NEWS OF THE WEEK NATURAL
DISASTER
you secure debris to keep it from becoming projectiles," he says. Further west in Louisiana, the storm was not as intense, but chemical production was impacted nevertheless. BASF says output at its Geismar, La., integrated chemical complex was slowed by 5 to 10%, not because of the direct effects of the storm but because port facilities in New URRICANE IVAN SHUT DOWN duction and securing equipment Orleans were shuttered. a broad swath of the chem- befoie'VCednesdayAskeletoncrew Dow Chemical declared force ical industryfromSept. 15 remained on-site to ride out the majeure on propylene oxide and propylene glycol made at its to 16 on the Gulf Coast east of storm on^Wednesday night. New Orleans and extending to However, the storm veered east Plaquemine, La., plant because of the area, making landfall near of the logistics in the region. "As Pensacola, Fla. Gulf Shores, Ala., with 130-mph rail, truck, and marine carriers winds. After a preliminary inves- suspended their activities and tigation, Degussa employees shut down multiple yards, interfound no damage to the plant changes, and routes to avoid trafmore serious than felled trees and fic congestion and storm damtorn shingles. "So far, so good," age, Dow has been unable to spokeswoman Penny Roman says. transport any PO, PG, or derivSolutia was unable to reach of- atives,'' says Antulio Borneo, ficials at its nylon chemical com- commercial director for Dew's plex in Pensacola, Fla., close to oxides and glycols business. Ivan's center, and a damage asShell Chemicals had two sessment at the unit had not been storms to contend with last week. done by C&ENs press time. Because of Hurricane Ivan, the DuPont shut down its crop pro- company shut down production Coastal Alabama and the large tection products plant near Mo- in Norco, La., and planned to start chemical industry in Mobile were bile; its De lisle, Miss., titanium it back up on Thursday. Shell's directly in Ivan's piojectedpath. At dioxide plant; and its First Chem- Geismar unit was undamaged by Ivan, the company says, and was its large complex there that makes ical unit in Pascagoula, Miss. specialty chemicals such as silicon ADuPont spokesman says the operating normally after the derivatives, Degussa prepared for preparations at chemical plants storm. The company also idled its the storm by sending nonessential aren't all that differentfromwhat feedstock refinery in Puerto Riemployees home by Tuesday and people do in their homes. "Like co, where tropical storm Jeanne by shutting down all chemicalpro- people do in their own backyards, hit o n Sept. 15.-ALEX TULLO
IVAN POUNDS GULF, SHUTTERS PLANTS
Many chemical firms close down and send workers home in preparation
STORMY WEATHER Hurricane Ivan, as seen on this satellite image taken on Sept. 15, slams into the Gulf Coast.
NANOTECH
H
RESEARCH
Atomic-Scale Manipulation
R
esearchers at the National Institute of Standards & Technology have taken one step closer to making real atomic-scale devices. Joseph A. Stroscio and Robert J. Celotta, both physicists at NIST, used a scanning tunneling microscope to drag a cobalt atom over a copper surface and found that they were able to distinguish between two different crystalpacked binding sites [Science, published online Sept. 9, http://www.sciencemag.org/ cgi/content/abstract/1102370V1]. According to Stroscio, this experiment
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C&EN / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 , 20CH
P O S I T I O N I N G Researchers used Co atoms on a Cu surface to form a 40nm-wide NIST logo. The background ripples are made by electrons, which create a fluidlike layer at the Cu surface.
is a new form of measurement, which he calls "atom-based metrology," where the Co atom is serving as a transducer to measure the local properties of a surface. In this work, the Co atom transducer was observed switching from one binding site to another, which told the researchers how to control and improve atom manipulation. "The main impact of this work is that we better understand the atom manipulation process so we can make it more reliable and extend it more easily to other systems, such as placing atoms on semiconductor substrates to make real nanoscale devices," Stroscio tells C&EN.-SUSAN MORRISSEY
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