the NZBS documentary to be heard in ZB Sunday Showcase on August 3, Allan Sleeman illustrates some of the potentialities of atomic energy, with the co-operation of the United States Atomic Science delegation to New Zealand, the Nuclear Research Division of the D.S.LR., and the Dominion Radium Laboratory. The development of our knowledge of the atomic structure of matter and the way it can be used to give power are two facets of the programme, and with

scientists looking forward to using nuclear fusion rather than fission as a source of energy, the possible lessening of the dangers of radio-active wastes is discussed. With the aid of tracer research, scientists are hoping to breed improved strains of livestock, immune to disease and resistant to extremes of climate, and new varieties of plants, better and aficker in growth. With new information on how things grow, man should be able to cultivate more efficiently and heal more effectively. And atomic power stations could be placed wherever power is needed, which could possibly be the first great benefit of atomic power in its competition with water power, coal and oil.