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Canada announced a massive environmental cleanup plan Dec. 11. Environment Minister Robert de
tions on the Ocean dumping of industrial waste; stabilization of greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by 2000; aside up to 12% of the c mated cost of the pl Forest damage caused by air pollution could cost Europe at least $30 billion per year over the next 100 years, accordmg to a study by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA, Austria), whose results were released Dec. 5. Most of the blame for the losses is placed on SO,, NO,, and ammonia. The study concludes that annual losses in commercial wood harvesting could be $6.3 billion and in commercial wood processing, $7.2 billion. Lost benefits such as tounsm, recreation, and groundwater protection could be $16.9 billion a year. Moreover, annual investments of $9 billion will not be enongb to stave off these losses, according to the report.
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EPA’s Oftlce of Water plans to reorganize in a manner that would promote a cross-media strategy, uana Wilcher. the administrator for
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of an M i c e of Water Science and Technical Support. If admmistrator William Reilly and certain others a p prove, the changes could be in place by the spring of 1991. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is offering new research materials (RMs) for the measurement of mercury in waters and sediments. RM 8406 contains 0.06 pg/g of mercury, to be used as a “background” level. RMs 8407 and 8408 contain 50 and IO7 pg/g of mercury, respectively. The bottled 25-g RMs are available for $109 each from the Offie of Standard Reference Materials, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, (301) 975-6776.
Watkins: Clean up or shut di
secrecy and strong emphasis on production of nuclear materials.
(NEEA) in mid-November. Its to “i
mation
STATES The Florida Center fnfi sdi and Hazardous Waste Management (FCSHWM) is sponsoring a landfii-“mining” project in Collie County, FL. The trial excavati being conducted in a municipal landfill that was closedtin 1979, R. Jerry Murphy of the University of South Florida (Tampa) told a seminar he1 in Tampa Dec. 10. If materials indeed be recovered from lan and if nomyclable materid degraded aerobically (the fastest, most efficient way), the lives of municipal landfills could conceivably ed and the “pain” of tryin new ones can be avoided explained. Recovered w ing treated in a lysimeter and tested
“Any Department of Energy facili a1 environmental, health, and s regulations will be shut down,” Energy Secretary James Watkins warned a group of scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratoty (ORNL). His warning was in a letter to 20 ORNL scientists who complained that environmental, health, and safety inspections at Oak Ridge by what they called “burdensome bureaucracies” are “a threat to research projects.” DOE has embarked on a $173 million plan to correct such deficiencies at O m ,particularly in the laboratory’s nuclear weapons plant. Watkins blamed environmental and health problems partly on past policies of
county,
Envlrw Sa.Technot.. Val 2
-microbe can remove and bind
‘I urn disagrees with expectati Iincreased crop yields owinj to global warming, and particularly ti the doubling of atmospheric CO, lev els. On the contrary, stratospheric ozone depletion and resulting increases in ultraviolet radiation could cancel out yield increases because of the damaging effects of enhanced UV. In experiments at the university, Teramura found that increased C 0 2 did enhance grain crop yields, but increased UV wiped out the yield increases. Soybean yields and total plant biomass, however, increased under increased CO, and UV. Teramura’s study is the f i t of its kind, according to university spokespersons.
Near Aiken, SC, a $1.3 billion plant for managing highly radioactive liquids and sludges was dedicated Nov. 27. The plant will not reduce the wastes’ radioactivity and will actually increase the wastes’ volume: the wastes, however, will be immobilized in a strong glass-like material which, in turn, will be wrapped in steel. The “glassification” or vitrification process originated in France. The vitrifcation process also wi hied in West Valley, NY,and H ford, WA, where nuclear weapons were built. The Pennsylvania Fish Commission is blaming acid precipitation for problems witb stocking trout io some of the state’s streams. The commission agrees with researchers at the Penn State Environmental Resources Research Institute, who have been hying since 1980 to learn why some streams can be stocked with trout and qthers cannot. For instance, in Linn tun, near Ligonier, PA, tmut just vould not survive, even though there is no lumbering in the area’s forests and there have been no recent fires of mequence. Experiments by the State researchers indicate that run runoff caused the stream to be ‘omehighly acidic and laden with aluminum, which killed the trout. In waters that were kept less acidic and 94 Environ. Sci. Technol..
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New Jersey Gov. James Florio announced $13 million in grants for storm water sewers and other sewer improvements in an effort to keep some nonpoint source pollution from reaching the New Jersey shore. The funds were authorized under the state Sewage Infrastructure Improvement Act of 1988 and are administered by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The sewage improvements and other efforts may be paying off. DEP commissioner Judith Yaskin noted that the number of beach closings, which totaled 803 in the summer of 1988, declined to 44 in 1989 and 32 in 1990. Colorado has begun designating high-pollution days on the basis of impairment of visibility. On such days wood burning would be banned in the Denver metropolitan area. For the ban to be triggered, light blockage must exceed 7.6% over 1 km of air. One reason for this measure is Denver’s “brown cloud” of air pollutants that obscures the view of the nearby Rocky Mountains in winter. The new rule would be in effect between Nov. Iand April 30 of each year.
SCI Acid clouds actually may pose more of a threat to East Coast forests than acid rain, according to Barrett Rock of the University of New Hampshire. He suggests that the clouds contain chemicals derived from automotive exhausts. One reason acid fog is worse than rain is that trees are bathed in it. Moreover, acid rain is less acidic than the fog and tends to contaminate groundwater rather than leaves, according to Rock and his team. In one episode, Rock found that the clouds they studied had a pH as low as 2.6. One of Rock’s
A strontium, according to researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Brendlyn Faison and colleagues explain that Micrococcus luteus may have the potential to treat nuclear industry effluents that often are contaminated with the radioactive isotope of strontium (%I). If ingested, strontium replaces calcium in bone. In addition, 90Sr irradiates SUIrounding tissue and is suspected of causing cancer in this way. M . luteus appears to be able to reduce Sr concentrations from parts per million to parts per billion very rapidly. Faison’s fmdings are reported in Applied and Environmental Microbiology 1990.56 (12), 3649-56.
The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (Idaho Falls, ID) wants to identify and catalog binsnrbents for inorganic materials, especially for heavy metals. Information needed consists of the manufacturer, type of product, form of product, reusability, and details such as handling requirements and available quantities. For more information on what data are needed, contact Peter Pryfogle, MS 2203, EG&G Idaho, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415; (208) 5260373. The largest integrated gasificationcombined cycle (IGCC) plant has operated reliably for the last 3.5 years, according to Mark Roll of Destec Energy (Houston, TX), a subsidiary of Dow Chemical. The plant aims at increasing syngas production and using the syngas and waste heat to yield electric power witb enhanced efficiency. Coal is slurried with water and oxygen into a dedicated air separation plant. The raw materials are converted to syngas at 2600 O F and 400 psig. The initial products are CO, CO,, H,, methane, and nitrogen. Sulfur is converted to hydrogen and carbonyl sulfides, is ultimately recovered as sulfur with a 99.7% purity, and marketed locally, according to Roll. The syngas, at 1900 “F, is cooled to 500 OF, and its waste heat is recovered to make generator steam. The gas is scrubbed of soot and char which, in turn, are recycled and gasified. Roll notes that NO, emissions are lower than those from conventional power plants. Slag is crushed and can be sold as aggregate. The plant is located in Plaquemine, LA.
What is the best way to store nuclear waste? A computer model may speed the development of an answer to that thorny question. The model, which was developed by William Bourcier and his colleagues at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, aims at assessing the probable behavior of nuclear waste immobilized in a chemically resistant borosilicate glass and stored for 10,ooO years. After that time, it is believc that enough of the radioactive is0 topes will have decayed so that th residue will no longer be harmful. The computer model evaluates factors such as solution chemistry that might cause a release of radioactive material, and then predicts the rate of any such release. From this evaluation, an optimum immobilization and repositoto Bourcier.
To enhance the process of recycling vinyl plastic, one goal is to develop systems that can separate used vinyl from other plastics automatically, says Roy Gonesman, executive director of the Vinyl Institute (Wayne, NJ). For instance, a gamma-ray sorter and an electromagnetic radiation device should come on stream this year. He adds that separated used vinyl can be recycled after it goes through cleanup, grinding, detergent washing, melt filtering, and dryimg. Gonesman acknowledges that recycling flexible vinyl film, such as that used in meat packing, still presents technical problems, so landfilling or incineration remain the best disposal methods. He notes that vinyl recycling already has begun in some California and Ne! Jersey localities.
AT&T’s Communications and Computer Products facility (Little Rock, AR) has eliminated chloronourncarbon (CFC) emissions from its manufachuing processes, according to AT&T spokespersons. That may be a bright spot in an otherwise pessimistic picture painted by F. Shenvood Rowland of the University of California, h i n e . He concludes that emissions of fluorocarbon 113 (CFC-113) are accelerating and that atmospheric concentrations of CFC-11 and CFC-12 still are increasing steadily. In other CFC abatement developments, Raytheon pledged that it will cease all emissions of CFC-113 and methyl chloroform by 1993. P spokesperson fo lohnson Wa
, WI)tells ES&T that her (R company began phasing out the use of CFCs voluntarily as far back 1975 (Rowland and c0-re-h’ Mario Molina, now at MIT, fmt announced the CFC-ozone degradation relationship in 1973
A consortium of utility companies i: developing a 33-m variable-speed wind turbine that is expected to reduce the cost and improve the quality of power generated by wind. Edgar DeMeo of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI, Palo Alto, CA), one of the sponsors, explains that the project will cost more than $20 million. One goal is to optimize energy capture at high and low wind velocities. Another is to reduce stress on components of the turbine, thereb) prolonging the system’s useful life. A prototype in Altamont Pass, CA, “is already demonstrating its ability to reduce costs and increase energy capture.” Two larger scale units are slated to be tested in 1992 at a location on eastern Lake Ontario. NY. Last year, Consumers Power (Jack. son, MI) launched environmental initiatives at several power plants. As of early December 1990, the company, together with several conservation organizations, announced that it has created a biological field station, stocked waters with fish, built bat and bird houses, and constructed nature trails. It helped create a 175-acre biological field station at Pigeon Lake, MI, used as an educational preserve. Partners are Hood College, the Holland (MI) Audubon Society, and the West Michigan Wetlands Foundation. Another initiative is work on the Erie Marsh Preserve (south of Detroit) in -7njunction with The Nature Consermcy. The Chemical Manufacturers Association has signed an agreement to reduce fugitive emissions of hazardous chemicals caused by leaks in chemical processing equipment. The agreement, signed Nov. 29, ends a 15-month negotiated rulemaking session sponsored by EPA. The agreement calls for lowering fugitive emissions from 148 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by an average of 90%. These emissions occur when VOCs leak from components such as compressors, pumps, and valves. The rules are expected to be fmalized by the end of 1992 and will be issued under Section 112 of the newlv m Air Act. amenda
Chemical Modeling of Aqueous
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Adnancements in modeling: modeling sensitiYitle6, thermodynamic and kinetic advmcei. organic compounds Aim addresses new concepts and approaches to future modeling. This volume offers a comprehensive overview of chemical modeling and Mil serve as a reference for researchers, academics, consultants, and students in the fields of environmentai chemistiy contaminant transport hy dmiogy. geology, geochemistry. and chemical engineering. Daniel C. Melrhoir, Editor, EBPSCO Services R.1. Bas*. Editor, University of Arizona Devebped from a symposium Sponrored by the DlWSlOn of Cwhemistry of the American Chemical Society ACS Symposium Series No, 416 556 pages (1989) Clothbound ISBN 0-8412-1 729-7 LC 89-28446 $89.95 ‘
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