NEWS OF THE WEEK
National Academy of Sciences elects new members At its 130th annual meeting in Washington, D.C., last week, the National Academy of Sciences elected 60 new members and 15 foreign associates from 11 countries—recognizing distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. This brings the total number of active members to 1683, with an additional 298 foreign associates. New members who are chemists, chemical engineers, or work in chemically related areas include: Klaus Biemann, professor of chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Charles P. Casey, Helfaer Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison. C. Thomas Caskey, professor of medicine and biochemistry, and director, Institute of Molecular Genetics; Henry & Emma Meyer Chair of
EPA was supposed to issue early last winter. Uncertainty about whether the agency would deem a particular compound safe for a particular application made some users reluctant to switch from CFCs. But Stephen R. Seidel, acting director of EPA's stratospheric protection division, says the agency's proposed lists hold few surprises. EPA evaluated about 300 compounds that CFC users already have shifted to or are likely to use in the future as refrigerants, solvents, foam blowers, or fire extinguishants. EPA staff considered a range of factors in determining acceptability—including ozone-depletion potential, air and water pollution issues, flammability, and worker and consumer safety. '"While there is no such thing as the perfect substitute, we found overwhelmingly that the substitutes under consideration can be used in an acceptable manner without affecting human health or the environment," Seidel says. Only about 30 potential substitutes were deemed unacceptable. In formulating EPA's lists, each chemical was judged on a case-by-case basis for each proposed use. For example, hydrochlorofluorocarbon-141b (HCFC-141b, CH3CC12F) will not be allowed as a solvent for metal cleaning because its ozonedepletion potential is higher than many other alternatives. However, EPA proposes to permit HCFC-141b's use in manu10
MAY 3, 1993 C&EN
Molecular Genetics, and investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Baylor College of Medicine. Donald J. DePaolo, professor of geochemistry, University of California, Berkeley. Jack Gorski, Paul H. Phillips Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry, and professor of dairy science and of meat and animal sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Christine Guthrie, professor of biochemistry, department of biochemistry and biophysics, University of California, San Francisco. Wayne A. Hendrickson, professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, and investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University. Nancy E. Kleckner, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, Harvard University.
facturing foam insulation—at least for the next decade—because currently there are no other substitutes available to replace CFC-11 (CC13F) in that use. The proposed regulation also sets up procedures under SNAP for continual evaluation of new substitutes as they are developed. Anyone who produces a substitute must notify EPA 90 days before bringing it to market, and must provide health and safety studies. A citizen can petition EPA at any time to add or remove a substance from the acceptable or unacceptable lists. Pamela Zurer
Civilian uses sought for Russian munitions ICI Explosives Environmental Co., Norristown, Pa., is undertaking a feasibility study—to be completed late this year— on whether former Soviet military munitions stored in Russia can be converted to commercial explosives suitable for mining and other civilian uses. Under a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Trade & Development Agency, ICI Explosives Environmental will work with Nitro-Vzryv, a Russian firm that makes commercial and military explosives. Nitro-Vzryv is a privatized portion of the former Ministry of Defense Industries, with about 160,000 employees.
Tobin J. Marks, professor of chemistry, Northwestern University. Paul L. Modrich, James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry, Duke University. Mario J. Molina, professor of atmospheric chemistry, MIT. James E. Rothman, Paul A. Marks Professor, and chairman, program in cellular biochemistry and biophysics, Sloan-Kettering Institute. Peter G. Schultz, professor of chemistry, University of California, Berkeley. Olke C. Uhlenbeck, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and director, biochemistry program, University of Colorado, Boulder. George F. Vande Woude, director, ABL-basic research program, National Cancer Institute, Frederick Cancer Research & Development Center, Frederick, Md.
ICI Explosives Environmental is a unit of ICI Explosives USA, part of the U.K/s ICI. It was formed in response to a large market for resource recovery in explosives and related materials that cannot be handled in many of the more conventional recovery processes. If the study comes up with a feasible plan to demilitarize the Russian munitions, bids will be accepted from appropriate contractors to participate in the subsequent project. Vice president Robert Morhard of ICI Explosives Environmental says the Russian munitions range from artillery shells and land mines to small arms ammunition. No chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons are involved. The munitions are stored at eight sites—five in the vicinity of Moscow, two in Russian Asia, and one in southeastern Siberia. About 2 million metric tons of explosives are known to be available for conversion. The general conversion technique involves melting the explosive materials and recasting them. Military explosives are normally "stretched" or diluted three times before being released for civilian uses. The cost of conversion is estimated at about $1400 per ton of munitions. In addition to the recovered explosives, the munition casings and other metal parts could yield more than 500,000 tons of brass, steel, and aluminum, all commodities needed in Russia. Joseph Haggin
