# Atomic Weatherman: Strontium 90 Isotopic Applications, 1961

No description at National Archives but the AEC 16mm film combined catalog (1966) says this film was "Produced by the Martin Company. For sale by Capital Film Laboratories, at $103.90 per print, including shipping case. This semitechnical film describes the world's first radioisotope-powered weather station, which is operating unattended at a remote site in the Canadian Arctic. The "atomic" weather station is powered by a thermoelectric unit in which the heat from the decay of Strontium-90 (90 Sr) is directly converted into electricity. The film shows the major steps in the identification, testing, and preparation of the 90 Sr titanite compound; the loading of the radioisotope source in the weather-station generator; the principle of direct conversion of heat into electricity; the operation of the generator; the weather-station equipment for sensing, data processing, and control and transmission; the final testing; the 4000-mile journey north into the remote Canadian Arctic aboard an icebreaker; the weather-station installation; and the successful transmission of weather data. The film explains the principal methods of handling radioactive wastes from nuclear- reactor operations; the techniques for recovering valuable radioisotopes, such as 90 Sr; and the development of 90 Sr thermoelectric sources for unique small-scale power applications. Brief information is also given on other applications of 90 Sr thermoelectric devices. (Semi technical: suitable for high-school and…

- Kind: Short
- Year: 1961
- Runtime: 18 min
- By: United States. Department of Energy
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/AtomicWeatherman)
- Licence or status: [Public Domain Mark 1.0](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/) (as the archive states it)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

Not offered: its uploader marks it public domain, and the US Copyright Office's records do not settle that it is (a record that may be another film's, a film first published abroad, a year when renewal was automatic, or a country they do not name). Unclear is not offered.