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Dr. Carl E. Brown, ESTD:
New CRTI Research and Technology Acceleration Project Funding
- The Emergencies Science and Technology Division (ESTD) at the Environmental Science
and Technology Centre (ESTC) has been successful in securing funding for two projects
under Call 6 of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological-Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE)
Research and Technology Initiative (CRTI).
- The funding is part of the recently announced Defence Research and Development
Canada (DRDC) federal investment of more than $48.8 million for new projects to
strengthen Canada's ability to deal with potential chemical, biological,
radiological-nuclear and explosives threats. ESTD is the lead federal agency
for 2 of the 29 research, technology acceleration and technology demonstration
projects. These projects complement the spill response and remediation research
carried out by ESTD as part of the Environmental Emergencies program. The ESTD
projects are managed by Dr. Konstantin Volchek.
- The first ESTD-lead project is a research study that deals with the catalytic
destruction of organophosphorus (OP) chemical warfare (CW) agents and toxic
industrial materials. CRTI funding for this study is $1.946 million. The technology
developed will be used for the decontamination of buildings, sensitive equipment,
and contaminated soil. Partners include; Queen’s University, Science Applications
International Corporation (SAIC) Canada, Royal Military College and Research
Institute of Hygiene, Occupational Pathology and Human Ecology (RIHOPHE) and
the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKhT),
Russia.
- The second project lead by ESTD is a technology acceleration initiative
dealing with the modification of CASCAD (Canadian Aqueous System for Chemical-
Biological Agent Decontamination) foam to make it more effective for
radiological decontamination. CRTI will provide $1.666 million to support
this project.
- The intent is to expand current technologies already available in the
market to include radiological remediation. Partners include; Allen-Vanguard
Corporation, Defence Research and Development - Ottawa (DRDC-O), United States
Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), Queen’s University, Science
Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Canada and the Scientific
Research and Design Institute of Assembly Technology (NIKIMT), Russia.
ESTD will also participate in a research project lead by DRDC-O to study
radiological dispersal device (RDD) contamination interactions with
urban surfaces. ESTD will receive $150K in CRTI funding for its part
of the study. Other partners in this project include; DRDC-O, ESTD-EC,
the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), University of New Brunswick,
University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), and the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
Dr. Carl Brown, ESTD:
CRTI Technology Acquisition Plan Funding
- The Emergencies Science and Technology Division (ESTD) at the Environmental
Science and Technology Centre (ESTC) has been successful in securing funding
($450k) in fiscal year 2007-08 under the CRTI (CBRN Research and Technology
Initiative) Technology Acquisition Plan.
- This funding will allow ESTD to enhance its existing capacity for chemical
analysis of samples resulting from a terrorist event and/or environmental emergencies
including spills of hazardous materials. This funding will allow for replacement of
portable instrumentation for on-site chemical detection (for ESTD and EC regional
offices), and the upgrade of ESTD’s existing mobile sample reception facility.
- New laboratory instrumentation that will be purchased with this CRTI funding
includes a thermal desorption system to allow for chemical agent sampling down to
ppt levels, an ion chromatographic system for the quantitative analysis of anions
and an HPLC system with an evaporative light scattering detector for the analysis
of high molecular weight contaminants which do not have an ultraviolet chromaphone.
- The R&D conducted by ESTD under the CRTI program is complementary to the research
performed in the Environmental Emergencies S&T program. Other members of the CRTI
Chemical Cluster who will receive funding this fiscal year are; Defence Research
and Development Canada – Suffield (DRDC-S) ($262k) and Health Canada ($30k). We
may need to defer the funding to fiscal year 2008-09 or cash manage as the
mechanism for transferring funding for capital acquisitions will now shift
from IS (as was the case in the first 5 years of CRTI) to supplemental estimates
this fiscal year which likely wouldn't be available until January 2008.
Dr. Zhendi Wang, ESTD:
Vertimar-2007 Symposium on Marine Accidental Oil Spills, Vigo, Spain
- Dr. Zhendi Wang of the Emergencies Science and Technology Division
(ESTD), of the Environmental Technology Centre (ESTC) was invited by the
Scientific Coordination Committee of the Spanish Strategic Research
Programme on Accidental Marine Pollution, to participate as a key note
speaker at Vertimar-2007: Symposium on Marine Accidental Oil Spills.
- Dr. Wang gave a one-hour presentation entitled “Oil Spill Environmental
Forensics: Fingerprinting and Source Identification”. The symposium which was
held in Vigo, Spain, June 5-8, 2007 and was attended by about 150 researchers.
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July
