Now showing
Atomic Weatherman: Strontium 90 Isotopic Applications, 1961
About this film
No description at National Archives but the AEC 16mm film combined catalog (1966) says this film was "Produced by the Martin Company. For sale by Capital Film Laboratories, at $103.90 per print, including shipping case. This semitechnical film describes the world's first radioisotope-powered weather station, which is operating unattended at a remote site in the Canadian Arctic. The "atomic" weather station is powered by a thermoelectric unit in which the heat from the decay of Strontium-90 (90 Sr) is directly converted into electricity. The film shows the major steps in the identification, testing, and preparation of the 90 Sr titanite compound; the loading of the radioisotope source in the weather-station generator; the principle of direct conversion of heat into electricity; the operation of the generator; the weather-station equipment for sensing, data processing, and control and transmission; the final testing; the 4000-mile journey north into the remote Canadian Arctic aboard an icebreaker; the weather-station installation; and the successful transmission of weather data. The film explains the principal methods of handling radioactive wastes from nuclear- reactor operations; t…
Directors & creators
United States. Department of Energy
Subjects
Classic TV, Axel Heiberg Island, McGill Arctic Research Station (MARS)