Document JrQzdDqG5XYMXn4X4bNq7Bqwa

nium tailings, refinery sludges and transformer oils The first commercial fuel cell powered by natural gas containing polychlorinated biphenyls--in a polymeric has begun operating at a laundry in Portland, Ore. It capsule. According to tests performed by Controls is the first of some fifty 40-kw fuel cells that will be for Environmental Pollution of Santa. Fe, Nil, the deployed at various sites in the UJ3. under a project- process has reduced emission of radon-222 gas from^ sponsored by the Energy Dept and others. Natural uranium tailings by 92%. Thecompany chums thatr- gas is the hydrogen source for- the fuel cell reaction, the technique could cut jmmdous^wastodisposal . '; . which essentially is the reverse of the electrolysis-of tabs by 69-70%. The cost of encapsulating uranium J water. Hydrogen and oxygen are combined to pro tailings is estimated at Price estenates duce heat andv.au electric current.fAt the Portland for PCBs and refinery sludge are not as firm; but the site, the cell .is. used to generate eleetridty^for the>- company says plant and supplemental heat for the boilers^ Excess : power wiU b sold to Portland General; Electric. Over?; '.:all. efficiency of the fuelcell operated at full capacity m sev- -is alwut 80%, . compared with ^)% for a conventional era] common plant species can be used to gauge lev-? power plant Northwest Natural- Gas. is directing els tircolsting in the atmosphere, - the project United Technologic designed and built as well as around known PCB dumpsites. These find- r the cell.. ';>"..'V.V'VV:> . v 'ings, reported in the Apr! 30{issue of'the journal; 'Science byCornell Unrveraity biochemist Edward H. Buckley, may eventually make it possible to use veg Scientists at SandiajNational Laboratories in Albuf etation to monitor seasonal levels of. atmospheric querque, N.M:, have developed a technique that may ; PCBs, Buckley says. Buckley estimates that .there is give them a rapid way to test the quality of glass and probably 70 million kg of PCBs areulating in the envi- . ceramic encapsulations of nuclear waste,; a major is- ronmen^ of which 18,000 kg is in the atmosphere- $sue in.nuclear waste disposal technology. Glass-and ? "Although the apparent major sources of airborne i ceramic materials; considered to be the most effective : PCBs, vaporization of plasticizers, and open and bum- forms for immobilizing containemed high-level radios ing dumps, decreased substantially during the active wastes, incur damage from the radiation emit-: 1970s," Buckley says, "the drop in atmospheric PCB ted by the wastes. it is this damage that researchers ; levels has been slow." As a result,headds, "PCBs . at Sandia have attempted to simulate. The technique have become a component of our atmosphere." . To lii involves the implanting of lead ions in small disks of detect local PCB contamination, Buckley used his borosilicate glass and titanate-based crystalline ce plant-analysis technique to find the source of elevat ramies that contain nonradioactiye isotopes of typical ed PCB levels along public roadways in upatate New wastes! The implanted disks are then compared with . York. The source: Material dredged from the Hudson. similar disks without the lead, and with naturally- river,-which is contaminated with PCBs,-had been occurring radioactive materials that have experienced used to sand highway during winter months: radiation, self-damage. Electron microscopy and ion rfgs ........" " '................... '...... beam tests by Sandia scientists have shown that the implanted ions gradually change the crystalline ce- Merck last week began U.S. ' marketing of a new , ramie into an amorphous, glassy material.."Results ; prescription analgesic thaf.it says is safer and more clearly suggest that ion implantation produces physi effective than aspirin. The drug, 5-(2,4-difluoro- cal changes in the test samples that closely simulate phenyl)-salicylic acid, is known as difluhisal and is natural self-damage," concludes Clyde Northrup, su tradenamed Dolobid. The drug has been approved by pervisor of Sandia's Chemical Technology Div. But he the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of adds that "it is not yet clear whether observed "mild to moderate pain" and osteoarthritis. Accord1, changes in implanted samples can reliably predict ing to Merck, difluhisal is less irritating to the stom waste form behavior many years into the future." ach lining and has a longer-lasting analgesic effect than aspirin. The firm also: notes that clinical studies A new process for waste encapeulatioiv - show diflunisal to provide^ longer-lasting .pain relief At last week's International Congress on Technology than acetaminophen (Tylenol), a combination of acet and Technology Exchange in Pittsburgh, Sludge aminophen and codeine, or a combination of propoxy Master (Aurora, Colo.) unveiled a new method for phene (Darvon) and acetaminophen. Diflunisal is al solidifying toxic and radioactive wastes--such as ura- ready marketed in 75 other countries. . - May 12. 1982/Cheirleai Weak 41 PCB-ARCH-EXT0378330