For this exploration, men need to put instruments, navigation beacons
(see figures on pages 46 and 47), and other devices on the deep ocean
floor, where they must operate for long periods of time unattended and
with no external source of power. Radioisotope-powered generators,
capitalizing on the energy of disintegrating radioactive atoms, are
almost the only devices capable of fulfilling these requirements.[2] Man
also wants to do productive work under the ocean, such as drilling
seafloor oil wells, mining, and salvaging for profit some of the tens of
thousands of cargoes lost at sea during thousands of years of ocean
commerce. Eventually, he even wants to farm the ocean floor.
[Illustration: _An artist draws (using pencil and frosted plastic
sheet) the position of objects in the wreck of a 7th century
Byzantine ship 120 feet down in the Aegean Sea. Nuclear power will
permit historians of the future to remain underwater for long
periods exploring shipwrecks or old cities far below the surface._]
All these activities require energy—energy in an environment where most
sources cannot be applied. Above all, man wants to go down himself to
explore, to work, and perhaps to direct nuclear-powered robots to do
even more work. This means that small, manned, nonmilitary submersibles
will be needed—vessels whose endurance should not be limited by the
short life of traditional power sources, but should draw on the
fissioning atomic nucleus, harnessed in small reactors.[3]
To work effectively in any environment, we must first know and
understand it. This is the job of science. In the quest for knowledge
and understanding of the ocean, nuclear energy provides scientists with
better instruments to put down into the depths and wholly new techniques
for the direct study of the many oceanic processes.
For example, take the role of radioisotope tracers: For the first time,
these telltale atoms permit us to study the metabolism of tiny
plankters, the often microscopic drifting creatures of the sea that in
their incredible abundance form the base of the entire marine food
chain, including fish eaten by humans. Even fallout isotopes from
nuclear tests enable us to trace important physical oceanographic
events, such as the ponderous process known as overturning, which
transports oxygen-rich surface water to the deeps and nutrient-rich
bottom water to the surface. Radioisotope tracers also provide a tool
for studying the mechanics of littoral transport, which continually
tears down some beaches and builds up others. They also enable us to
determine if oceanic processes are likely to concentrate fallout
particles and deliver them in dangerous doses through the food chain to
our dinner tables.[4]
By using other nuclear energy technology, we are better able to
ascertain the age and composition of deep ocean sediments and the rate
at which they are deposited, how a tsunami (tidal wave) propagates
across vast distances, how tides operate in the open ocean, where the
brown shrimp of the Carolina coast go every fall, and the migration
patterns of tuna, swordfish, and other valuable food fish.
[Illustration: _Navy men preparing for undersea research by feeding
Tuffy, a friendly porpoise, which later carried messages for them
during the “Man-In-The-Sea” experiment._ (_Also see photos on page
12._)]
These are just a few of the answers we seek from the world ocean—answers
important for more productive fisheries, more accurate long-range
weather forecasting, possible control of hurricanes and typhoons,
pollution control, safer and more economical shipping, better
recreation, and numerous other matters that bear on our health,
well-being, and day-to-day lives.
On all these endeavors the ocean exerts a major influence. And in each,
atomic energy is helping assemble and interpret answers.