Science: No!

As by-products of the atomic bomb, the Army's civilian scientists piled up a wealth of new methods and materials useful to peace. Among the most promising: the radioactive elements from the uranium-plutonium piles at Hanford, Washington. But when U.S. industry asked the Army for more information, it got a brisk, firm "No!" One rejected applicant was W. G. Green, president of Well Surveys Inc. of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He wanted to consult "some technically qualified person" about using radioactive synthetics in the oil-well testing business. He got the brush-off.

Testing oil wells by radioactive methods is an established procedure. Down the well goes a small amount of material which gives off neutrons and causes gamma-rays to bounce back from the surrounding rocks. By measuring the gamma-rays, the well-tester gets a fairly clear picture of the strata around the well. Often he finds neglected oil-bearing layers.

The neutron source used at present is a radium-beryllium mixture. But radium is dangerous and gives off confusing gamma-rays of its own. Oilman Green, hoping to try some radioactive substance from Hanford, had reckoned without the brass hats.