BACK TO Deactivation of Radiation
Get a GDR T Shirt, Shirt, Mugs,
Mousepads with our Web Store
BACK TO WWW.GDR.ORG
DOE
NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:
Barbara Wetherell or Amber Jones, 202/586-5806
U.S. Partners Use High-Tech Means To Reduce Radiation in Chernobyl-Area Food; Aids U.S. Nonproliferation Goals
The Department of Energy today announced joint funding of a $1 million project in Ukraine that will remove Chernobyl-related radiation from foods while furthering U.S. nuclear nonproliferation goals. Selentec of Atlanta, Georgia, which has developed a technology for treating radiation-contaminated water, will invest almost half of the funding and join DOE's Argonne Laboratory in putting its technology into use in Ukraine. Selentec recently demonstrated in tests at Argonne that it could remove 95 percent of the radioactive cesium in Ukrainian milk.
Nuclear weapons scientists, engineers and technicians at the Ukraine
Institutes of Nuclear Research and Superhard Materials will also work with
the Argonne and Selentec specialists to remove radioactive cesium from
several food products, starting with milk and later including drinking
water, juice, and baby food. The project furthers the U.S. nuclear nonproliferation
goal of preventing "brain drain" in the Newly Independent States by providing
nonmilitary projects that can help stabilize the technology base at local
institutes while promoting trade and investment opportunities for U.S.
industry.
The food-treatment program is one of more than 200 under way or completed
that involve the former defense institutes of the Newly Independent States
and U.S. laboratories. About 15 percent of these projects involve U.S.
industrial partners in cooperative work aimed at commercializing products
or processes.
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident contaminated large land areas
in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, primarily from fission product fallout.
The dose to humans in Ukraine is mostly due to
food ingestion, and about 80 percent of that dose is from cesium in
milk. Food production has been greatly reduced, driving up prices, and
the milk, juice, and baby food that are produced contain levels of contamination
that, although below maximum permissible levels, prevent the products from
being exported. In addition, water in Ukraine is not considered safe to
drink, and drinking water is provided primarily by imported bottled water,
increasing the stress on the Ukrainian economy.
The Ukraine proposal, while providing health and economic benefits for
Ukraine, will further the work needed to commercialize the Selentec technology
by demonstrating it can decontaminate milk, juice, baby food and water.
Full tests would be performed in accordance with U.S. Food and Drug
Administration protocols to demonstrate that the treated food is safe
for human consumption.
DOE's Office of Nonproliferation and National Security will fund the
first phase of the program, to demonstrate and test the technology for
milk and water in Ukraine, with $80,000, then will provide $480,000 for
the second phase of implementing the process for juice and baby food. Selentec
will also spend $480,000 on the detailed design and fabrication of the
milk treatment process for use in Ukraine. Following demonstration of the
technology in Ukraine, Selentec will establish a Ukrainian
business venture for private sector application of the technology in
Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.
The Ukraine project addresses the critical need in Ukraine, Belarus,
and Russia for safe, uncontaminated food, a potential market with an estimated
value of more than $70 billion over 30
years in those three nations. The anticipated business venture is expected
to create thousands of jobs in the United States and Newly Independent
States over several years.
The U.S. effort to provide nonmilitary work at institutes in the Newly
Independent States is part of the overall national nuclear nonproliferation
goal of preventing the spread of nuclear materials, technology and expertise.
Besides Ukraine, the United States has cooperative programs under way in
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Ukraine has renounced nuclear weapons and
signed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
- DOE -
Get a GDR T Shirt, Shirt, Mugs,
Mousepads with our Web Store