Re: The strange Legacy of Paul M. Brown Ph.D

Posted by DA Morgan on Jan 23, 2002 at 13:38
(216.162.196.28)

Re: The strange Legacy of Paul M. Brown Ph.D (Mike Kremer)

Separating tritium from water is essentially the same thing as separating U235 from U238. You are talking about separating isotopes of the same element.

So activated charcoal would do nothing and distillation would work, at least in theory, but only if done on an extremely expensive scale. Here's something from my friends a few miles East at Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

===========================================
Research Highlights at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory

RICHLAND, Wash., May 18, 1995 (Spring 1995) -- Molecules may be solution to waste -- Fifty years of defense production has left tens of millions of gallons of toxic soup temporarily stored in large tanks at several U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites. Currently, cost-effective technologies do not exist for safe removal and permanent storage of the contents.

Researchers at the new Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) at Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) are using highly advanced computer hardware and software to see if exotic molecules, known as crown ethers, can provide a permanent solution to the waste problem. EMSL scientists believe the crown ethers may be able to bind to highly radioactive tank pollutants such as cesium and strontium. Once attached, workers may be able to strain the molecules and the attached highly radioactive isotopes from the large volume of liquid waste.

Bomb by-product bombards cancer -- Cancer sufferers who have failed all conventional treatment methods are finding new hope within the looming stores of radioactive waste stored at the
Hanford Site in Washington state. Through a PNL-patented process, an ultrapure form of the yttrium-90 isotope now can be extracted from waste stores of strontium-90, creating a new
weapon to combat Hodgkin's lymphoma and other cancers. Yttrium-90 is attached to antibodies that seek out cancer cells within the body. Once contact is made, beta particles emitted from the
isotope destroy the cancerous cells. Clinical trials are being conducted at medical centers nationwide, including the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where 80 percent of
lymphoma sufferers have shown positive results.

Aquaculture taken to new depths -- PNL's Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL) on the Washington state coast will manage a pioneering aquaculture development program called Peninsula Seafood 2020 -- an effort to take aquaculture deeper than it has ever gone before. MSL will work with scientists and engineers from the private sector, local tribal government and universities to
develop offshore, deepwater aquaculture "farms" in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The goal is to create 3,000 new jobs to replace those lost on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula in forestry and fishing by building a projected $90-million industry by the year 2020.

Taking science south of the border -- PNL and Mexico's foremost research laboratory, the Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP), have joined in a dynamic partnership for economic and environmental development. IMP and PNL are collaborating on several projects to improve manufacturing operations while sparing the environment. Technologies being evaluated include a
PNL-developed software program that links sensors with computers to improve manufacturing efficiency without replacing existing equipment and a software program that integrates hazards
management with operational processes. Another area being pursued by the partners is the possible use of PNL-developed non-destructive examination tools to inspect gas pipelines for defects.

Tritium-trapping technology -- A simple and inexpensive way to clean up some of the radioactive water at DOE sites is under development at PNL.

Water containing tritium, a radioactive isotope, is stored at DOE sites at Hanford, Savannah River and the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. PNL is testing a composite membrane that could become the first economically viable method to separate low levels of tritium from water into a concentrated form for disposal or use. Preliminary results show the membrane could lead to a
significant reduction in cleanup costs and risks to the environment and the public. In addition to DOE, the U.S. Navy, the Canadian and Russian governments and commercial nuclear plants have
expressed interest in PNL's membrane technology.

------------------------------------

Also look at:
http://www.em.doe.gov/closure/final/pbs/okp102.html
and
http://fusionenergy.lanl.gov/Technology/Tritium_Technology.htm



Follow Ups:


Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:

Subject:
Comments:

[ Forum ] [ New Message ]