Document QgeE2N5rrOb8znMO0j8mVrnw8

A power boost Tor CERN?s proton synchrotron to 400 b.c.v. lias been approved by the group's council. CERN' (European Organization for Nuclear Research) first ap proved the project in 1971 for a level of at least 300 b.c.v. with option for a pause at 200 b.c.v. to be followed by introduction of superconducting magnets into the main ring. The recent decision means that the ring will be filled with iron-core magnets, and a direct move to 400 b.e.v. will be made without pause. Pest control emerges as a top topic in U.S.-U.S.S.R., U.S.-China scientific exchange programs. Next month, Moscow and Kiev will host a joint conference on inte grated pest management. Selected U.S. scientists, under a travel grant from IJSDA, will attend the conference and visit Soviet laboratories. Some may stay and work there. In turn, Soviet scientists will visit U.S. labora tories. Meanwhile, six Chinese specialists in insect hormone research are now touring U.S. government research centers, companies, and universities for six weeks. (For more on U.S.-China exchanges see page 11.) Effect of vinyl chloride on the health of those who have worked with the material is the subject of n survey being administered by the Manufacturing Chemists Associa tion and carried out by Tabershaw-Cooper Associates. Sponsor of the study is a group of chemical companies that handle vinyl chloride. Another study at Industrial' Bio-Test Laboratories is determining effects on labora tory animats of long term exposure to vinyl chloride vapors. The studies will supply data for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. deadweight ton cargo ship Mitlsu, scheduled trials from June 20 in the Japan Sea after canceling original plans louse her home port of Mulsu Bay. But the new plan was also canceled after fishing associations in three prefectures opposed the sailing. ' A large solid waste disposal system for Tokyo is being studied by Dashaveyor Co., a subsidiary of Bcntlix Corp., under a feasibility study contract from the Japan Trans portation Planning Association. One concept being con sidered involves a 25-mile system running about 100 feet beneath the city. Some 13,000 tons per day of waste would be brought to some 23 underground' collection stations, where it would be compressed automat ieally into bales and loaded onto Dashaveyor vehicles for auto matic travel to a remote disposal facility. Passenger ears pollute water. In a more than year-long study, Biosphcrics, Inc., Rockville, Md., vacuumed sec tions of Washington area roads, analyzing the debris. It finds that traffic on all area highways, frcJm Washington, D.C., to the Capital Beltway, chops 55 tons of pollutants per day, mostly from private cars. Included are asbestos (from brake linings), rubber (from tires), zinc (from oil and tires), lead (from gasoline), and other heavy metals and nitrogen and phosphorus compounds. Rain washes much of this pollution into the surface waters of the area, the company says. Sorb-oil is being produced in western Europe. The non sinking biodegradable material, developed by Seattlebased Innova Corp., absorbs up to 29 times its own weight of oil and is thus marketed for oil spill control and cleanup. Sorb-oil is being made by Isomo in Ileule, near Kortrijk, Belgium. Daily output, initially sot at 30 metric tons, is expected to rise to 200 metric tons in the next five years. Mitsubishi is licensed to make the product in Japan for Far Eastern markets. Electricity from a "solar sea power plant" might cost less A second new radial tire production method has been (ban that from offshore nuclear plants, gasified coal, developed by Firestone. A year aft or disclosing a wa v to and other sources, according to scientists at Carnegie- make radial tires on conventional equipment, the com Mellon University. A multidisciplinary group, led by Dr. pany says it now can make such tires using just a single, Clarence Zener, has received a $190,000, 18-montb grant highly automated work station instead of the former two. 1 from NSF to make a computer-based cost analysis of a Part of the new process involves using an expandable potential system to generate power by exploiting temper steel drum instead of the former central rubber bladder ature differences between sui face and deep-lying waters in building the lire. in tropical seas. The proposed closed Rankine cycle sys I tem would use a working fluid vaporizing at ocean sur Licensing of university-developed technology will be thc- face temperatures. subject of miniforums to be held at a number of univer sities by Dr. Dvorkovitz & Associates, an Ormond Beach, Coal-to-ga.s test runs have been lengthened considerably, Fla., technology licensing firm. The miniforums--bring according to the Jnst itute of Gas Technology, Chicago. ing together industry and university representatives-- 1GT lias increased continuous operation of its Ilygns pilot will he a prelude to the Second Annual International plant from a day or two at a time to more than 100 hours. University/lndustry Forum in Chicago next February. The plant converts more than 2 tons per hour of Montana A just-ended miniforum at the University of Toledo lias lignite into 900 to 1000 B.t.u.-per-cu.-ft., sulfur-free gas set the pace for the meetings at schools interested in but at pipeline pressure of 1000 p.s.i. unable to attend the first international forum (C&KN, May 14, jinge 2G). Jligh-tcmperaturc nuclear reactor development has re ceived a boost. Two more utilities--Northern States An acid-soluble zirconium oxide is now available from Rower and Pacific Gas and Electric--have joined Gulf Tafa/lonare, Bow, N.H., in pilot-plant quantities. The General Atomic's high-temperature gas-cooled reactor inirrocrystallinc product is unique in that it dissolves (11TGR) development program. Jn another move, a readily in sulfuric acid, lonaresays. The acid solution utilities industry group. High Temperature Develop yields a disulfato zirconic acid that is water soluble and ment Associates, Inc., representing some .50% of power lienee convenient for making zirconium compounds, generating capacity in the U.S., has established a re including soaps for nontoxic paint and ink driers. search fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, for work related to the advanced concept. A fire-resistant plastic sheet has been developed by Japan's first nuclear ship sits idle in port more than Sumitomo Chemical, Osaka, Japan. The company snvs the material, called Klmtale, has a polyolefin resin as a eight months after completion, as fishermen who fear radioactive contamination of fishing grounds continue principal ingredient and inorganic constituents impart ing heal resistance. The sheet doesn't generate heat or to oppose lu-r trial runs. Officials of Japan Nuclear toxic gases when burned, tin* company says. Expected Ship Development Agency, owner of the 2100- uses include packaging and medical applications. 10 C&UN July 9, 1973 DTH 000013685