NEWS FOCUS - Chemical & Engineering News Archive (ACS

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RADIOCHEMISTRY RESEARCH- GE scientists try out the remote manipulators in the new $1 million radiochemistry labs at AEC's Hanford, Wash., plant. The master-slave manipulator lifts 50 pounds vertically and 8 to 10 pounds with arm and wrist movement. On the agenda for the equipment which includes three " h o t " cells: studies in atomic waste treatment, fission byproducts recovery, and spent fuels processing

GOOD FOR 30 YEARS. These workers are installing 15,000 Type 304 stainless steel tubes (30 feet long, 7 / 8 inch outside diameter) in the steam condenser of the new Duquesne Light Co. Elrama (Pa.), power plant. Duquesne expects the new tubes will withstand corrosion for 30 years 98

C&EN

MAY

2,

1960

NEWS FOCUS

OSAKA TRADE FAIR. The U.S. section of the 1960 International Trade Fair in Osaka, Japan, contained some 37 industry exhibits, Among them: this Dow Corning display showing uses of silicones in medicine and surgery. Actress Fusako Kado explained the exhibit for thousands of viewers who attended the fair

SIMULATING 300° F. American Optical whipped up this steaming atmosphere to demonstrate its new respirator designed for use in kilns, ovens, and furnaces where temperatures go as high as 300° F. Essentially, the respirator is a heat exchanger consisting of 65 layers of aluminum screening set in a polyurethane foam insulating shell. Tests show that a worker wearing the respirator and protective clothing can stand extreme heats for as long as 30 minutes—four times his previous endurance. The respirator works in reverse in extreme cold

FAST TALK. This microwave dish at Rocketdyne, Los Angeles, supplements a leased-wire system that picks up data from North American Aviation's plants and test stands in California, Missouri, and Texas. The Tele-processing data system includes six computers that talk

to each other at the rate of 75,000 words a

minute.

For

example,

a

computer

may produce 200 graphs in 12 minutes to show management the budget status of every Rocketdyne project. The system also helps the company plot rocket trajectories and solve research problems