Part title from label. This program is the first in a three-part series on peacetime uses of atomic energy. A brief animated film reviews such concepts as neutrons and protons in a nucleus surrounded by electrons. There are 92 kinds of naturally occurring atoms, and changes can only be made to an atom by altering its nucleus. When the nucleus is split, it gives off energy. Mr. Strauss, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), cites President Eisenhower's 1953 "Atoms for Peace" speech to the United Nations in which he suggests a world pool of atomic materials for peaceful uses, such as commercial electrical power. Dr. Hafstad, Director of the Reactor Development Division of AEC, discusses the costs and problems of harnessing atomic power. He points out that although our coal and oil supplies are dwindling and uranium supplies are vast, the cost of generating power from the atom is currently prohibitive. However, he predicts that, within the next five to fifteen years, as nuclear power is developed, its costs will fall.

In this last program of the three-part series produced with the cooperation of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) on peacetime uses of atomic energy, Lynn Poole shows a model of the nation's first commercial nuclear reactor, the Shipping port power plant in Pennsylvania. He lists the products of this nuclear reactor as a result of splitting uranium-235: heat, fissionable materials, fission products, and atomic radiation. Dr. Manov, of the AEC, explains radioactive isotopes such as carbon-14 and why irons or other household appliances can not be atomic powered. He describes the ways radioisotopes can be used in industry for such purposes as checking metal castings for flaws, gauging thicknesses, measuring the wear and life of a cutting tool, tracing oil flow in pipelines, and applying the process of handling dangerous materials to other purposes. A film shows the application of radioisotope tracers to improve milk production in cows, eggshell thickness in chickens, and fertilizer use in plants.