Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 11

ft. A-12-M Id-Illinois Newspapers-Friday, September 1, 1989 EPA tightens controls on benzene emissions Thermal nsutron analysis davlce WASHINGTON (Al ') Tlie federal government issued lighter controls Thursday on cancer-causing benzene, saying the new restrictions will: eliminate 90 percent of benzene releases from industrial sources ranging from steel plants to service stations. But the curbs are expected to be quite costiy and they do not cover the primary source of beTizene pollution, automobiles, the Environmental Protection Agency said. Congress Is considering legislation that would tighten air pollu tion standards, including provisions to reduce benzene releases from motor vehicles. EPA officials said the agency also plans to announce separate regulations next month to reduce vapor releases including benzene from 1.

Baggage is weighed. 2. Luggage is exposed to neutrons, (see Mow) .3. Detectors check nitrogen levels. 4.

Cleared baggage is boarded. 5. Suspicious luggage is inspected. It takes six seconds lor a luggage to go through the Composite Shielding Luggage Is exposed to neutrons. Neutrons pass through all types of even lead.

The concentrated nitrogen In explosives absorbs the neutrons and mmm immm Immediately gives off gamma Neutrons IliiO radiation. Baaaaae in which S5 lEr- Gamma 1 VU radiation Is detected Is carefully Inspected for vurwOTw.u rcMcnni PMBPnCF VMllMllIlM I VIII WWW mm RBERGLAS SHINGLES A SEALANT explosives before it Is loaded onto the plane. I Source: Science Applications International Corporation 100 silicone rubber 20 year limited warranty 2.39 APR. Domlnguez PUT YOUR HOUSE IN THE PINK 'Class A self-sealing shingles 20 year warranty 10.3 oz ea Experts New bomb detector won't detect Some explosives SUPER CAULK Fast drying, acrylic caulk with silicone Mildew resistant 59 77 10 GZ. WASHINGTON (AP) A $1 million bomb detector thatrthe Feder arAvtation AamrnTstfatI6n slafls operating Friday at a New York airport is not sen- LC-130 $1.89 I-sitive enough to spot an explosive like the one that Pan Am Flight 103 last December, Science Qxr EXPANDING FOAty SEALANT reports.

The magazine, the Journal for the American Association for the Arivanrpmpnt nf SHpnre said the Excellent energy saver Li kTMftClM4 Utmm Arutli Cap. Fills holes caulks can't Bonds and insulates 1Q9 SQ, bomb detector, called a thermal neutron analysis device, or TNA, Is being set at a sensitivity that will 0 $6.13 18.39 3.49 12 oz YOUR CHOICE OF STOCK COLORS DRV WALL Oriented Strand BOARD 'Uncover about 2.5 pounds of plastic explosives. Science said that British experts believe the bomb that brought down Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21 contained only about one pound of explosive. The crash killed 270 people.

fi A TNA bomb detector has been installed in a special rebuilding at JFK Airport in New York and will go into operation for international TWA flights on Friday, FAA officials said. The agency said that it wants U.S. airlines to spend about half a billion dollars to install 491 of the machines at international airports over the next five The bomb finder is a 10-ton, 13-foot-long machine. It uses neutrons, a type of sub-atomic particle, to probe luggage for the presence of nitrogen, a major component of explosives. The luggage passes through the machine on a conveyor belt, and if nitrogen of a cer 12" 4' 8' sheets Ideal to wallpaper, paint or panel on 2.95 about 2.5 pounds of plastic explosives.

Thissensitivity, IfieThagazlhe a false alarm rate of about 5 percent. On a fully loaded jumbo jet, such a false alarm rate would represent about 30 pieces of luggage that would require special handling, the magazine said. Raymond Salazar, the director of the office of civil aviation security for the FAA, acknowledged that the false alarm; rate for the detector that goes into operation on Friday could be as high as 5 percent, but he declined to discuss the level of sensitivity used in the device. "It seems to me to-not be in anybody's best interest to make those kinds of disclosures," he said in a telephone interview. "This technology can be programed to find a full range" of explosive devices.

He said the false alarm rate may be reduced to 2 percent to 3 percent when the detector is teamed with an X-ray system. The device would detect the possible presence of explosives and the X-ray would actually examine the Interior of each piece of luggage. The TNA currently cannot be used to check carry-on bags. The technology involves the use of ionized radiation which has some potential health hazard, the magazine said. "It isn't applicable to passenger screening," Salazar agreed.

Salazar said that suspicious bags detected by the TNA device will require some special handling, but he believes that any delay in flights will be minimized. He declined to describe the special handling. Science magazine said that the airlines are not py with the prospect oteven a 5 percent ecror. v. "The airlines cannot cope with such large require ments for hand-searching luggage and they want to reduce the TNA machine's alarm rate" to about 1 percent, the magazine said.

"The rate that they would face if the TNA machine were adjusted to scan routinely for 1-pound bombs would be unacceptably high, and thus the machine would almost never be used this way," Interior or Exterior use Great for rcof wall sheathing. 4' 8' 716 LANDSCAPE TIMBERS Treated lumber tain level is detected, tne macnine indicates the source, enabling operators to seperate suspicious bags. e.i..... 11 i i i. i ti L-jSS $7.49 2.69 "quires special construction to install, increasing the mm mi uwmtiL.

IWcOoiukw cosi oi deploying me si munon macnine. A problem with the system is that some lyffes of fabric, leather and such things as plastic ski boots can have'nitrogen densitjties are high as explosives. "If heavy trunks and woolen clothing are involved, it becomes hard to distinguish a real bomb from background readings, creating false alarms," the magazine said. To avoid an excess of false alarms, Science said the tthfnn will Ka ATAaAl of A enncltiirif it tn Jnlnnt PRICES GOOD THRU 9789 Rt. 45-Mattoon 4 Mile North 1-57 Lumber 235-2321 P.E.H.

235-2118 IW'jJjjjjJ i mi I in ll 'i mimmmmmjrt- il.r iiinnim Judge finds conflict of interest in i DOE contract WASHINGTON (AP) A senior Energy Department official vio-' lated a conflict-of-interest law by participating in the award of a $1 billion contract to a group of companies that included one of his former employers, a federal judge found. 500CAR PARKING XLV 100 DRESSING ROOMS 000 PRE-LABOR DAY SALE. Friday, Saturday, Sunday SEPTEMBER 1, 2, 3rd OFF (Regular List Price) fe) ALL TOP BRAND QUALITY MERCHANDISE THAT YOU KNOW! FOR 3 DAYS ONLY YOU SELECT ANY MERCHANDISE IN THE ENTIRE STORE i.imi niliaJ U.S. Claims Court Judge y' Reginald Gibson, in a finding Thursday, said Samuel Rousso had violated the federal statute prohibiting an Energy Department supervisor from participating in department decisions involving any energy company that the supervisor has worked for within the past year. Rousso is acting "director of the department office administering a program to evaluate Yucca Moun-' tain, as a possible site for building the nation's first permanent repository for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.

Gibson's finding on Rousso was a central feature of a ruling he handed down last week that block-, ed the Energy Department from giving a $1 billion Yucca Mountain management contract to a group Jed by Bechtel Management a subsidiary of the San Francisco-based engineering and construction Gibson agreed with a contention by TRW an unsuccessful bid-1 der, that Rousso should not have been Involved in weighing tje team's bid for the Yucca 7 Mountain project. The. Cleveland-based company said Rousso had previously worked for one of Bechtel's partners, Science Applications International -j a San Diego-bateed engineer-4 Ing and consulting firm that has played a major role in the Yucca Mountain project as an Energy Department contractor since 1983. Rousso declined to comment on Gibson's finding. "I can't respond, since I'm a key' party to the case," Jie said in a brief telephone conversation.

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