Historical Nuclear Energy Films

By Nick Touran, Ph.D., P.E.,

In the olden days, the Atomic Energy Commission and others commissioned dozens upon dozens of nuclear energy related videos. Many of these have been digitized, but not all. We’ve gone through various old catalogs and cross-linked the entries with digitized copies when possible, as well as with modern catalog hyperlinks e.g. in the National Archives, where the physical films are housed. The list of not-yet-digitized films is shown below the list of already-digitized ones.

We have also learned how to get not-yet-digitized ones that exist in the National Archives digitized. See our YouTube channel here and our Digital Reactor History Museum. You can read more about the process of digitization and see some results at our ZPPR video page and our announcement of the world re-premier of a Hallam film. If you’re interested in helping to get more of these scanned, check out our digitization GoFundMe and/or contact us!

Videos that have been digitized

These films have been scanned and can be viewed online now.

Metadata
Title
Description
Notes
Links
NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1958
Length
15 mins
Color
Y
§ FULL SPEED AHEAD
A nontechnical film for intermediate through college-level audiences. It depicts the initial stages in the development of the first U. S. nuclear- powered merchant ship, the N.S. Savannah. Included are the industrial and technical procedures in building and testing the reactor, surveying harbors, and laying the keel.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1964
Length
28.5 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
4K
§ The Nuclear Ship Savannah
This nontechnical, documentary film, for junior-high-school through college-level audiences, covers the historical background, and the design, construction, sea trials, and initial port calls of the N.S. Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered merchant ship. The film begins with a brief review of America's maritime growth, starting with May 22, 1819, and the story of the S.S. Savannah, the first ship to cross the ocean under steam power. The design of the N.S. Savannah and its atomic reactor and propulsion system are explained with animation and live action photography. After keel laying, various phases of the ship's construction are covered, and the assembling and testing of the reactor are explained. The ceremonies involving the launching of the ship are shown, followed by impressive scenes showing the loading of the reactor with its nuclear fuel under surgically clean condition...

NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1960
Length
20 mins
Color
Y
§ UNDER WAY
This is a nontechnical film for intermediate through college-level audiences. It traces the design and construction of the first U. S. nuclear-powered merchant ship, the N.S. Savannah; its hull design and assembly; the design, testing, and fabrication of the nuclear power plant; critical assembly used in core design; fuel element fabrication; erection of the reactor system's containment vessel; safety features; christening and launching.


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1959
Length
26.5 mins
Color
Y
§ The New Ship
A General Electric documentary on the advances in ship design. Cross-compound geared turbine propulsion systems. Turbine/generator sets. Manufacture, test, assembly. Boiling water reactors for ship propulsion. Controls. Propulsion gear manufacture. Balancing. Hobbing gears. Assembly at the shipyard. Cargo winches.

  • On YouTube (Digitized by miSci, Schenectady, NY)

NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1957
Length
4 mins
Color
Y
§ Power from the Atom
A discussion of the future Dresden nuclear power facility, led by Don Herbert.

Note duplicate titles. This is not AVN 0649 from IAEA catalog either.

  • On YouTube (Digitized by miSci, Schenectady, NY)

NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1970
Length
14.5 mins
Color
Y
§ Power from the Atom (cartoon)
Cartoon on nuclear power. Measure of civilization is amount of power available to work for us. Power made from heat, mostly generated by burning coal or oil. In the future, from atomic fission. Atoms. The fission process. Radioactivity. Atomic core comprised of protons and neutrons. Binding energy holds it together. Electron shells. Atomic number. Atomic weight is sum of protons and neutrons. Varying the number of neutrons leads to isotopes of the same element. Most natural uranium is U-238, but it has high binding force and is not suitable for fuel. U-235 easier to split. Fission causes release of radiation and heat. Fermi produced first controlled chain reaction in 1942. U-238 can be changed to U-239, Thorium to U-233 by adding neutron to a fertile material (U-238 or Thorium), resulting in a fissionable material. This takes place in all reactors, but process is accelerated in a bree...

Note duplicate titles. This is not AVN 0649 from IAEA catalog either.

  • On YouTube (Digitized by miSci, Schenectady, NY)

NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1978
Length
3 mins
Color
Y
§ Cask Test
Test of shipping containers for spent nuclear fuel by Sandia Corp. Impact tests (trucks ram concrete wall at different speeds; diesel locomotive broadsides truck carrying container; rail car impacts concrete block wall) and test for survival after fire. Involves collisions with rocket propelled trains for that classic "mythbusters" feel.

  • On YouTube (Digitized by miSci, Schenectady, NY)

NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1956
Length
16 mins
Color
Y
§ A is for Atom (1956)
An animated documentary on atomic power from GE's "Excursions in Science" series. From the GE Film Catalog: "To most of us the recently unleashed giant of atomic energy represents an incredibly potent force for destruction - but it is becoming apparent that this super power can also be harnessed as a wonderworking servant, helping to bring about a new era of progress in the fields of industry, medicine, agriculture, and science. "Since the future of our world depends upon man's wisdom in the control of this force, an understanding of the elements of atomic energy is of prime importance to every American. This picture, therefore, has been designed to present a comprehensive, easily understandable explanation of the principles of nuclear fission in an interesting and entertaining manner. "Filmed in striking, full-color animation, the picture introduces an amusing character called Dr. At...

Another version was updated in 1963 according to catalog

  • On YouTube (Digitized by miSci, Schenectady, NY)

NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1959
Length
25 mins
Color
N
§ Atomic Power and the United States
This is a nontechnical film for intermediate through college-level audiences. It summarizes activities of both the government and private industry in the program for the development of economic production of electric power with atomic energy. It compares conventional and nuclear approaches, and by animation and live action explains six important nuclear power projects. It outlines industry's contributions and the sharing of technical know-how overseas through the Atoms for Peace Program.

NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
23.5 mins
Color
Y
§ Army Nuclear Power Program
A description of the Army's nuclear power program.

MF20 9740. I found online but can't find catalog entry anywhere.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0011
Date
1958
Length
14 mins
Color
Y
§ Dresden Atomic Power Station
Construction and design features of the 180MW plant. Film made before 1960 completion date. Duration 9:15. In a trailer, Ernie Tetrault of WRGB narrates film on some of the plant components such as pressure vessel, steam turbine, fuel elements.

Possibly mislabeled as Dresden Nuclear Power Station at NARA?

  • On YouTube (Digitized by miSci, Schenectady, NY)

NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1961
Length
23.5 mins
Color
Y
§ ATOMIC VENTURE
This semitechnical film, which is a sequel to the 1958 film "Dresden Nuclear Power Station," covers the design and development of a large dual-cycle boiling-water reactor the 180,000-kw Dresden Nuclear Power Station built by General Electric Company (GE) for the Commonwealth Edison Company, Chicago, and the Nuclear Power Group, Inc., and the history of the project from its beginning in 1955 to its completion in 1959. The film shows major stages of development, including clearance of the site 47 miles southwest of Chicago; ground-breaking; construction of foundations, sphere, and other buildings; manufacture of the containment vessel and fuel; shipment and arrival of major components; installation of the reactor core, reactor vessel, and turbine-generator; testing of completed installations; and the station's "going critical." The film also includes scenes relating to development work ...

  • On YouTube (Digitized by miSci, Schenectady, NY)

NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1972
Length
11 mins
Color
Y
§ Inspection and Refueling of Ginna Station
A short documentary produced at the Ginna Station of Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. This nuclear plant was built by Westinghouse. Planning for refueling started Sept. 1970. Shutdown Feb. 26, 1971. Refueling plus disassembly and inspection of nuclear and electrical components. Core removed, replaced by water that acts as coolant and radiation shield. Fuel removed to storage area. Fuel bundles described. Inspection of fuel bundles. New fuel loaded. one-third of core replaced every 13 months. Overhaul of main coolant pumps, repacking of all valves. Disassembly of 666,000 hp turbine. Disassembly and inspection of generator, main fuel pumps and condensate pumps. Startup May 1971.

  • On Youtube (Digitized by miSci, Schenectady, NY)

NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1981
Length
12 mins
Color
Y
§ Automated Fuel Manufacture
GE fuel manufacturing film. Commercial for Nuclear Energy Products Division. Shows manufacturing of fuel and absorber rods at Wilmington N.C. plant.

Great music

  • On Youtube (Digitized by miSci, Schenectady, NY)

NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0010
Date
1958
Length
mins
Color
N
§ Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor
Shows operation of the General Electric Vallecitos boiling water reactor, including views of the loading of the reactor, interior of the reactor containment vessel, and the turbine generator installation. Reactor start-up procedures and actual operating sequences, including close-ups of control and instrumentation, are demonstrated.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1955
Length
14 mins
Color
N
§ BORAX: Construction and Operation of a Boiling Water Reactor
This nontechnical film for intermediate through college-level audiences, shows the equipping of a reactor with an electrical generating system, and the operating of the nuclear power plant to light and power Arco, Idaho, the U. S. community first served exclusively by nuclear power, for an hour on July 17, 1955.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
20 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
4K
§ Hallam Nuclear Power Facility
This film shows the setting and location of the reactor built jointly by USAEC and the Consumers' Public Power District of Nebraska. An explanation of this type of reactor, using a liquid metal coolant, is given stressing its advantages. The working of the plant is shown in animation. Live footage shows construction of the reactor containment vessel, its transportation from Philadelphia to Hallam, moderator fabrication and installation, installation and operation of safety rods, use of an intermediate heat exchanger, installation of steam piping and the installation of the turbine and generator. Also shown is fuel handling, cleaning and storage cells, fuel fabrication, and testing.

NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1964
Length
7.2 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
4K
§ Hallam, Operating Experience
This describes the operation of the 79-megawatt electric Hallam Nuclear Power Facility which is powered by a 252-megawatt sodium-graphite reactor. Demonstrates Hallam's heat transfer cycle and plant operation features, including fuel transfer and sodium handling.

Basically a condensed version of 88153

Scanned by us!


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1970
Length
29 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
4K
§ In Search of a Critical Moment
This film tells the story of the Zero Power Plutonium Reactor (ZPPR), which was a special test reactor in Idaho designed to supply information essential to the development of economic fast-breeder, central-station, nuclear-power plants. The film shows the construction of the ZPPR by the Argonne National Laboratory, its many safety features, plutonium handling and storage, the computer that analyzes the data obtained by the reactor, and the fuel loading and attainment of reactor criticality.

NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
26 mins
Color
Y
§ ML-1 MOBILE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
This semitechnical film states the Army's logistical need for mobile power, and shows how that need is partially filled by the design, construction, testing and field operation of a new transportable power rector plant, the ML-1. An explanation of the design of this gas-cooled, water-moderated reactor is given. Development of the reactor at the USAEC's National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho, is shown. The design and testing of the turbomachinery takes place at the Army Engineer Research and Development Laboratory at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. The film also covers the training of the operating crews, assembly of the ML-1, checkout and test run, testing of the transportability of the system using mock-ups, simulated transportation of the ML-1 to the field and its start-up and criticality


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1965
Length
45 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
4K
§ The New Power
This nontechnical film, for all audience levels, tells how the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho is furthering the USAEC's quest for economic nuclear power. Most of the more than 40 experimental nuclear reactors built, being built, or planned there are described either historically or currently, including the Navy's prototypes for the submarine Nautilus and aircraft carrier Enterprise; the internationally known testing reactor complex (MTR, ETR, ATR); the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant, the Army's mobile low power nuclear plant (ML-1); and the importance of breeding nuclear fuel as authorized by the two Experimental Breeder Reactor complexes, EBR-I and EBR-II. Also discussed are the USAEC's leading reactor safety programs SPERT and STEP (Special Power Excursion Reactor Test and Safety Test Engineering Program). The film also explains the basic principles of power reactor cons...

NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1965
Length
29 mins
Color
N
§ A Breeder in the Desert
Argonne's Experimental Breeder Reactor II at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho is shown in detail and many of the features and operating characteristics of a large scale fast breeder reactor are de scribed The EBR-II Fuel Cycle Facility first nuclear fuel reprocessing plant completely integrated with a reactor is shown in operation


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1962
Length
28 mins
Color
N
§ Atomic Furnaces
The operation principles and scientific applications of nuclear reactors used as research tools in various projects are briefly described Types of research that reactors and associated equipment make possible are shown at length The Gamma Ray Spectrometer the Neutron Chopper and a new reactor designed specifically for high and low radiation experiments in biology are also described. This film provides an in depth description of basic research in the nuclear sciences at ERDA's Argonne National Laboratory


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
14.5 mins
Color
Y
§ Nuclear Energy Goes Rural
This film presents the background, planning, and construction of the Elk River Reactor for Minnesota's Rural Cooperative Power Association. After the rural background and setting are established, the planning of the reactor is shown. Animation is used to explain the principle of the boiling water reactor with conventional superheated steam. A comparison is made with the hot air heating system used in the home, and the reactor's control rods are compared with a thermostat. The reactor control room is shown. A "Scram" is explained. Fuel operations are also explained, as well as the air monitoring system.

NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1955
Length
15 mins
Color
Y
§ NUCLEAR REACTORS FOR RESEARCH
This film explains the basic design of the small homogeneous water-boiler reactor type and describes the components and the various steps in the construction of a small homogeneous reactor. Operation of the reactor is described, and research uses are illustrated.

NARA version says no sound, but Periscope found sound


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
23 mins
Color
Y
§ THE PIQUA NUCLEAR POWER FACILITY
The Piqua Nuclear Power Facility is the first municipally owned power plant using steam produced by a USAEC nuclear reactor. This film gives an animated explanation of Piqua's reactor an organic moderated reactor and compares it with the liquid metal sodium graphite type reactor at Hallam, Nebraska, and the pressurized water reactor at Shippingport, Pa. Live action footage of the Organic Moderated Reactor Experiment at the National Reactor Test Station in Idaho is shown, as well as of the design and construction of the Piqua facility.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1962
Length
20 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
4K
§ PM-1 Nuclear Power Plant
A filmed story of the PM-1 nuclear power plant (a pressurized water system), a joint project of the USAEC and the U. S. Air Force, which supplies the power for the radar and space heating of a remote Air Defense Command radar station in Wyoming. The film breaks down the types and contents of 16 air transportable packages, a total weight of about 30,000 pounds: reactor, steam generator, waste tank, heat-transfer apparatus, control room, turbogenerator, etc. Details are given on major components and the design and operation of the system by information on: 741 nuclear fuel tubes in 7 fuel bundles, the "flow" of primary water, the secondary water, details on the makeup of the fuel element tubes, criticality testing, nature of the control rods, tests to determine heat transfer and flow characteristics. The film recounts the airlift of the packages, erection and assembly of the power plant...

NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
20 mins
Color
Y
§ PM-3A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT ANTARCTICA
This is the semitechnical film-story of the 1500-kilowatt nuclear power station built, under contract to USAEC, for operation by the Navy at McMurdo Station, Antarctic headquarters for the joint Navy National Science Foundation Antarctic Research Project. PM-3A, the first atomic power station in the bleak Antarctic, supplies electric power and space heating for the isolated station. Use of nuclear power reduces the massive amounts of fuel oil for generating electricity that must be brought 11,000 miles by American tankers. PM-3A was designed, fabricated, and tested in 14 months. Details are given on the plant's pressure vessel, coolant, nuclear fuel, control rods, switch gear, heat-transfer equipment, turbogenerator, and many other major components. We see shots of the erection and testing of the reactor in the States, site preparation by Seabees in the Antarctic, erection and testin...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1959
Length
29 mins
Color
Y
§ Power and Promise (Shippingport)
This is a semitechnical film for high-school and college-level audiences. It describes the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, built to advance power reactor technology and demonstrate the practicability of operating a central station atomic power plant in a utility network. Included is an explanation of the production and control of heat and radioactivity produced by nuclear fission; manufacture of fuel elements; major components such as pumps, heat exchangers, and the pressure vessel; construction of the station; installation of components; and the erection and installation of the reactor core.

Eisenhower uses a nuclear wand to start the Shippingport reactor in this one remotely.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1961
Length
32 mins
Color
Y
§ The Story of Camp Century: City Under the Ice
This film concerns the construction by Army Engineers of Camp Century, a nuclear-powered U. S. Army Arctic research laboratory buried below the Greenland ice cap. Although the film tells the entire story of the planning and construction of Camp Century, it contains a significant section devoted to the nuclear power plant for electricity and space heating. The film shows the selection of the isolated camp site, 150 miles from Thule; delivery of supplies and equipment by motorized bobsleds; digging and construction of 23 tunnels in the ice (trenches covered with steel arches and snow); construction of foundations for prefabricated buildings; erection of prefabricated buildings; procurement of water supplies; installation of insulated piping and sewage lines; and how the men eat and sleep. Also shown are the digging of four deep trenches for the nuclear power plant, the construction of t...

Extremely awesome. Featuring Mukluck the dog.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1955
Length
17 mins
Color
N
§ ATOMS FOR PEACE
This nontechnical film, for all audience levels, ties together film footage from various sources to cover the entire range of peaceful applications of atomic energy in industry, biology, medicine, and agriculture. It outlines the potential of nuclear power.

Video available in NARA


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1969
Length
29 mins
Color
Y
§ PROJECT GNOME
This film covers Project Gnome the first nuclear detonation conducted under the USAEC's Plowshare Program for development of peaceful uses of nuclear explosives from its planning stage through the early months of the post-detonation period when scientists entered the man-created cavern. Project Gnome was an experiment under the technical direction of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory involving the detonation on December 10, 1961, of a 3.1 kiloton nuclear explosive in a chamber about 1200 feet below the earth's surface in the Salado Salt Basin, a thick subsurface salt bed about 25 miles southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico. The force of the explosion created an underground cavern which today measures about 170 feet across and almost 90 feet high. Animation is used to explain the scope of Project Gnome and its integrated scientific and technical programs. Project Gnome, one of the most hea...

Lots of Edward Teller talking


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
21.5 mins
Color
Y
§ PROJECT ROVER
This film is a 1962 progress report on the USAEC's Project Rover, a program for the development of a nuclear rocket for spacecraft propulsion. An animated explanation of the principle of the nuclear rocket is given demonstrating the advantages of the nuclear rocket system. A survey of the work at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory follows, showing work done in the design, fabrication and testing of a Kiwi non-flying test reactor. This includes: core configuration studies in a "Honeycomb," the reactor design staff at work, the test facilities, the blending of graphite and uranium for fuel, and construction of the reactor components by contractors. Testing of the Kiwi at the Nuclear Rocket Development Station in Nevada is shown


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1960
Length
18.25 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
4K
§ Roundup
This film describes the use of radiation to eradicate the screwworm fly in the southeastern United States, an insect pest that had caused large losses to livestock owners. The film describes how the screwworm fly deposits its eggs in a cut or insect bite on the skin of a warm-blooded animal. The eggs hatch to worms that feed on live flesh and then fall to the ground, where they burrow into the soil and change to pupae. Ten days later the fly emerges and mates, and the cycle continues. The film shows typical cases of screwworm infestation. Entomologists of the Agricultural Research Service suggested that since screwworm flies mate only once, if a method of sexually sterilizing flies could be found, eradication was possible. Since X ray was too ex- pensive, radioactive cobalt ( 60 Co) was selected to do the sterilization job. The plan was tested on the tiny island of Curasao off the coa...

NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1962
Length
28.5 mins
Color
Y
§ Atoms for space
This film describes the development and use of compact nuclear power sources for space under the Atomic Energy Commission's Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power (SNAP) program. The film features the first use of atomic power in the nation's space effort and briefly covers the uses of SNAP devices on land and sea. By means of animation and models, the two basic concepts of the SNAP program are shown. In one approach the energy of decay from radioactive isotopes is used to generate electricity directly, without moving parts. This method is being developed for the USAEC by the Martin Company, the aerospace division of the Martin Marietta Corporation. A SNAP isotopic-power generator was launched on board the Navy's Transit navigation satellite in June 1961, marking the first use of nuclear power in space. The other SNAP approach uses, the heat from a compact nuclear-fission reactor to gene...


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1960
Length
21.3 mins
Color
Y
§ SNAP III OPERATIONAL TESTS
This semitechnical film describes operational tests (vibration, shock, acceleration, fire, explosion, land and sea impact, effects of salt water, aerodynamic heating, etc.) on the 4-lb SNAP HI isotopic-power unit, which uses 210 Po to generate more than 3 watts as a source of auxiliary power for space vehicles. Conclusion: SNAP HI will operate effectively on launch and in orbit.


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1965
Length
29 mins
Color
Y
§ SNAPSHOT
This film with an introduction by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Chairman of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission useful for both popular-level and technical audiences describes the scheduled flight test in space of the 500-watt SNAP-10A nuclear space power system. SNAP-lOAwill be mated to the forward end of an Atlas-Agena booster system and launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Primary objective of the SNAPSHOT flight, a cooperative effort of the Atomic Energy Commission and the United States Air Force, is to obtain technical information and demonstrate the utility of nuclear reactor power systems for application in America's space programs. Atomics International is the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission's prime contractor for SNAP-10A development. Orbital startup and operation in space of the reactor and the thermoelectric power converter is explained by animation. Highlighted in th...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1949
Length
22 mins
Color
Y
§ Bikini Radiobiological Laboratory
This nontechnical film, for intermediate through college-level audiences, explains studies of effects of radioactivity from the 1946 atomic tests at Bikini Atoll, on plants and marine life in the area three years later.

Features many scientists from the University of Washington


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1961
Length
18.5 mins
Color
Y
§ Atomic Weatherman: Strontium-90 Isotopic Applications
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 p...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1953
Length
10 mins
Color
N
§ The Atom and Industry
This is a nontechnical film, for intermediate through college-level audiences, describing the use of radioisotope tracers in industry for gauging thickness, testing engine wear, monitoring oil in pipelines, etc


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
28 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
4K
§ Radioisotopes: Safe Servants of Industry
With emphasis on safety, this film surveys the widespread uses of radioisotopes in industry. Animated explanations of the principles involved in radioisotope gauging instruments, tracing and radiography are given. Applications of these principles are shown in various processes in the food industry, automotive research, road construction, heavy industry, oil refining and shipping, and system troubleshooting.

NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1961
Length
14 mins
Color
Y
§ Atoms at Work: The Latin American Exhibit
This film describes the Commission's exhibit on the peaceful uses of atomic energy during the Latin-American tour, including Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. After the opening-day ceremonies, there is a flash-back showing the construction of the exhibit structure and facilities (e.g., the concrete foundation, the shield for the nuclear-research training reactor, the erection of steel arches, and the nature and inflation of the air- supported double-domed structure made of vinyl-coated nylon). The film shows the various exhibits and facilities, including the three-screen theater, the nuclear-power exhibit, the industrial-applications exhibit, the agricultural exhibit, the medical exhibit, the health and safety exhibit, the gamma tank, and the nuclear-research test reactor. (Nontechnical: suitable for all audience levels.)


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1959
Length
15 mins
Color
N
§ Atoms for Peace: Geneva 1958
This nontechnical film, for intermediate through college-level audiences, reports on U. S. participation in the Second International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, held at Geneva in September 1958 under UN auspices and attended by 6000 scientists and technicians of 69 nations and 9 international agencies. It points to the technical papers program and the 722 papers contributed by the United States; provides a quick look at the Atoms For Peace Commercial Exposition held concurrently in Geneva; then devotes coverage to the U. S. Technical Exhibit made up of 64 sections, many with full-scale scientific devices in operation which covered four major areas: Physical Sciences, Reactor Sciences and Technology, Life Sciences, and Controlled Thermonuclear Research.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1961
Length
20 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
4K
§ Remote Repair and Modification of the HRE-2 Core Vessel
Illustrates the remote repair and modification of the HRE-2 core vessel, following the formation of two holes which permitted transfer of fuel to the blanket side of the reactor. Shows how special equipment had to be designed for repairing the HRE-2, and the problems involved in working with the reactor where the radiation level in the vessel was greater than 100,000 Roentgen per hour.

NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0046
Date
1958
Length
51 mins
Color
Y
§ Power Reactors USA
Comprehensive survey of the U.S. power reactor program - covering technical planning, construction and operational experience associated with the Shippingport pressurized water reactor, the Army Package power reactor, the Indian Point and Yankee projects, Argonne Laboratory's experimental boiling water reactor, the Pleasanton, Dresden, and Monroe projects, the Idaho organic moderated reactor experiment, experimental breeder reactor 1, and homogenous reactor experiments 1 and 2.

Possibly mis-cataloged at NARA as 1964? and in IAEA catalog as 15 mins instead of 51?


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1957
Length
25.5 mins
Color
Y
§ Army Package Power Reactor
For high-school and college-level audiences, this semitechnical film documents the inception, design, construction, initial operation, and dedication of the APPR-1, a prototype reactor utilizing components all transportable by air. Animation is used to illustrate its operation.

NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0400
Date
1967
Length
22 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
4K
§ BONUS for Puerto Rico
The film describes the construction and initial operation of a small, unique nuclear power station, the Boiling Nuclear Superheat Reactor, in the picturesque, tropical setting of Puerto Rico. Through animation, the film compares nuclear superheat reactors with other types and briefly describes the joint arrangements between the United States Atomic Energy Commission and the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority for construction and operation of this first nuclear power plant in the tropics.

In IAEA catalog.

Scanned by us!


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0430
Date
1967
Length
17 mins
Color
Y
§ Desalting the seas
Describes the various methods of purifying saline waters through the use of nuclear energy (the crystallization or freezing process, the membrane or squeezing process, the distillation or boiling process), with particular emphasis on large scale dual-purpose nuclear-electric desalting plants which will not only purify water but will also produce large amounts of electric power simultaneously

In IAEA catalog

  • On YouTube! (Uploaded 4 days before I made this DB entry... eerie!)
  • Other copy? (Worth asking NARA which one is easier/better)

NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
AVN0490
Date
1968
Length
26 mins
Color
Y
§ Douglas Point - Nuclear Power Station
This film describes the construction of the Douglas Point Reactor. Douglas point is 120 miles north-west of the city of Toronto and this CANDU (Canadian Deuterium) reactor is the first full scale nuclear power station in Canada

In IAEA catalog


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
AVN0695
Date
1962
Length
12 mins
Color
Y
§ Headstart on tomorrow
Description of the construction and operation of Big Rock Nuclear Power Plant in Charlevoix, MI from Consumers Energy. Narrated by Ronald Reagan.

Not in National Archives



NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1958
Length
24.5 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
480
§ Sodium Reactor Experiment Construction
Shows the fuel and moderator fabrication, construction, initial criticality, and initial plant characteristics of the first full power runs of the SRE in Santa Susana, made by Atomics International. Shielding measurements are shown. This was the first Sodium Graphite Reactor (SGR), designed to be high temperature, low pressure, and fuel efficient. Though it used sodium coolant, it was not a fast reactor. Produced in July 1958.

Not yet found in catalogs. Note that this reactor had a meltdown. This was the prototype for the larger Hallam SGR.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0016
Date
1958
Length
11.5 mins
Color
N
Resolution
1440
§ Plutonium Metal Preparation
This technical film shows the process and equipment designed and used at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in converting plutonium from a nitrate solution to elemental metal. Because of serious health hazards, plutonium is processed in airtight compartments, with equipment operated entirely by remote control. The isolated plutonium is used for metallurgical and pyrometallurgical research, for fuel alloy development, and for reactor and critical assembly elements.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0164
Date
1961
Length
28 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
720
§ The International Atom
The film explains in basic terms nuclear fission, the use of nuclear power (propulsion of ships), the production and use of radioisotopes (medicine-radioactive tracers, sterilization of instruments; agriculture-fertilizers, screw-worm elimination, irradiation of food; industry). Demonstrates international co-operation and research

Won 'Blue Ribbon Award' at the American Film Festival, New York, 1961 - best film in the popular science group


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1964
Length
10 mins
Color
Y
§ Operating Experience, Indian Point
This technical film is the story of the design, construction, and operation of the Indian Point power station of the Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, one of the first nuclear power stations in the U. S. serving a large metropolitan area. The film describes and explains some of the theoretical concepts and operating characteristics of the world's first station using thorium as the fertile material, and including critical core experiments, core design and models, and on- location operational plant scenes.

A Geneva 1964 film produced by B&W

Scanned by us!


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1964
Length
10 mins
Color
Y
§ Operating Experience, Yankee
This technical film relates various plant design features and performance data of the nuclear power station operated by the Yankee Atomic Electric Company. The plant has been in service more than 3 years. Initially rated at 134 Mw(e), current output with its third core is 185 Mw(e).

A Geneva 1964 film produced by Westinghouse

Scanned by us!


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1958
Length
30 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
480
§ Experimental Boiling Water Reactor (EBWR)
This semitechnical documentary film presents an actual account of the construction and operation of the reactor. It begins with the installation of the reactor components, with pressure vessel and other units in the steam cycle already in place. This continues through the assembly of reactor components, 20-Mw operation, then the generation of 5000 kw of electricity. The standard operational procedures of the plant, including startup procedure, are included. Also shown are significant engineering tests through 3060-Mwd operation and subsequent inspection of turbine and reactor.

There are two entries in NARA, see also 88386


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1957
Length
10 mins
Color
N
Resolution
480
§ Construction of the Experimental Boiling Water Reactor (EBWR)
The Experimental Boiling Water Reactor (EBWR), an experimental nuclear power plant of 5000-kw electrical capacity, was the first of the reactors in the USAEC's nuclear power development program to be completed. This Semitechnical documentary film describes highlights of construction of the EBWR buildings, particularly the containment shell for the power plant. The erection of the steel shell, special concrete work, and installation of equipment, including the reactor pressure vessel, are shown. The requirements for various structural components are described.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1957
Length
15.5 mins
Color
Y
§ Argonaut
The Argonaut (Argonne's Nuclear Assembly for University Training) is a low-power training- research reactor. This semitechnical film outlines the need for such a reactor in the USAEC's program and its applications to the International School of Nuclear Science and Engineering at Argonne. The design features, operation, and some of the many applications are described.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0039
Date
1958
Length
36 mins
Color
Y
§ Fast Reactor Program
This technical film is an abstract of some major features of the fast reactor program in the areas of reactor performance, safety and reliability, system components, and fuel-cycle developments

See Also 88144


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0270
Date
1964
Length
13 mins
Color
Y
§ The EBR-II Fuel Facility
The technical film shows how, in this facility, coupled to the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II, highly radioactive fuel from the reactor is disassembled, reprocessed, and fabricated, without prior time-consuming radioactive cooling periods. How all facets of the system are designed for remote operation, repair and modification of equipment is also shown.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1958
Length
18 mins
Color
Y
Resolution
480
§ The MIT Research Reactor
This film is a step-by-step record of construction of the world's first privately owned heavy-water research reactor, designed and built by ACF Industries, Inc., for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a 1000-kw heavy-water-moderated and -cooled CP-5 type reactor, producing fluxes in excess of 10^13 neutrons/cm^2/sec. It includes a special medical therapy room providing new approaches to nuclear medical research techniques. The film shows construction phases of the reactor, associated nuclear equipment, containment shell, and radiation shielding

This is the same MITR facility that still operates today, though it went through a major upgrade in 1975 to a light-water moderated/cooled design (https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1909/ML19091A088.pdf)


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1959
Length
29 mins
Color
N
§ The Dounreay Project
Two films in one: first details of constructing the Dounreay Fast Reactor, highlighting the challenges of blasting through rock while battling the seas. Then the commissioning and initial operation of the reactor

Not listed in the archives catalogs we've found


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1959
Length
29 mins
Color
N
§ MH-1A: Floating nuclear power plant, STURGIS: Construction report
Two films in one: first details of constructing the Dounreay Fast Reactor, highlighting the challenges of blasting through rock while battling the seas. Then the commissioning and initial operation of the reactor

Not listed in the archives catalogs we've found


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
AVN 0105
Date
1956
Length
20 mins
Color
Y
§ Atomic Achievement
Covers Britain's work in harnessing atomic power and shows the development of the national nuclear power programme. Introduces the first nuclear power plants in the U.K. (Harwell, Springfield, Windscale, Calder Hall, Capenhust, and Dounreay - still under construction). Briefly covers isotope, uranium ore and plutonium production and mentions the new experimental reactors (Dido, Zeus).


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1967
Length
28.5 mins
Color
Y
§ Guardian of the Atom
States briefly the organization and role of USAEC and its national laboratories and responsibilities in develop ing the peaceful uses and national security uses of the atom. Then, point by point, we learn of each type of nuclear application and its effect on science and technology: the raw materials of atomic energy; the role of the three gaseous diffusion plants; the work to produce plutonium the development and underground testing of nuclear weapons under the terms of the limited nuclear test ban treaty; the Plowshare program to develop peaceful uses of nuclear explosives; production of nuclear fuel for atomic reactors; building nuclear power plants; the use of nuclear power to propel surface ships and submarines; development work on the nuclear rocket for future space exploration; the production of radioisotopes and their applications for medical diagnosis and therapy, in agricultu...

Won 11th CINE Golden Eagle International Award, catalog entry in combined 1972


Videos not yet digitized in order of want

The ones with non-blank NARA IDs are readily available for scanning given funding.

Metadata
Title
Description
Notes
Links
NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
Length
mins
Color
N
§ REACTOR PREOBRAZOVATEL "ROMASHKA"
SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTARY: Uses animation, models and on-location shots to show the construction, installation, testing and operation of the direct conversion reactor, Romashka--a small, high-temperature reactor that operates with fast moving neutrons and a thermo-electric converter--at Kurchatov Atomic Energy Institute. Includes shots of reactor and thermal test bench.

Filmed in USSR. Sounds awesome


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
Length
mins
Color
Y
§ ASTR TOWER EXPERIMENT
Coverage of the transfer of the Convair Airborne Shielded Test Reactor and NB-36 crew compartments from Ft. Worth, Texas, to Oak Ridge, Tennessee National Laboratories for further airborne and ground radiation reflection tests using a tower rig. 1) Animation and live photography depicting early airborne tests of the ASTR using the NB-36 aircraft. 2) Crew compartment of the NB-36 being removed. 3) Reactor is removed from the Convair storage pool and placed on a flat bed trailer. 4) Truck convoy carrying the reactor, crew compartments, and associated test equipment leaving the Convair test site at Ft. Worth and arriving at the National Laboratories, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 5) Preparations for, and mapping of, ground radiation reflection from the reactor at the tower site. 6) Radiation reflection testing of the crew compartment, and a 1/2 scale crew compartment suspended from the towers, i...

The reactor that flew!


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1958
Length
16 mins
Color
Y
§ Organic Moderated Reactor Experiment (OMRE)
This film presents a pictorial summary of the fabrication and operation of the OM RE facility at the USAEC 's National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho, being conducted by Atomics International to investigate the use of organic materials as a reactor coolant, for transferring heat and for moderating neutrons. The film also depicts the technique of melting the organic moderator and methods of monitoring.


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
AVN0120
Date
1959
Length
40 mins
Color
Y
§ First Miles
Describes the final stages of the construction of the world' s first nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin", in Leningrad. By animation and live action, information is given on the nuclear reactor, shielding system, control deck, radiation control post, etc. The maiden trip on the icebreaker in the Baltic is shown.

No idea where to find a copy


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0107
Date
1959
Length
23 mins
Color
N
§ Restoration of the NRX Reactor
This film discusses the 14-month repair and restoration of the NRX Reactor at Chalk River, Ontario, following a rapid super operational power level excursion (the first nuclear reactor runaway in history) and describes the 1959 safety system of the 40-Mw reactor. Film footage made during actual restoration is supplemented by studio explanation with a reactor model. Depicted are the unusual and hazardous problems complicating repairs: high levels of radioactive contamination in work areas; continuation of water cooling on high irradiated fuel rods to prevent auto-ignition; creation of disposal facilities in subzero weather for a gross quantity of cooling water mixed with highly active fission products; corrosion-inhibiting preservation of irradiated fuel rods; decontamination of large pieces of equipment and reactor components; and rebuilding a reactor that had not been designed initia...

This is the one that Jimmy Carter worked on


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
AVN0139
Date
1960
Length
26 mins
Color
Y
§ Atomkraftwerk Kahl
A technical account of the construction of the first atomic power station in the Federal Republic of Germany at Kahl.

In IAEA catalog.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1961
Length
mins
Color
N
§ Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program: Manned Aircraft Progress Report
This film reviews progress achieved in the Air Force aircraft nuclear propulsion program from 1956 to 1958.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1962
Length
31.5 mins
Color
Y
§ The HWCTR and the Heavy Water Power Reactor Program
This film depicts the growing need for nuclear power and describes the features of heavy water reactors for use in power production. The development program conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission on this reactor concept is described in detail. Design studies performed on promising heavy water reactor concepts established the technical feasibility and economic promise of this concept. A number of research tasks in the fields of fuel design, engineering of low leakage components, studies of heat transfer and the physics of natural uranium heavy water systems were investigated in detail by Dupont and other research contractors to the USAEC. The facilities at the Savannah River Laboratory and at commercial laboratories used in this program are shown. Primary emphasis in the development program was placed on design of an inexpensive natural uranium fuel element for the heavy water react...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1964
Length
10 mins
Color
Y
§ Operating Experience, Dresden
This technical film reports on the routine, day-to-day operation of the Dresden Nuclear Power Station and points up the success of the boiling water nuclear-electric power station. Dresden's four years of operating experience are reviewed, and the power station is examined in terms of dependability, safety, ease of operation, and ease of maintenance

A Geneva 1964 film produced by GE


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1969
Length
14 mins
Color
Y
§ No Greater Challenge
Shows man's historic and growing hunger for water and a dramatic solution to this great challenge --- the Agro Industrial Complex. With the nuclear reactor as the energy source and the desalting plant as the fresh water source, tomorrow's coastal deserts may be transformed into self-sustaining mammoth nuclear powered agro industrial centers consisting farms and industrial plants. Nuclear power reactors will pump millions of gallons of water from the sea and provide the heat to desalt it. At the same time low cost nuclear energy will produce electricity to help extract and process the ocean's mineral wealth. Electricity from nuclear energy will power plants that produce fertilizers. Fertilizers and fresh, desalted water for irrigation will enrich lands where no crops have grown for centuries. Designed to convert waste lands into new lands of desert agriculture and to provide new indust...

First Place, US Industrial Film Festival, Chicago


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
Length
mins
Color
N
§ PEGASE
Scientific Documentary: A facility meant for testing nuclear fuels used in heavy water moderated atomic energy plants. Shows scenes of plant construction and, through animation and live action shots, illustrates how the test reactor works.

From French CEA. May be in French


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
Length
mins
Color
N
§ Advanced Test Reactor
This film shows precisely how the AEC's 250-Mwt Advanced Test Reactor design utilizes multiple flux traps to achieve exceptionally high neutron density in nine independent test loop positions. Animations de- scribe the clover leaf, enriched fuel annulus that circumscribes the nine flux trap test positions, and the moving control components which vary flux and power in each test position. ATR was designed by Ebasco Services, Inc., as prime contractor, with Babcock & Wilcox Co. as nuclear subcontractors. Phillips Petroleum Co. pre- pared the conceptual design, and will operate the reactor.

In catalog, but can't find reels anywhere


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1953-04-08
Length
mins
Color
N
§ Thermal reactor test site, USS Nautilus

No audio, declassified


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1958
Length
10 mins
Color
Y
§ The Magnetic Bottle
This film is a concise summary, for the informed layman, of the United States Sherwood Program, for research into controlled nuclear fusion. It shows various operating experimental devices, explains their principles and the many complex problems involved in possible future development of full-scale machines to create unlimited industrial power by controlling a continuous fusion process at millions of degrees of temperature.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1958
Length
15 mins
Color
Y
§ KINETIC EXPERIMENT ON WATER BOILERS
This film discusses a USAEC-sponsored study by Atomics International of the dynamic behavior of the homogeneous solution type nuclear reactor, demonstrating the inherent safety characteristics of aqueous homogeneous reactors in the event of an unforeseen release of large amounts of reactivity.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0044
Date
1958
Length
20 mins
Color
Y
§ Medical Research Reactor
Describes the design of the Brookhaven National Laboratory's Medical Research Reactor (MRR), including shielding and radiation effects.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0039
Date
1958
Length
22 mins
Color
N
§ Engineering Test Reactor
This technical film discusses the design, construction, operations, and some of the uses of the nation's largest and most advanced nuclear test facility. Among other uses, the Engineering Test Reactor acts as a research tool in the development of economic nuclear power by testing effects of intense neutron and gamma ray bombardment on the engineering components of reactors under design.

There is a long version and a short version


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1958
Length
55 mins
Color
Y
§ Research into Controlled Fusion
This film is a technical progress report of the fusion research programs sponsored by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission at Princeton University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, and the University of California Radiation Laboratory. An outline is given of the principal problems in controlled fusion, and the film then switches to the laboratories, where the research devices are shown and described in detail by means of animation. Devices described are the various pinch, mirror, rotating plasma, DCX, and Stellarator machines . (This film requires only a rudimentary knowledge of physics to be understood, but it should be most useful at college colloquia as a summary of present research in hot plasma physics.)


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0195
Date
1962
Length
29 mins
Color
N
§ The Immune Response
Deals with the mechanism by which the body builds antibodies against disease and other foreign substances and with the effects of radiation on this immunizing response. In an experiment, the procedures of the irradiation of rabbits with x-rays and their examination for the presence of antibodies is shown, and conclusions are discussed


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1964
Length
17 mins
Color
Y
§ Fast Reactor Development
This technical film reports on sodium-cooled fast breeder reactors: the Experimental Breeder Reactor II and the Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant. Along with the design features of both facilities, the film ells about the experiences with fuel handling, sodium components, and reactor operation. A brief history includes EBR-I and the potential of fast breeder reactors in the nuclear power economy.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1964
Length
22 mins
Color
Y
§ Fusion Research
This technical film describes the nature of thermonuclear research as illustrated by many of the current investigations of plasma production and confinement. The major obstacles to success are plasma oscillations and instabilities which result in plasma loss from the magnetic containers. The film gives a qualitative description of some of the instabilities, of energy loss through charge exchange and radiation due to contaminants; and also describes plasma measurements, which are now very sophisticated. Several research devices in the United States on which progress has been encouraging are described in the film.

Geneva 1964 film


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1965
Length
59 mins
Color
Y
§ MAN AND THE ATOM
Designed for high school through college-level audiences, this film surveys the role of the USAEC in guiding and supporting the nation's atomic energy programs. It reviews many of those programs, including both the peaceful applications of nuclear energy and those involved in national defense. The film opens with a visit to the community of Buchanan, New York, site of Consolidated Edison's Indian Point atomic power station. The enlightened attitude of the community toward the atomic plant is revealed as the camera visits the mayor of the town, teachers and school children, housewives, businessmen and plant personnel. Following a review of the atom's place in national defense, the film goes into the mining of uranium and processing into fissionable materials. It then explores the broad role of the USAEC, briefly discussing the make-up of the Commission and showing an actual Commission...

There are three NAIDs for this one, 88180, 88181, and 88182. It's probably on more than one film reel due to length.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1965
Length
25 mins
Color
Y
§ POWER FOR PROPULSION
This film traces the history of power sources for propulsion from Watt's tea kettle to atomic rocket engines. The major steps are covered: Goddard's 1926 rocket engine, the German V-2's, U. S. Aerobees and Vikings, the Soviet 1957 Sputnik followed by the first astronauts and then reactor power for ships. The importance of Robert Goddard's liquid rocket and Enrico Fermi's atomic pile is stressed, with particular emphasis upon the inevitable fusion of these two great power sources into one massive propulsion system. Animation sequences are used to illustrate principles of rocketry, Newton's Law of Motion and operation of nuclear rocket engines. Actual development of NERVA, Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application, is shown, including its first test firing at the AEC-NASA Nuclear Rocket Development Station in Jackass Flats, Nevada. Finally, U. S. developments for deep space payload ...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0350
Date
1965
Length
29 mins
Color
N
§ The fuel of the future
Special precautions and techniques employed in working with plutonium are shown in a unique engineering laboratory, the Argonne Fuel Fabrication Facility, where work is performed within sealed glove boxes under an inert atmosphere. The manufacture of experimental reactor fuel pins containing plutonium is illustrated step-by-step

Nowadays ANL calls hydrogen the fuel of the future...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0367
Date
1965
Length
14 mins
Color
Y
§ The Wooden Overcoat
Because radioactive materials are being shipped throughout the world in increasing quantities, research programs are being conducted to develop shipping containers for radioactive materials which are virtually accident- safe. In support of these programs, the United States Atomic Energy Commission has asked its contractors to submit designs for containers. Sandia Corporation of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has designed and tested a wooden outer shell for existing metal containers which will withstand a 30-foot drop, a one-hour petroleum fire, and 24-hour water immersion without the seal of the inner metal container of radioactive material being broken. This technical film report shows the development and testing of the wooden containers as well as the buildup of the containers from rings of plywood. Photography of actual drop tests and fire tests is included to demonstrate the resistance ...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0517
Date
1966
Length
29 mins
Color
Y
§ Miracle in the Desert: The story of Hanford
Tells the story of the development during World War II of the Hanford Engineer Works in Southeastern Washington. The construction of the billion dollar plant was based on the discovery in 1941 of the new element 94, plutonium, in California by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg and the demonstration of the first successful nuclear chain reaction in Chicago by Dr. Enrico Fermi in 1942. Hanford's broad research efforts in the fields of metallurgy, radiation effects, biology, aquatic biology, atmospheric physics and other peaceful uses of atomic energy are summarized

In IAEA catalog


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0431
Date
1967
Length
32 mins
Color
Y
§ Inside the Yankee Core
The film describes in detail the most extensive and complete post-irradiation programme ever performed on an expended commercial power-reactor core. It explains the procedure used to select fuel assemblies and individual fuel rods so that, with inherent core symmetries taken into account, a three-dimensional map of measured burn up and isotopic content could be constructed and compared against predictions. Also shown is how volatile fission-produced gases are drawn from sealed fuel rods to be measured, and how rods are selectioned to obtain cladding samples for metallography.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0481
Date
1969
Length
23 mins
Color
Y
§ Atomic Revolution in Wood
The film shows a new, peaceful application of nuclear energy - the fusing of wood and plastic by irradiation into a combination-substance which has all the aesthetic appeal of wood, but is greatly improved in hardness, resistance and durability. The film explains the process for making this new material and describes its superior characteristics and woodworking properties in comparison to plain wood.

Sounds kind of like those new timber buildings. In IAEA catalog.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1969
Length
11 mins
Color
Y
§ Project Salt Vault
SHOWS EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURES REQUIRED FOR THE PERMANENT SAFE AND ECONOMICAL DISPOSAL OF HIGH LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS PROJECT SALT VAULT DEALS WITH A TWO YEAR STUDY CARRIED OUT BY USAEC'S OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY ON THE FEASIBILITY OF PERMANENT DISPOSAL OF THESE HIGH LEVEL WASTES IN VACATED SALT MINES AND THE KEY STEPS IN SUCH DISPOSAL AT AN ABANDONED SALT MINE IN KANSAS


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1971
Length
33 mins
Color
Y
§ To Imitate the Sun
One of the rarest basic research programs now gripping the minds of nuclear physicists the world over is controlled thermonuclear fusion After more than a quarter century of research and experiment scientists believe they are close to demonstrating the scientific feasibility of the fusion concept. This film depicts the theoretical challenge of such controlled fusion and describes many of the research machines that are being used to investigate plasmas of thermonuclear regimes It also touches upon what environmental and economic advantages may accrue from future fusion power reactors The film also includes descriptions of the four major American fusion devices Two X Two Astron Scyllac and ORMAK as well as discussions on the modeling of plasmas by such internal ring machines as the DC Octupole and the Spherator

This film won many honors at film festivals


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0533
Date
1971
Length
30 mins
Color
Y
§ The Bitter and the Sweet
All aspects of desalting technology, and a capsule report on the status of commercial desalting in the western hemisphere given. Blueprints the Agro-industrial complex idea: the belief that the technologies of desalting and nuclear energy must converge to prevent world poverty. Shows nuclear energy to be cheapest source of power - as opposed to coal, oil, gas - to drive conversion systems in desalting water

In IAEA catalog


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
AVN0597
Date
1971
Length
37 mins
Color
Y
§ Atomschiff Otto Hahn
'Otto Hahn' is the first nuclear propelled ship in Germany, which went critical in 1968. As a research vessel, it is being used to accumulate and evaluate operational experience for the development of a new, improved generation of nuclear ships. The film describes the nuclear reactor system of the ship throughout the phases of designing, testing and assembling of components, and the operation of the various reactor systems. Especial emphasis is placed on the reactor core and the control rods, the primary and secondary shielding, the safety containment, and the fuel system.

In IAEA catalog


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1972-02-17
Length
mins
Color
N
§ Nuclear Surface Ships: Off the California Coast
This film shows the guided missile cruisers the USS Long Beach (CGN-9), the USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25), and the USS Truxtun (DLGN-35) as they traveled together in various formations off the coast of California.

Film is silent! But still sounds cool


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0424
Date
1952
Length
33 mins
Color
N
§ Practice of Radiological Safety
The film depicts a visit to a radioisotope laboratory and discusses various topics pertinent to health safety: handling of radioisotope shipments; preparation of therapeutic doses; need for, and function of, a local radioisotope committee; laboratory design; decontamination; use of shielding; measurement of personnel exposure.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1958
Length
13.5 mins
Color
Y
§ Novel Methods of Fuel Fabrication
The first novel method covered is cold closure, a process for the cladding of solid uranium fuel in aluminum by sizing on a heavy-walled cup, then cold welding. Electron-beam welding, a process utilizing electrons accelerated through a vacuum, is illustrated, and its application to welding of many reactive metals is described. Also covered is swaging, a process that has proved to be satisfactory in fabricating clad uranium oxide fuel elements by direct compaction of loose powder.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1961
Length
12 mins
Color
Y
§ ATOMS ON THE FARM
This nontechnical film, suitable for all audience levels, summarizes the nature of the USAEC exhibit on atomic energy in agriculture at the first World Agricultural Fair, New Delhi, during the winter 1959-60. Various views show the crowds examining the research reactor, master-slave manipulator, the gamma pool, the technical information center, and exhibits featuring radioactive tracers in agricultural research, plant mutations by gamma irradiation, atomic energy work in medicine, screwworm fly eradication, food sterilization by irradiation, etc.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1961
Length
22 mins
Color
Y
§ Metals Frontier
This semitechnical documentary film, a story of teamwork in research, is designed for an audience with an appreciable degree of scientific sophistication, primarily seniors and graduate students in the physical sciences and engineering. Highlights in the operations of the Ames Laboratory, a major installation of the USAEC, are shown by illustrating the steps in the development of the process for the production of yttrium metal. The film also gives insight into the facilities and the pioneering tradition of Ames Laboratory in the investigation of the rare earths. The film is panoramic in style, showing how basic research, development, and production go along together. The following steps in metal processing are shown: separation of yttrium from rare earths, conversion to fluoride, reduction, and arc melting. Special emphasis is given to purity and to the need for careful analytical con...

Reached out to Ames to see if they want to fund digitization


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1961
Length
17 mins
Color
Y
§ Nuclear reactors for space
The SNAP program Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power is an AEC program to develop long-lived auxiliary power from nuclear energy for use in satellites and space vehicles. Compact atomic reactors being developed by Atomics International for use in SNAP systems are shown in this semitechnical film. Safety characteristics of the SNAP reactor during fabrication, testing, transport, installation, launching, and use in space are described. Detailed sequences filmed at Atomics International on fabrication and testing show the simplicity and compactness of the reactors. Safety features are described in scenes that illustrate shipping, launch-site activities, and launch of the reactor into space. The burnup and dispersal of the reactor during reentry into the atmosphere are shown in a detailed animation sequence. Many beneficial uses of SNAP in the U. S. national space program are illustrated....

National Archives incorrectly has "reactor" without the plural in the title


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1961
Length
57 mins
Color
Y
§ INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF RADIOISOTOPES
This semitechnical film surveys the current widespread uses of radio- isotopes throughout American industry. Three major areas of use are described: nuclear gauging (thickness, density, and level), radiography, and tracing with various examples of each filmed at 26 sites nation-wide, including the rubber industry, thin strip metal production, plastics, paper mills, nylons, food canning, cement, submarine construction, oil industry, automobiles, etc. Covered briefly are luminescence, static elimination, isotopic power, and uses of high-intensity radiation. Basic principles are explained by animation, followed by examples of in-plant uses. Benefits to the consumer and manufacturer are high-lighted. The excellent safety record is noted. The film, although of interest to a wide audience, is designed to acquaint industrial management with the versatility, economy, and ease with which radio...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1962
Length
28 mins
Color
Y
§ OPPORTUNITY UNLIMITED: FRIENDLY ATOMS IN INDUSTRY
This popular-level film, narrated by news commentator John Daly, surveys the widespread use of radioisotopes by American industry to make better products from ships to nylon hose more efficiently and with an impressive record of safety. By means of animation and live action, the film explains what radioisotopes are and how they are used to (1) measure and control the thickness of sheet materials, (2) measure densities of materials, (3) control product quality, (4) increase flexibility and mobility of industrial radiography (taking X-ray type pictures to assure safe construction), and (5) act as tracers to follow physical movement and chemical reactions. Examples are given of thickness gauges of nylon cord-rubber ply for automobile tires, sheet plastic, and cord-rolled alloy sheets for computers and space-age instruments, as well as examples of gauges which measure densities without sh...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
28 mins
Color
Y
§ ATOMS FOR THE AMERICAS
This semitechnical film offers an extensive tour of the facilities of the Puerto Rico Nuclear Center (operated for the USAEC by the University of Puerto Rico) and a study of the Center's curricula and research programs. The Center was conceived primarily to aid the Latin American nations in developing skills essential to nuclear energy activity, by providing graduate- and post graduate-level education and research opportunities. At the Center's Bio-Medical building, work is shown involving radioisotopes and their clinical applications, and other nuclear work related to biology, chemistry, and medicine is reviewed. Study and research in nuclear engineering and technology, health physics, agriculture and marine biology are shown at the Center's reactor and laboratories located on the campus of the University of Puerto Rico's College of Agriculture and Engineering, and aboard the Center'...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
29 mins
Color
Y
§ Of Man and Matter
This film describes the design, development and operation of the alternating gradient synchrotron (AGS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, shows the various major components of this 33 billion-electron-volt particle accelerator, and explains how the high energy protons produced in the machine are used in physical research. An actual experiment is seen, in which the particle beam is guided into a bubble chamber and the resultant interactions with the target nuclei are photographed. The methods adopted in scanning and analyzing the photographs are also shown. By means of a brief lecture, a Brookhaven physicist explains that such gigantic and complex machines as the AGS are necessary in order to study the fundamental particles and the forces within the atomic nucleus that are the basic components of all existing matter.

Reached out to BNL to see if they want to fund digitization


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
60 mins
Color
Y
§ The Many Faces of Argonne
Although the film is about Argonne National Laboratory, it will be useful to both technical and nontechnical audiences who wish an interesting survey of the objectives, methods, and hardware of the broad range of nuclear research conducted by a typical national laboratory of the USAEC. With both artistry and clarity, the ANL narrator shows the CP-5 and the range of work accomplished with this powerful research reactor. In an ANL chemistry laboratory, investigation of atomic forces with "color center" studies of the structure of crystals is shown. Information is given on methods of protecting atomic scientists from radiation: film badges and dosimeters; the checking of air, water, walls, dust; the remote-control devices involving periscopes and television in order to see and work despite massive shielding. Argonne's efforts in the power reactor field are summarized, using the Experim...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
28.5 mins
Color
Y
§ MAN AND RADIATION
This popular-level film, suitable for audiences from junior high school through college, discusses many aspects of radiation and offers a survey of their widespread beneficial applications in medicine, industry, agriculture, power, and research. A historical survey of the discovery of radiation is followed by an animated explanation of different types of radiation, including alpha, beta, and gamma. A brief explanation of radioisotopes and how they are produced is given, followed by scenes depicting some of their uses, including the use of Calcium-47 to diagnose bone cancer. The detection and study of radiation by sensitive instruments is explained. The study of radiation in the laboratory is demonstrated with work in photosynthesis using radiochromatography. Several important industrial uses of radiation are shown. The use of irradiation for prolonged food preservation, particularly o...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
12 mins
Color
Y
§ Nuclear power for space - SNAP-9A
This is a semitechnical film for high-school and college-level audiences. After showing the launching of a new satellite, which is being wholly powered by a nuclear generator, animation is used to explain the use of its isotopic generator to create power to run electronic equipment, recording equipment, and transmit data back to earth for analysis. The advantages of nuclear energy are shown over the use of chemical energy and solar energy. The principles of power generation by isotopic decay are explained, showing how thermocouples convert the decaying isotopes' heat directly to electricity. A comparison of the isotopes Plutonium-238 and Curium-242, both used in SNAP isotope power systems, is made. It discusses the design features of the SNAP-9A which are the result of 7 years of research. Safety tests of the isotope capsule, including explosion tests, fire tests, impact tests, and re...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1964
Length
5.5 mins
Color
Y
§ TOMORROW'S POWER --- TODAY
This nontechnical film, for all audience levels, briefly explains the principle of atomic power production, states the need for its continued development while showing that it is already in use in many locations across the country. The film explains why the energy of the atom is needed to supplement that of conventional fossil fuels. Animation is used to explain how nuclear fission creates heat and how that heat is converted to electrical power. A comparison is given between the energy released from the uranium atom and coal, gas, and oil. The film concludes with a brief survey of representative atomic power plants in the United States, noting location and kilowatts of electrical power


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1965
Length
25 mins
Color
Y
§ PAX ATOMIS: SNAP-7 TERRESTRIAL ISOTOPIC POWER SYSTEMS
Useful to both educated-lay-level and technical audiences, including high school and college groups, this film summarizes the parallel development of a family of fully shielded thermoelectric power converters and chemical processing of the radioisotope Strontium-90 fuel. Laboratory procedures are depicted for thermoelectric couple assembly into a compact operating system capable of converting heat energy into electrical current without the need for moving parts. Compacting of Strontium-90 raw material into ceramic titanate pellets and encapsulation of the fuel pellets into high strength metal containers are illustrated. Fully shielded Strontium-90 fueled, thermoelectric generators have been placed into operational service at remote outposts from north of the Arctic Circle to the South Pole. Developed by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission under the SNAP (Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary P...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1969
Length
13 mins
Color
Y
§ THE ATOM AND THE MAN ON THE MOON
Describes SNAP-27, its mission and its role in the Apollo program. On an early Apollo flight, astronauts on the moon will install a small scientific laboratory to conduct lunar surface experiments. After they depart for earth, the laboratory—known as ALSEP, Apollo Lunar Surface Packages will remain, transmitting its research data to receiving stations on earth for several years. ALSEP is powered by electricity from atomic energy a highly reliable, radioisotope-fueled thermoelectric generator called SNAP-27. The film explains how tiny grains of radioactive plutonium-238 in a sealed fuel capsule generate heat which, in turn, generates electricity directly by means of thermocouples. In simulated action on earth, we see astronauts unloading ALSEP and inserting the nuclear fuel capsule. The film discusses the type of lunar surface information in the radioisotope-powered ALSEP will send ba...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
AVN0536
Date
1971
Length
17 mins
Color
Y
§ Nuclear innovations in process control
Depicts the great versatility and sophistication of nuclear methods now available for control of industrial processes and nondestructive testing. The rapid response-time of these techniques makes it possible to incorporate nuclear instrumentation into a loop that provides, for example, automatic control of paper production, and into many steps of the processing of iron ore. The techniques are used in determining; moisture content and impurities in materials, alloy composition , highway road density, defects in turbine blades, and the basic crystal structure of a metal.

In IAEA catalog


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1971
Length
14.75 mins
Color
Y
§ TO DEVELOP PEACEFUL APPLICATIONS FOR NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVES
The film emphasizes the complex lab oratory and field research procedures which support and the stringent requirements which govern all nuclear explosive engineering experiments in the US program called Plowshare Voices of several experts in the US peaceful nuclear energy program describe objectives in their respective areas of responsibility with reference to two recent experiments Gasbuggy and Rulison in the nuclear stimulation of natural gas fields

Sometimes titled with "explosions". ANS has a copy of the film


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
?
Length
? mins
Color
Y
§ Story of Oak Ridge Operations
Summary of Oak Ridge Operations

Cannot find catalog description


NARA ID
-
IAEA ID
-
Date
1955
Length
40 mins
Color
Y
§ A DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT
In this nontechnical film, for all audience levels, Fred McMurray, playing a nuclear scientist, explains to his teenage son, concerned over the destructive uses of the atom, the various peaceful applications of atomic energy. It also contains a section describing the development of nuclear power for submarine propulsion.

Produced by Westinghouse. Not in NARA.


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1958
Length
4.5 mins
Color
N
§ Gauging Thickness with Radioisotopes
This technical film, for high school and college-level audiences, shows briefly how beta gauges are used for precise measurement and control of feed-back apparatus in steel, plastic, rubber, and paper manufacturing


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1961
Length
12 mins
Color
Y
§ Our nearest star
A SNAP isotopic power system has been placed in orbit aboard the Transit-4A navigational satellite. This simple, powerful device is the first application of nuclear power in space. The system, which powers two of Transit's four navigational radio transmitters, is designed to operate for five years or more. Against a background of the Transit Program, this semitechnical film follows the development and testing of the radioisotope fuel capsule and the thermoelectric generator that make up this SNAP system. The film shows the Thor-Able-Star gantry at Cape Kennedy as the SNAP unit is mounted on Transit, and, when the system is launched, the view is from the blockhouse and the launch pad.

Potentially mis-cataloged?


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1962
Length
13.5 mins
Color
Y
§ RADIATION IN BIOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this film is to explain to junior and senior high-school students in biology, general science, or physics the meaning of high-energy radiation and to show how this radiation is used in biological research. To accomplish its objective, this film briefly reviews light from the sun (wave radiation), radio waves, X rays, etc. It also touches on the various sources of radiation (X-ray machines, nuclear reactors, cosmic rays, the sun, etc.). Radioisotopes are defined, and their life is traced from production through their use as tools in the study of radiation damage. The effect of radiation on living cells is demonstrated by comparisons of plants grown from irradiated and nonirradiated seeds and of mice that had been irradiated with those that had not been irradiated. The film also shows the effects of radiation on bone marrow, on the protective lining of the intestine, and ...


NARA ID
IAEA ID
-
Date
1963
Length
20 mins
Color
Y
§ HARVEST OF AN ATOMIC AGE
Produced with the technical assistance of the USAEC, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Michigan State University, the film illustrates the progress achieved by U. S. scientists in using radiation to create new strains of disease- and weather- resistant food crops with higher yields. We see both the research work at USAEC's Brookhaven National Laboratory and the field work with new varieties of commercial crops. The specific example shown is the development of the Sanilac bean by Michigan State University plant geneticists. The Sanilac bean is disease-resistant and stands upright, permitting machine-harvesting. The film explains simply the theories of radiation-induced plant mutations, the methods, and the complexity of the long-term work


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