Resistance to nuclear technology

摘要

A number of years ago I was surprised after a lecture to a local Kiwanis club here in Fredericton, New Brunswick, about various applications of nuclear technology. A minister thanked me because all he was aware of were nuclear weapons and nuclear power. New Brunswick has the Point Lep-reau Nuclear Generating station. I had talked of many nuclear medicine applications, the use of gamma radiation to sterilize spices, extend the shelf life of many foods from strawberries to fish, to chicken, and of course nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers and as a power supply for deep space probes. Many don't realize that nuclear techniques have almost made exploratory surgery disappear in effect allowing physicians to monitor safely the functioning of body organs without cutting us open. Radioactive materials having short half lives are injected and their placement and movement in the body are monitored by sensitive external radiation detectors.