Nuclear waste processing system
of San Francisco Bay, the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis tration (NASA) says. The key is a Thematic Mapper that observes the earth in seven bands of visible, near-infrared, and infrared light. It looks at water quality, stress on vegetation, soils, surface geology, topography, and the like. Faults are assessed for potential to cause haz ardous waste site leaks. Until the satellite is readily available, work is being done from aircraft flying at ~ 1 8 km altitude. NASA is working on this project with WoodwardClyde Consultants (San Francisco, Calif.).
Source: Delaware Custom Materiel, Inc.
that of the usual method of simple compaction. Also, there is no need to separate compactable and noncompactable waste. The company says that the shredder can handle up to 5000 lb/h of radioactive wastes consisting of paper, plastics, textiles, wood, and light-gauge metals. Heavy metals might be removed from wastewater by coprecipitation, while the largely organic suspended and settleable solids are not re moved, Ju-Chang Huang of the University of Missouri (Rolla) says in a study prepared for EPA (Cin cinnati, Ohio). An upflow, extend ed sand bed used with lime feed causes coprecipitation of metals and calcium carbonate on sand grain surfaces. Through plating of such metals as cadmium, chromi um, copper, nickel, lead, and zinc on sand grains, the grains increased in size to large pebbles that could be easily handled in a disposal pro cess. Fugitive particles in air can be held down with a "spray, charge, and trap" (SCAT) system used in in dustry. It employs an air curtain to blow a sheet of air that "encloses the fugitive emissions and conveys them to an electrostatically en hanced scrubber." In fact, the air curtain can "bend" the air and tun nel it in the direction of the electro static collection device. EPA's In dustrial Environmental Engineer ing Laboratory (Research Triangle Park) has given a contract to Air Pollution Technology, Inc. (San Diego, Calif.) to test and evaluate a full-sized SCAT system. Satellite technology is monitoring toxic waste at disposal sites north
INDUSTRY Landfill gas is being converted to electricity at a 2-MW facility in Durare, Calif. Watson Biogas Sys tems president Joseph Seruto says that to his knowledge it is "the first landfill gas-to-electricity conver sion project in the nation. Although small compared to a utility power plant, it is the largest of its type in the world." The covered methaneproducing site is now overlain by a city-operated nine-hole golf course. The gas is compressed, dehydrated, brought to 60 °F, and used directly as generator fuel. The resulting electricity is sold to Southern Cali fornia Edison Company. Air pollutant emissions inventories for the continental U.S. (excluding Alaska) and southeastern Canada will be prepared by ERT, Inc. (Concord, Mass.) for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). These data, along with those from EPRI's Regional Air Quality Stud ies program, are to interpret pollu tion originating from human activi ties and to develop and evaluate models that simulate air pollutant behavior. Detailed inventories will be prepared for SO x , NO*, total emitted particulates, and nonmethane hydrocarbons from business and industry, home heating, and surface transportation. The con tract is for 30 months. For cleaning gases from a Winkler coal gasification unit, which works at high temperatures, Linde AG (Munich, West Germany) has re ceived a contract from Rheinische Braunkohlenwerke AG to install a Rectisol unit—the first to be used this way. Synthetic gas from lignite will be processed in the unit to re duce total sulfur below 0.1 ppm, re
duce carbon dioxide, and remove trace contaminants to environmen tal acceptability. The system that the unit will service is to produce about 300 million Ν m 3 /y of clean syngas that will be used to make methanol and will replace syngas made from residual oil. A new standard for worker expo sure to asbestos has been developed with industry and government par ticipation through the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Committee E-34 on Oc cupational Health and Safety. The standard aims to protect against the development of asbestos-related disease. It is to be applied by valid, reproducible techniques available to industry and official agencies and attainable with existing tech nology. Moreover, the standard calls for employee medical tests, control of exhaust ventilation, and asbestos monitoring in workplaces, among other things. The more developed countries will use fewer pesticides, while devel oping nations will import and use more, according to a prediction by Predicasts, Inc. (Cleveland, Ohio). All told, pesticide consumption should approach 6.5 million tons worldwide by 1995, as opposed to 4.5 million tons in 1980, Predicasts says. Rodenticides and fumigants will be the fastest-growing sector of that industry. In Japan, the world's largest pesticide user, growth in consumption has been minimal, and growth is slowing in the U.S. The U.S.S.R. will move ahead of both the U.S. and Japan in pesti cide use, but the U.S. will continue as the largest producer. Twenty-four companies, including IBM, GM, and Du Pont, will con tribute a total of $7.7 million to cover part of the costs of cleaning a large abandoned hazardous waste disposal site near Seymour, Ind.— said to be larger than the "Valley of the Drums" in Kentucky. The site contains more than 60 000 bar rels of toxic wastes. It is estimated that a total of $30 million will be needed to remove the drums and to stem the contamination of ground water caused by leaking wastes. EPA said that, in this case, com panies that have agreed to help EPA clean up will not be liable for further cleanup work. More than 30 other firms that used the site have refused to help with the cleanup. Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 16, No. 12, 1982
641A
