plutonium's falling into the wrong hands outweighs the technical or economic advantages of going the FBR route for generating electricity. Among the FBR club members in Western Europe, France probably is farthest along in development of the technology, although work also is actively under way in Britain and West Germany. In France, a prototype 250-Mw reactor, called Phénix, at Creys Malville near Lyons has been feeding electricity into the national grid since its startup in December 1973. A commercial-scale successor, the Super Phénix, with a designed electrical generating capability of 1200 Mw, will be the largest FBR anywhere when completed in 1982. The U.K. Atomic Energy Authority has a 250-Mw FBR at Dounreay, Scotland. International cooperation on FBR developments in Western Europe isn't particularly new. Indeed, Super Phénix will be owned and operated by NERSA, a multinational partnership comprising the national electricity generating companies of Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the U.K. And at Kalkar, West Germany, near the Dutch border, Interatom is collaborating with industrial nuclear interests in Belgium and the Netherlands in building a 300-Mw FBR that may be completed by the end of 1979 or early 1980. D
Industry urges changes in water cleanup law The chemical industry is pressing hard for changes in the 1970 water law. Much of the industry already has met requirements that went into force July 1. However, many industry officials believe that 1983 requirements for best available control technology will cost billions of dollars and result in little, if any, further cleanup of the nation's water. However, the Environmental Protection Agency says it opposes, at least for now, any easing of 1983 requirements. Testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Environmental Pollution earlier this month, William S. Sneath, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Union Carbide and vice chairman of the board for the Manufacturing Chemists Association, said that for the water law, "mid-course corrections are essential." In his testimony for MCA, he points out that 1983 goals of water fit for fishing and swimming, to which the chemical industry is committed, 8
C&EN July 11, 1977
Four-quark particle discovered at CERN An international group of physicists has produced strong experimental evidence of the existence of an "ex otic" subatomic particle consisting of a cluster of four quarks. The discov ery was revealed in Budapest last week at the European Conference on Particle Physics. It was the result of experiments made at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, under the direction of Dr. Bernard French. The new particle hasn't yet been named. Quarks have been hypothesized as the basic "building blocks" of matter. Single quarks never have been ob Sneath: mid-course corrections needed served; however, the quark hypothe sis is supported by a large body of will be achieved in most waters when evidence suggesting the existence of the 1977 requirements—that indus- particles composed of two or three tries install best practicable control quarks. Theoretical physicists have technology for the wastes they pro- speculated that other combinations duce and municipalities provide at of quarks, termed "exotic," could least secondary treatment for their occur. The Geneva experiments pro wastes—are met. According to vide the first firm evidence of an Sneath, this means that universal "exotic" particle. application of the 1983 requirement The experiments involved bom for control of all pollutants by all barding liquid hydrogen with pidischargers is not necessary. Failure mesons from CERN's proton syn by Congress to modify the 1983 re- chrotron. Interactions were detected quirements, he says, would force in- with the center's "omega spectrome dustry and the public to spend an ter," heart of which is a 1400-ton su estimated $37 billion (the chemical perconducting magnet—one of the industry's share will be about $4.2 world's largest. The magnetic volume billion), "a large portion of which will was filled with spark chambers that produce little or no improvement in detected the secondary particles re water quality." sulting from the interactions of in However, Sneath says, it is rea- terest. The newly discovered particle sonable to apply best available con- had a mass of 2.95 GeV (more than the proton) and decayed trol technology for specific toxic pol- triple that of 22 lutants not addressed by the 1977 in about 10~ second to a proton, an requirements, which primarily ad- antiproton, and a pi-minus meson. dress nutrients and dissolved oxygen. The actual experiments were per The industry does fully support the formed about two years ago. Dr. David H. Miller of Purdue national policy that the discharge of toxic pollutants in toxic amounts be University, one of the physicists who prohibited. Testifying earlier before took part in the experiments, em the subcommittee, Du Pont senior phasizes that the "discovery" is based vice president Edwin A. Gee recom- on inference, not observation. Nev mended a three-step approach to ertheless, "what we have seen is very controlling toxic pollutants, rather strong experimental evidence," he than an across-the-board application tells C&EN. "This particle couples to of best available technology. This the baryon-antibaryon system in such a way that the most favorable inter approach is: • First, identify those pollutants pretation is that it is made up of four considered to be toxic, meaning those quarks rather than two." Discovery of the four-quark parti that pose an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment. cle fits in with theories advanced by • Second, establish effluent limits several physicists, including the for individual toxic substances under University of California, Berkeley's a flexible system giving EPA author- Geoffrey F. Chew, Massachusetts ity to set concentration limits when Institute of Technology's Robert L. knowledge permits or technology- Jaffe, and the University of Chicago's based limits when knowledge is Peter Freund, according to Miller. "The detection of the new particle lacking. • Third, implement the limitations will give an important insight into the through the existing permit system, behavior of quarks and the forces D on a case-by-case basis. Π between them," he says.
