The American Engineer , May 1952. It is altogether conceivable that, in the reasonably near future, atomic energy may make obsolete all engineers dealing with power. Having been an irrigation and power engineer for more than 30 years myself, I am convinced that the obvious advantages of obtaining power from atomic reactors will make inevitable the rapid development of the atom as a source of electric power. These advantages include a compact power plant which will enable a fuel occupying perhaps the space of a good-sized dry goods box to drive a submarine underwater for as long as six months and enable it to travel almost twice as fast as any known submarine. On the larger scale, atomic energy can enable industry to save literally billions of dollars annually in transportation and storage costs, terminal facilities, and the like.
Engineers remove a can of radioisotopes from a uranium pile at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
This is not to suggest that all present power engineers are headed for the scrap heap permanently. This is not a new situation facing the power engineer, nor is it a situation confined to power engineers. It's just another example of the fact that an engineer's education is never over. As electricity revolutionized power engineering little more than a half century ago, so the atom promises to do it again. Engineering, in its essence, is subject to constant change.