Spreading nucleonics: The Isotope School at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, 1951-67

British Journal for the History of Science

Volumn 39, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 569-586

  Herran, Néstor ^a  

^a UNIVERSITAT AUTÒNOMA DE BARCELONA   (Spain)

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EID: 33750992487     PISSN: 00070874     EISSN: 1474001X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0007087406008752     Document Type: Review

References (105)

1. Henry Seligman, 'Production and uses of radioisotopes', Friday Evening Discourse at the Royal Institution, Nature (1953), 4353, 588-90.
2. During the period under study the term 'isotope' (and radioisotope) was used as synonymously with 'nuclide' (and radionuclide) and I preserve this usage. This also applies to the term 'atomic energy', which was used instead of 'nuclear energy'. Conversely, the word 'nucleonics' refers in general to the technological aspects of nuclear science at large, not just to the instruments themselves, by analogy with the word 'electronics'.
3. Margaret Gowing, Independence and Deterrence: Britain and Atomic Energy, 1945-1952. Vol. 2. Policy Execution, London, 1974, 318. She devotes a whole chapter to the AERE's work on isotopes (313-38).
4. Timothy Lenoir and Margherite Hays, 'The Manhattan Project for biomedicine', in Controlling Our Destinies: Historical, Philosophical, Ethical, and Theological Perspectives on the Human Genome Project (ed. P. R. Sloan), South Bend, IN, 2000, 19-46.
5. Angela N. H. Creager, 'The industrialization of radioisotopes by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission', in The Science-Industry Nexus: History, Policy, Implications (ed. Karl Grandin, Nina Wormbs and Sven Widmalm), New York, 2004, 141-67.
6. Alison Kraft, 'Between medicine and industry: medical physics and the rise of the radioisotope 1945-1965', Contemporary British History (2006), 20, 1-35.
7. Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, 'Putting isotopes to work: liquid scintillation counters', in Instrumentation: Between Science, State, and Industry (ed. Bernward Joerges and Terry Shinn), Dordrecht, 2001, 143-74.
8. Angela N. H. Creager, 'Tracing the politics of changing postwar research practices: the export of "American" radioisotopes to European Biologists', Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (2002), 33, 367-88.
9. The existence of different intellectual traditions sometimes makes it difficult to connect history of science with diplomatic history. However, such a connection is imperative when addressing the operation of international scientific institutions and, indeed, the transnational diffusion of techno-scientific knowledge.
10. On technicians' role as mediators see the introduction in Instrumentation: Between Science, State, and Industry (ed. Bernward Joerges and Terry Shinn), Dordrecht, 2001, 1-13.
11. On the importance of the industrial dimension in writing the history of radioactivity see Soraya Boudia and Xavier Roqué, eds., 'Science, medicine and industry: the Curie and Joliot-Curie laboratories', special issue of History and Technology (1997), 13, 241-354,
12. and Soraya Boudia, Marie Curie et son laboratoire: Sciences et industrie de la radioactivité en France, Paris, 2001.
13. On Berkeley see John L. Heilbron and Robert W. Seidel, Lawrence and His Laboratory: A History of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Vol. I, Berkeley, 1989.
14. Copenhagen's research programmes have been studied in Finn Aaserud, Redirecting Science: Niels Bohr, Philanthropy and the Rise of Nuclear Physics, Cambridge, 1990.
15. On Columbia see Robert E. Kohler, 'Rudolf Schoenheimer, isotopic tracers and biochemistry in the 1930s', Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences (1977), 8, 257-98.
16. The growth of isotope-related literature was slightly larger than the increase in chemical articles. In the same period, articles related to isotopes grew by around 400 per cent, while articles indexed in the Chemical Abstracts increased by around 250 per cent. Data available from www.cas.org/eo/casstats. pdf.
17. In 1946 John D. Cockcroft summarized these efforts in a 'Memorandum on the production of radioactive elements in the Chalk River pile'. National Archives (hereafter Nat. Arch.) AB 2/887.
18. Creager, National Archives (Hereafter Nat. Arch.) AB op. cit. (8).
19. Nat. Arch. AB 12/159.
20. Visits continued in the following years. For example, in June 1948 Harwell group leaders visited Oak Ridge to study irradiation procedures and standardization of samples (Nat. Arch. AB 6/483).
21. The first reactor, called GLEEP, went critical and began to produce radioisotopes in August 1947.
22. On the organization of the radioisotope industry in Britain see Kraft, Nat. Arch. AB, op. cit. (6).
23. Data on the isotope distribution and exports in Harwell for the period 1947-51 has been compiled from two UKAEA-sponsored reports: Kenneth E. B. Jay, Atomic Energy Research at Harwell, London, 1955;
24. and Ministry of Supply, Harwell. The British Atomic Research Establishment, 1946-1951, London, 1952. Similar data on the AEC came from the AEC semi-annual reports. By 1951 Oak Ridge was exporting 3 per cent of its total production abroad. Harwell sent 25 per cent, mostly to Western Europe and the Commonwealth.
25. Harwell's exhibitions group, which built the British exhibition at the Geneva conference and others, was created inside the Isotope Division. See Nat. Arch. AB 6/1739.
26. On the AERE Harwell exhibition at the British Industries Fair see Nat. Arch. AB 6/705.
27. On post-war British industrial research policy see David Edgerton, 'British industrial research and development, 1900-1970', Journal of European Economic History (1994), 23, 49-67;
28. and Sally Horrocks, 'Enthusiasm constrained? British industrial R&D and the transition from war to peace, 1942-51', Business History (1999), 41, 42-63.
29. Priority for atomic energy research not only involved investments but also workforce allocation. For instance, in 1949 a first amendment to the 1948 National Service Act was passed to provide exemption from national service for those involved in atomic energy experimental work.
30. By 1948 the isotope programme accounted for about 3 per cent of the total 'civil' investment of the AERE. AERE Technical Steering Committee, 'Staff Analysis', dated 19 March 1948, Nat. Arch. AB 12/78.
31. A 1949 internal report lists some of the projects undertaken by the Isotope Division: analysing the coating of cylinder heads, determining the weight of oil in nylon fibres, determining the wear of bearings, static electricity elimination, thickness measurement, gamma radiography. Seligman to Cockcroft, 11 August 1949, Nat. Arch. AB 6/657.
32. Henry Seligman, 'Isotope division, 1948-1951: a true report of its failures and successes', dated 27 November 1951, Nat. Arch. AB 6/657.
33. An example is the publication in 1952 of the brochure Instruments & Accessories for Radio-Isotope Applications, by the Scientific Instrument Manufacturer's Association, in collaboration with the AERE. Among the companies involved there were general electronic instrument-makers like Philips, General Electric or Baldwin Instrument, and others specific to the new field, such as Nucleonic and Radiological Developments.
34. Kenneth Fearnside (Isotope Division) 'Report of uses of radioisotopes in industry', 20 March 1950, Nat. Arch. AB 6/1290.
35. Fearnside, Nat. Arch. AB, op. cit. (28).
36. Isotope Division recommendations were soon implemented. For example, in the two following years AERE scientists produced some of the first manuals on radioisotope techniques: D. Taylor, Measurement of Radio Isotopes, London, 1951;
37. and W. J. Whitehouse and J. L. Putman, Radioactive Isotopes - An Introduction to Their Preparation, Measurement and Use, Oxford, 1952.
38. By 1948 more than thirty US industrial organizations were already using radioisotopes in research and development programmes, in fields such as the study of structures, corrosion and friction, and in the oil and rubber industries. Among the first companies using these technologies were Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., the Industrial Radiography Laboratory (Texas) and some textile manufacturers in Illinois. Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies Annual Report, 1948-49, 15-28 (companies' names are detailed on pages 115-16).
39. Oak Ridge Institute, Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies Annual Report, 1948-49, op. cit. (30), 15.
40. Minutes of the 34th meeting of the Technical Steering Committee, 27 March 1950, Nat. Arch. AB 12/78.
41. Minutes of the 35th meeting of the Technical Steering Committee, 15 May 1950, Nat. Arch. AB 12/78.
42. Another element of Harwell academic culture was, for example, the establishment of lectures for the sta. (the 'Harwell lectures'). On Harwell organization see F. A. Vick, 'The Atomic Energy Research Establishment', in The Organisation of Research Establishments (ed. John Cockcroft), Cambridge, 1965.
43. 'Courses at Harwell for laboratory workers', The Times, 28 February 1951, 8.
44. News about the setting of the Isotope School appeared ten days later: 'Notes and news: use of radioactive materials', The Lancet, 10 March 1951, 257, 594.
45. 'Cost of nuclear power. Sir John Cockcroft on work at Harwell', The Times, 21 February 1951, 7.
46. 'Harwell Isotope School', Nature (1952), 4330, 549.
47. See Jay, Nature, op. cit. (19), 28.
48. 'Staffing and organisation of the proposed Isotope School', Nat. Arch. AB 12/89.
49. 'Proposed research participation program', by the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, Inc.
50. See, in particular, Appendix 3: 'Proposed training school in radioisotope techniques'.
51. 'Staffing and organisation of the proposed Isotope School', Proposed Training School in Radioisotope Techniques, op. cit. (39).
52. Special courses focused on the design, use and maintenance of electronic instruments used in nuclear physics, radiochemistry and work with radioisotopes. 'Training report 1951/2', Nat. Arch. AB 12/59.
53. Percentages refer to the situation at the end of 1952, the closest data to 1954 on which information is available. For Harwell see 'Training Report 1951/2', Nat. Arch. AB 12/59.
54. Data on Oak Ridge course comes from the ORINS Seventh Report 1953, 30 June 1953.
55. Seligman, ORINS Seventh Report 1953, op. cit. (26).
56. According to ORINS Reports, between 1948 and the end of 1954 Oak Ridge Isotope School had organized forty-one general courses, which were attended by more than 1,300 students.
57. See Michael Mastanduno, Economic Containment and East-West Trade, Ithaca, 1993.
58. In particular the 'Modus Vivendi' agreement of January 1948, concerning exchange of technical information for uranium supplies. See S. H. Paul, Nuclear Rivals: Anglo-American Atomic Relations, 1941-1952, Columbus, OH, 2000.
59. According to recently declassified AERE internal correspondence, any collaboration with Soviet satellites could have had 'serious consequences for Anglo-American co-operation in the field of atomic energy as a whole' and must be avoided. BJSM Washington to Cabinet Office, letter dated 20 March 1948, Nat. Arch. AB 6/503.
60. Letters concerning Seligman's (and sometimes also Cockcroft's) unsuccessful attempts to end the embargo are at Nat. Arch. AB 6/503.
61. On the Pontecorvo case see Simone Turchetti, 'Atomic secrets and governmental lies: nuclear science, politics and security in the Pontecorvo case', BJHS (2003), 36, 389-415.
62. In particular, Harwell's Official Committee euphemistically suggested that 'while there was no objection in principle to the admission of foreign students, representatives from certain countries should not be encouraged': Minutes on the meeting of the Official Committee held on 25 May 1951.
63. Reproduced in AEA Overseas Committee 'Report on the admission of iron curtain countries', Nat. Arch. 16/1959.
64. Calculated from students' lists published in ORINS Reports from the period June 1948-December 1953.
65. In the absence of proper lists of students of the Isotope School, I have reconstructed attendance and nationalities by means of the pictures taken at the end of each course, which included the name and nationality of the students. Figure 2 is an example of this source, which now is kept at Harwell. I am grateful to the UKAEA's former public relations manager at the Harwell site, Nicholas J. Hance MBE, for permission to access these records.
66. For a more detailed view of the Atoms for Peace campaign see Richard G. Hewlett and Jack M. Holl, Atoms for Peace and War: A History of the Atomic Energy Commission, 1953-1961, Berkeley, 1989.
67. The ideological aspect of the campaign is addressed by S. L. Del Sesto, 'Wasn't the future of nuclear energy wonderful?', in Imagining Tomorrow: History, Technology and the American Future (ed. Joseph Corn), Cambridge, MA, 1986, 58-76.
68. The minutes of the meeting show, interestingly, that behind this decision there were concerns about the possibility that France, Norway and Belgium might implement isotope distribution programmes. 'Official Committee on Atomic Energy meeting on the export to eastern Europe of radioactive isotopes', May 1954, Nat. Arch. AB 6/503.
69. Minutes on the meeting of the Official Committee held on 25 February 1955.
70. Reproduced in AEA Overseas Committee, Minutes on the Meeting of the Official Committee, op. cit. (50). The veto of Japanese students might be related to doubts about the character of the new Japanese nuclear research programme. In 1956 Japan passed a Basic Atomic Energy Law which limited research, development and utilization of nuclear power to peaceful uses. The Isotope School accepted the first Japanese students in 1957.
71. Figure 2 shows the first Spanish student at the Isotope School (José Miguel Gamboa Loyarte), seated, at the right end of the row. In the late 1950s he became head of the Isotope Division at the Spanish Nuclear Energy Board, the institution controlling Spanish nuclear research and development.
72. The Isotope School was presented to the conference during the session 24.2, devoted to training schemes. See the Proceedings of the International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, Geneva, 8-20 August 1955, 16 vols., Geneva, 1956, i, 463-79.
73. To reconstruct the attendance of the courses, I gathered data from different documents. The UKAEA Annual Reports offer fragmentary information. Most valuable, but still incomplete, are reports on the Isotope School activities in Nat. Arch. files AB 6/2631, AB 6/2424, AB 6/1974 and especially AB 57/96.
74. H. Arnold to the Security Office, 16 November 1955, Nat. Arch. AB 6/1974.
75. Edwin Plowden to Cockroft, 25 November 1955, Nat. Arch. AB 6/1974.
76. The first formal application asking for syllabus, fees and living expenses to attend the course came from a Czech, V. Kourin, and is dated 2 July 1956. Nat. Arch. AB 6/1974.
77. Jollyman to Jackson (Overseas Collaboration Office), 25 July 1956, Nat. Arch. AB 6/1974.
78. Walker to Jackson, 1 August 1956, Nat. Arch. AB 6/1974.
79. R. A. Faires to W. W. Harpur, 16 January 1957, Nat. Arch. AB 6/1974.
80. A report of the UKAEA Overseas Relations Committee dated 23 April 1957 stated that 'qualified persons may be accepted...after the school's removal from Harwell'. Nat. Arch. AB 6/1969.
81. Other security measures implemented in Harwell were the clearing of lectures with the Declassification Office and the establishment of a security clause in the school's application forms. Peirson to Office Security Branch, 19 December 1958, Nat. Arch. 6/1974.
82. File records reflect a parallel decrease of the correspondence between the Isotope Division and the Security Office since 1959. Nat. Arch. AB 6/1974.
83. S. Jefferson (ed.), Handbook of the Atomic Energy Industry, London, 1958, Foreword.
84. Seligman's article appeared in a special supplement of The Times devoted to the inauguration of Calder Hall. Henry Seligman, 'Radioactivity in wide use. Benefits to industry, medicine and agriculture', The Times. Calder Hall Supplement, 17 October 1956, p. xi.
85. There he would find a more adequate place to pursue his internationalist ideals. On Seligman's activities at the IAEA see David Fischer, History of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1997, 143.
86. Putnam took charge in March 1959, after a short period in which Seligman and William S. Eastwood e.ectively codirected the division.
87. The use of audiovisual media was especially notorious and expensive. An example was the production of the documentary Eye for Isotopes, first screened in January 1964. Nat. Arch. AB 16/4280.
88. J. L. Putman, 'Isotope division status report', August 1957, Nat. Arch. AB 6/657.
89. R. E. Faires to A. G. Goulbeck, 26 January 1961, Nat. Arch. AB 6/2424.
90. A record of these arguments is preserved in the correspondence files Nat. Arch. AB 6/1974 and AB 6/2424.
91. The pioneering institutions were the universities of Belfast, Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardi., Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Oxford, the Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and Imperial College in London. 'Education and training in nuclear energy subjects in the United Kingdom', report dated 13 April 1956, Nat. Arch. AB 19/84.
92. Data on the 1965 situation comes from John W. Shortall, Atomic Handbook, Volume 1: Europe, London, 1965, 703-8.
93. Syllabuses of the courses from June 1957 until 1963 are preserved in Nat. Arch. AB 6/2424 and AB 17/258.
94. 'Report on the Isotope School', dated April 1960. Nat. Arch. AB 6/1974.
95. Between 1957 and 1961 courses were held for the Institute of Directors, the World Health Organisation, the Trades Union Congress, the International Labour Organisation and the Association of Water Chemists. Nat. Arch. AB 6/2424.
96. P. G. Oates to LeCren (general secretary of the AERE), letter dated 31 January 1963, Nat. Arch. AB 6/2631.
97. 'Report on the Isotope School', Nat. Arch. AB, op. cit. (77).
98. Ronald A. Faires and Bertram H. Parks, Radioisotope Laboratory Techniques, London, 1958.
99. For a comparative study of nuclear engineering training in Europe in the early 1960s see Francesc Xavier Barca, 'Els inicis de l'enginyeria nuclear a Barcelona. La càtedra Ferran Tallada (1955-1962)', Ph.D. dissertation, Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, 2002.
100. Rough data available in the European Nuclear Energy Agency, Catalogue of Courses on Nuclear Energy in the European Countries of OECD, 1962-63, Paris, 1962.
101. Meeting of the Isotope Research Committee, 2 May 1962, Nat. Arch. AB 6/1974.
102. Nat. Arch. files AB 6/2631 and, in particular, AB 57/96 hold most discussions about the integration of the Isotope School in the general training schema.
103. According an Isotope School survey, 88 per cent of former Isotope School students used radioisotopes in their work and most of them bought British nucleonic equipment for their research and professional activities. 'Report on the Isotope School', Nat. Arch. Files AB op. cit. (77).
104. See also Kraft, Nat. Arch. Files AB, op. cit. (6).
105. By 1961 British radioisotope shipments generated an estimated income of £1.1 million, and more than half of these shipments were sent overseas. UKAEA Annual Report, 1962.