Март 2005г.

Российская наука и мир (по материалам зарубежной электронной прессы)

CONTENTS / ОГЛАВЛЕНИЕ


• Russia Alleges Scientist Divulged State Secrets
• Look into my eyes!
• Enfin des renards de compagnie!
• Space yacht rides to stars on rays of sunlight
• Scientists of Kazakhstan and Russia to cooperate in the sphere of IT
• My miracle asthma cure (and why the Irish medical profession are ignoring it)
• Russia Suggests International Nuclear Project to Conquer Outer Space
• Sophia, laboratoire de la collaboration technologique franco-russe
• Non-Blinding Headlights
• New standard mass made with ISTC help
• Chain Mail for Rockets
• Russian design bureau considers interplanetary space flights
• Nuclear reactor as a cancer cure
• Bacteria To Clean Up Chemical Weapons
• BioWar: Proposals to open Russia BW sites

Россия предлагает международному сообществу проект освоения дальнего космоса с использованием ядерных энергетических установок, чтобы уже в 2017 году отправить к Марсу пилотируемую экспедицию. Главный конструктор Научно-исследовательского и конструкторского института им. Доллежаля Владимир Сметанников считает, что "освоение ядерных технологий в космосе и их практическое применение не под силу ни одной - даже самой технологически развитой - стране мира и поэтому необходимо объединить усилия".

Russia has suggested a project to the international community to explore outer space using nuclear installations to send a manned expedition to Mars in 2017, a top Russian scientist said.
Speaking at a Moscow international conference on nuclear power in space, the vice president of the Kurchatov Institute scientific center, Nikolai Ponomarev-Stepnoy, said Russia offered the participants of the Mars flight "to use Russian research and development for nuclear engines and installations."
He said that the international community has come to understand that the exploration of outer space is impossible without a nuclear rocket engine and propulsion units that can be used "both to accelerate spacecraft and to save energy". The Soviet Union developed such reactors for military use from the 1960s, and produced some prototypes. Now it is time to go back to this work, "and Russia's possibilities can be used widely," the scientist said.
The main constructor of the Dollezhal Research and Development Institute, Vladimir Smetannikov, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying an engine and an installation to send a manned mission to Mars could be made by 2017. He added that in 2017, the Earth and Mars will be in the optimum positions for such a project.
"The exploration of nuclear technologies and their practical uses are not in the capacity of any — even the most technologically developed — world state, which is why it is necessary to combine our efforts," Smetannikov said.

Inno TSD, консультативная фирма, специализирующаяся в области экономического развития, инноваций и технологий, проводит 17 марта семинар в рамках проекта французско-русского сотрудничества в области инноваций и технологий. Семинар пройдет в научном центре София-Антиполис, недалеко от Ниццы.

Inno TSD, cabinet de conseil spécialisé en innovation et transfert de technologie, organise le 17 mars un séminaire sur la création d'outils en faveur de la collaboration technologique franco-russe. Peter Lindholm, son directeur, explique les enjeux de cette journée.
Inno TSD, cabinet de conseil spécialisé en innovation et transfert de technologie, implanté à Sophia Antipolis depuis vingt ans organise le 17 mars prochain sur la technopole, un séminaire sur la création d'outils en faveur de la collaboration technologique franco-russe. Un séminaire qui s'annonce d'autant plus important qu'il accueillera Boris Simonov, directeur de l'Agence Nationale Russe pour la Propriété Intellectuelle, aujourd'hui l'un des personnages clés en Russie dans le domaine des échanges et transferts de technologies.
Ce séminaire s'inscrit dans un grand projet de collaboration technologique franco-russe. Dans ce contexte, Inno TSD a été mandaté par l'Ambassade de France à Moscou et le Ministère russe de l'Education et de la Science pour créer de nouveaux outils de soutien à la collaboration industrielle et scientifique entre les deux pays. Après une phase de diagnostic préalable, les besoins identifiés ont permis de faire émerger le concept de "Maison de l'Entreprenariat et de la technologie". Cette initiative vise à faciliter les relations/négociations entre partenaires russes et français et à accroître le nombre de coopérations technologiques entre les deux pays (entreprises/entreprises et entreprise/centres de R&D).
Avant de passer à la phase de mise en œuvre de cette démarche, Inno TSD a souhaité réunir (avec le soutien de l'Ambassade de France et du Ministère Russe de l'Education et de la Recherche) un panel représentatif des PME et laboratoires de recherche sophipolitains afin de les consulter sur l'utilité et les bénéfices que ces derniers peuvent attendre d'un tel outil. Ainsi, ceux qui souhaiteraient faire partager leur expérience de la collaboration franco-russe et participer à cet événement (participation uniquement sur invitation), sont les bienvenus. Ils peuvent pour cela contacter Inno TSD en la personne de Mariette Barthélemy au 04 92 38 84 10 (m.barthelemy@inno-group.com ).
Directeur d'Inno, Peter Lindholm, a répondu aux questions de Sophianet.com au sujet de ce séminaire exceptionnel.
- SN.com: Pourquoi ce séminaire?
Peter Lindholm: Inno travaille depuis quelques années déjà en Russie sur ce secteur de l'innovation et des technologies. Le constat que nous avons fait, c'est que Russes et Français ont envie de travailler ensemble mais qu'il reste de nombreuses barrières à franchir pour une meilleure collaboration entreprises-entreprises ou entreprises-centre de recherche (la collaboration laboratoires-laboratoires en revanche fonctionne déjà bien). On rencontre des problèmes spécifiques de culture, de législation, de propriété intellectuelle. C'est pourquoi le Ministère russe de l'éducation et de la science et son homologue français nous ont demandé de réfléchir à un outil conçu dans le cadre des PPP (Partenariats publics-privés) pour remédier à ces problèmes.
- SN.com: Que peut-on attendre d'une collaboration franco-russe?
Peter Lindholm: Deux taches ont été assignées à Inno: définir une politique d'innovation pour l'Académie des Sciences de Russie et tester des modèles de commercialisation de la science en Russie. Cela sachant que nous assurons déjà une mission de valorisation de la recherche pour 6.500 chercheurs principalement en Allemagne et pour une plus petite partie en Italie et en France. Il s'agit d'un programme de mutualisation de la recherche avec une valorisation à travers des ventes de contrats de recherche, des créations de start-up et des ventes de brevets. Nous aimerions en terme de vision, associer plus nos collègues et amis russes à cette démarche. Il existe encore un très fort potentiel technologique très mal exploité par les Français au contraire des Allemands.
- SN.com: Les secteurs technologiques?
Peter Lindholm: Tout ce qui touche aux logiciels de grande sophistication, le militaire avec des applications duales (militaire-civil), les nano et biotechnologies. En dehors de ces secteurs on trouve également des équipes exceptionnelles. Schlumberger travaille ainsi avec des chercheurs russes pour le forage.
- SN.com: L'objectif d'une Maison de l'entreprenariat et de la technologie?
Peter Lindholm: Cette maison serait installée en Russie et sont objectif sera de d'être un facilitateur de ces échanges. Elle devra permettre aux Français de détecter les équipes les plus appropriées. En Russie, il n'y a pas aujourd'hui encore de culture de transfert de technologie. Le modèle russe, c'est de mettre la science à la disposition de la société. Il y a aussi un vrai problème de culture quant à la valorisation. Notre projet vise ainsi à amplifier le nombre de collaborations et accélérer les choses.
- SN.com: Pourquoi Sophia?
Peter Lindholm: Cela vient de ce que nous avons constaté qu' il y avait sur la technopole et sur la Côte d'Azur, un certain nombre d'intervenants qui s'intéressaient au marché russe. Inversement, la présence des Russes sur la Côte d'Azur à travers notamment le tourisme s'est beaucoup accrue. Ce mouvement touristique doit inévitablement déborder sur le business. Nous espérons démarrer sur Sophia avec un petit noyau d'entreprises et commencer ainsi ces collaborations technologiques. L'intérêt d'agir en ce sens aujourd'hui, c'est qu'il y a un véritable changement dans les mentalités en Russie. Les grands du pétrole ou du gaz ont pris conscience de la nécessité d'être plus innovants pour être plus compétitifs. La "Maison de l'entreprenariat et de la technologie" qui pourrait partir ainsi de Sophia, enclencherait un cycle vertueux de collaboration.

Российские ученые разработали систему, позволяющую защитить глаза водителей от света фар встречной машины. Ночью такой яркий свет на мгновение ослепляет. Для решения этой проблемы исследователи из Димитровграда предложили затемнять лобовое стекло – всего на несколько мгновений. На нем располагается жидкокристаллический экран-затвор, прозрачность которого можно регулировать с помощью электрического сигнала.

A new way to protect the eyes of drivers from the light of oncoming cars is found by Russian scientists. The technology for production of new anti-blinding systems is under development. Finance is extended by the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE) under the program "Start".
Russian scientists from Dimitrovgrad (Ul'yanovsk area) have designed a new non-blinding headlight system. Its use in cars will significantly decrease the risk of driving at night, because the oncoming light will be duller, while the road in front will be lightened brighter. First studies were conducted at the expense of the scientists. Now, with the support of FASIE, the innovation is adapted to industrial making and will probably be launched into the mass production.
A need for an anti-blinding system is obvious to everyone that drove at night and was blinded for a moment by the headlight of an oncoming car. Only very few drivers use, in accordance with the rules, the existing switch from distant to close light in order not to blind ones who drive in oncoming cars. Of course, there are smart systems of night vision based on infrared radiation, but they are too expensive for common cars.
Solution found by the Russian specialists seems paradoxical at first - darkening the windscreen! However, such darkening certainly won't be permanent, but pulsing.
The new system consists of the following components: gas-discharge light (xenon lamp); electronic block switching the light on and off; windscreen with an optical cover, LC-locks and changeable transparency; and the electronic chip that controls the whole system. It works as follows. The switch block sends an electric impulse to headlights generating a flash that lightens the road, while the optical cover is "open" and the windscreen is transparent. In a fraction of a second, the headlights are off and optical screen is "closed", which darkens the windscreen by more than 50 times.
A high frequency of flashing allows the human eye to perceive a continuous light (like in a film, where quickly changing images give us an illusion of movement), so a driver can see the road very well. A part-time darkening of the windscreen protects the driver's eyes from the blinding light of an oncoming car.
For avoiding coincidence of flashing rhythms in cars coming from opposite directions, the inventors installed a special program for random frequency of flashing (the average frequency still allowing an illusion if continuous light). Thus, it is very improbable that your headlight flashes into an open screen in the oncoming car.
It should also be mentioned that xenon lamps are three times as powerful as usual halogen lamps and have a light spectrum close to that of daylight. Therefore, with the use of xenon lamps drivers can better see the road and sidewalks.
Soon this amazing system will appear in shops. One of the inventors, Alexander Polovinkin, explains: "Principal technical problems have already been solved, and all necessary details are available. Now we need to optimize the system and improve its operation parameters and design. Our first demonstration sample works well. Probably in two or three years we can produce the first factory-made set of our anti-blinding system".

Три года назад началась программа по созданию нового эталона массы, поскольку Парижский эталон килограмма не совсем точен. В программе участвуют ученые из восьми стран, и недавно, благодаря российским ученым, были получены первые 140 г вещества для создания нового эталона. Это сверхчистый кремний, на 99,99% состоящий из изотопа кремния-28. Через три года планируется получить 5 кг такого кремния, из которого будет изготовлена килограммовый шар.

This program began three years ago and it involves scientists from eight countries. The task is immense. A new standard mass will be created with maximum possible precision on a modern level of development for world science and technology. Of the multitude of measurable values, the most important and the most basic, are time, length and mass. Standards of mass and length were made over one hundred years ago, in the form of the standard kilogram and the standard meter; they are held at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris. The standard hour was determined through the period of the Earth's rotation.
Alas, however, it transpired that these standards are unstable. For over 50 years scientists from across the world have been trying to create an ideal standard mass: to produce a solid that consists of a known quantity of identical atoms, and weigh it. The problem lay in there not being a suitable material.
Now, however, thanks to the efforts of Russian scientists, such a material is available. More precisely, it will become available in the required quantity within the next few years. It is superpure silicon – pure in the sense that the vast majority of its composition is made up of silicon-28 atoms. As far as other impurities are concerned, including other silicon isotopes, they may be found in proportions not exceeding one atom for every 10 million silicon-28 atoms.
The first 140 grams of the superpure monoisotopic silicon have been obtained in the framework of an international project on the creation of a new standard mass. It is superpure silicon, 99.99% comprised of the silicon-28 isotope. There will be 5kg of such silicon in three years time. This will be sufficient to produce a kilogram sphere, the number of silicon-28 atoms in which will be known precisely. At last the outdated weight held at the Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris will be replaced by a standard in which not only the mass, but also the number of atoms will be defined to the maximum achievable limit of accuracy for world science today.
For the first time scientists the world over will be able to clarify one of the most fundamental chemical values – the Avogadro Constant. However, this project promises a solution not only to fundamental tasks. Development of the technology to obtain superpure silicon isotopes could lead to changes in microelectronics that are no less than revolutionary, just like the changes that eventually enabled the power and rapid action of three-storey high giant computers to be replaced by notebook machines.

Российские ученые разрабатывают систему, позволяющую защитить космический аппарат от метеороидов и орбитальных обломков. Метеороид – небольшое твердое небесное тело, орбитальные обломки – куски космического мусора техногенного происхождения, обычно металлические, которые несутся иногда на огромной скорости - до 16 км/сек. Те и другие вполне могут пробить оболочку космического корабля, поэтому столкновение с ними крайне нежелательно. Над защитой от космического мусора работают сотрудники ГосНИИ авиационных систем РКА, Института прикладной механики РАН и их коллеги из еще нескольких российских НИИ при финансовой поддержке Международного научно-технического центра.

A program developed by Russian scientists under support from the International Science and Technology Center (Project 1917) helps to protect spacecraft from orbital debris that rushes at great speed, in the most effective and economic manner.
The system, under development by Russian scientists with financial support from the International Science and Technology Center, effectively and economically protects spacecraft from meteoroids and orbital debris. First tests, conducted by the researchers in the laboratory and on special test grounds, have confirmed their reliability.
The odd-sounding word "meteoroid" is not used here by chance. A meteorite is the luminescence brought about by the combustion of a meteoroid. And a meteoroid is a small solid celestial body, impact with which at times threatens the lives of the crew of a spacecraft.
However, it is not meteoroids that present the greatest threat to spacecraft, but so-called orbital debris, as a rule - metallic pieces of cosmic waste of a technogenic origin, that travel at times at great speeds, up to 16km a second, and which could easily penetrate the shell of a spacecraft or orbital station. One could say that humans have already dropped enough litter in space to make the trash out there a threat to themselves of no small consequence. It has reached such an extent that special protection is now required. And perhaps this protection is precisely that which the specialists from the State Research Institute of Aviation Systems RSA, the Institute of Applied Mechanics and their colleagues from several other Russian research institutes are now developing.
The idea of protection from such high velocities of impact was proposed by the American researcher Fred Whipple, back in 1947. Rather than making the shell ever thicker, he proposed that a screen be placed in front of it. The orbital debris will of course break through it, but it would itself be turned to dust.
But over the years the cosmic trash pile has grown larger and the sizes of space modules have also increased; accordingly, so has the mass of the Whipple protection. Yet the delivery of each kilogram to near-Earth orbit incurs costs exceeding ten thousand US dollars.
The solution proposed by the Russian scientists is directed towards increasing the effectiveness of the protection while reducing its weight. This is how the authors propose the implementation of their idea.
They believe that it should first be defined for which sections of a spacecraft or space station the risk of damage from orbital waste debris is the greatest and for which the risk is lowest. A correlation should be made of the direction of motion of the spacecraft, the direction of motion of debris, expected velocity of impact, probability of rupture, and so on. In other words, an understanding should be reached as to the level of protection that would be optimal for each section of the spacecraft. This means defining the number of "levels" ("floors") of protection required in place and at what interval they should be placed between one another, thus ensuring there is no unnecessary clutter, while providing the required level of protection. It also means the selection of the material from which certain sections of the protective screen should be made. It is the program developed by the authors that can calculate all this.
The second part of the work is to devise the materials for the various sections of the protective screen. "Together with a modified Whipple protection, multi-level, solid screens, we propose the use of cellular screens," explains scientific project leader Mikhail Kononenko. "They are lighter than solid screens and with the correct selection of thickness and material of wire from which such screens are made, they are no less stable than solid equivalents".
"Furthermore, the object that is flying at speeds of over 5km/sec, will inevitably break up on impact with the screen. But our screen is not only a passive barrier. It should actively mill the orbital debris and promote the expansion of the cloud in a transverse direction. This is a so-called concept of semi-active protection, or a mechanical-chemical means of protection."
"We propose the application of a special substance onto the surface of the protective grid – its composition is not being discussed in open print. However, the essence lies in the fact that the energy from the impact leads to a chemical reaction between this substance and the source of the impact. Energy is produced in an instant and gaseous reaction products, like in a micro-explosion, spread the impacting particle into a literal cloud of dust, which for the shell of the spacecraft is in comparison quite safe".
The authors have to verify the effectiveness of the developed protection here on Earth. At the test site aluminum pellets of 1cm in diameter are fired at a screen, made from the material of the potential protection. The pellets are fired from a special cannon, with which the pellet can reach a speed of over 7km/sec. The project authors have already completed the first tests, which have proved successful, with the protection coming into action as required. The computer program, under development by the scientists, enables, using all these varied materials, the reduction to a minimum of the total mass of the protection, without detriment to the efficiency. So in future craft will fly to the Moon and to Mars with a new protection, made with the support of the ISTC.
It is interesting to note that last year at the international conference "Systems and Technologies for the Future Study and Assimilation of Cosmic Space", Neville Mazwell from the California Institute of Technology, NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, USA) said that, in his opinion, the greatest problem now facing science as a whole, and of space research in particular, lies in the fact that we have to explain to the taxpayers why such huge sums of money are pumped into this research. Why is it actually necessary for people? Mikhail Kononenko, who also took part in this same conference, has his own answer to this question. "To question Nature and achieve new knowledge is becoming an ever more expensive pursuit for individual countries. However, projects such as the ISS, and space research as a whole, are able to unite nations, force them to see themselves not as representatives of isolated nationalities, at times at odds with others, but as people living on the same, relatively small and very fragile, planet."

Специалисты из Государственного космического научно-производственного центра (ГКНПЦ) им. Хруничева разрабатывают сверхтяжелую ракету-носитель, способную выводить на низкие орбиты до 100 тонн. Об этом заявил заместитель генерального директора ГКНПЦ Анатолий Кузин, выступая на проходившей 1-3 марта в Москве международной конференции "Ядерная энергетика в космосе - 2005".

Specialists at the Khrunichev State Space Science and Production Centre are working on a super-heavy launch vehicle with a low-Earth-orbit payload of up to 100 tonnes, the deputy director-general of the centre, Anatoliy Kuzin, has said. He was speaking at the Nuclear Power in Space - 2005 international conference that opened in Moscow today.
He said: "The plan is for the first and second stages to use the RD-170 and RD-180 liquid [kerosene/oxygen] rocket engines that have already proved themselves, while the third stage is to have an RD-122 hydrogen/oxygen engine that underwent tests under the Energiya-Buran [shuttle] programme."
As for sending an interplanetary mission to Mars and bringing it back to Earth, Kuzin said, "the proposal is to use the RD-0410 nuclear rocket engine developed at the Khimavtomatika design bureau, which has already undergone Earth-based trials".
"The existing Proton-M and future delivery vehicles from the Angara family could also be used to put the modules that will make up the interplanetary mission into orbit," Kuzin said. The first rockets in this series will be able to place a 25-t payload into low-Earth orbit from 2007 while the Angara-7 will have a 41-t payload.
Kuzin stressed that the Khrunichev centre has all the necessary components for manned expeditions to other planets - launch vehicles, transfer-orbit stages, living and transport modules and even the design for a six-month-duration manned shuttle "that can be mounted perfectly well on an Angara-3". "This spacecraft can make an aerodynamic or ballistic Earth landing," he said.

Новым эффективным способом лечения некоторых видов рака может стать метод нейтроннозахватной терапии (НЗТ), позволяющей избирательно поражать клетки опухоли. НЗТ - вид лучевой терапии, использующей нейтроны ядерного реактора.
Основная доза излучения, поражающая опухолевые ткани, формируется непосредственно в самой опухоли в результате вторичного излучения, которое возникает в результате поглощения тепловых нейтронов ядрами некоторых элементов, входящих в состав специальных препаратов. Группа исследователей, состоящая из представителей МИФИ (Московский инженерно-физический институт), ГНЦ "Институт биофизики" и Российского онкологического научного центра РАМН использовала этот метод для лечения меланомы у собак.

Despite the millions of dollars that have been invested into research to improve methods of treatments for various types of cancer, oncological diseases continue to have a high mortality rate, remaining one of the main causes of death globally. Traditional cancer treatment methods, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy are effective in approximately only half of all patients.
A promising technology to more effectively treat certain cancers is Neutron Capture Therapy (NCT), a cutting-edge treatment method that uses neutrons captured during operation of a nuclear reactor to irradiate the tumor. A main advantage of NCT is the selective damage of tumor cells, avoiding many of the common severe side effects of other cancer treatment methods.
In the framework of a project (#1951) funded by the International Science and Technology Center, Russian scientists and researchers developed and implemented an experimental series of pre-clinical studies using NCT to treat melanoma in dogs. Research was carried out at a specially constructed irradiation room attached to the research reactor at the Moscow Institute of Physics (MEPhI), with scientists from MEPhI joined in their work by colleagues from SRC - Institute of Biophysics and the Russian Cancer Research Center.
The project results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of NCT of inoculated tumors and spontaneous melanoma, with complete involution of tumor observed in 80% of cases. The scientists and researchers of ISTC Project #1951 are eager to perform the necessary work in order to introduce NCT in clinical practice.
Professor Otto Harling from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a collaborator on the ISTC Pro-ject, noted: "The Russian scientists have developed promising technologies to treat melanoma basing on in-tra-arterial administration of the compound into the tumor-feeding artery, and to treat osteo-sarcoma using BNCT of the removed neoplastic bone with subsequent reimplantation. The latter results are the first in the world and may find practical application in treating osteosarcoma in various sites."

Согласно Конвенции по запрещению химического оружия к 2007 году России предстоит уничтожить около 40 тыс. тонн боевых химических агентов, причем экологически чистым путем. Один из природных микроорганизмов – бактерия Pseudomonas putida – может помочь в борьбе с токсичными побочными продуктами, появляющимися в процессе уничтожения горчичного газа. Об этом сообщают российские ученые в журнале Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology.

To comply with the Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia faces a race against time to dispose of around 40,000 tonnes of chemical warfare agents by 2007. Researchers writing in the Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology believe bacteria may represent an ecologically sound way of doing this. Dr Inna Ermakova and colleagues from the Russian Academy of Sciences examined the possibility of using Pseudomonas putida to transform the toxic by-products contained in reaction masses that arise when chemical warfare agent mustard is destroyed by chemical detoxification. Usually, incineration or a process called bitumenisation are employed to deal with reaction masses, however both methods are expensive and pose environmental risks.
Mustard is a blistering agent that was first used in World War I. It can cause severe burns to the skin, and severe damage to the respiratory system and internal organs if ingested or inhaled. It accounts for around 2 percent of Russia's chemical warfare agents stockpile. Around 60 percent of the mustard reaction mass consists of derivatives of a toxic compound called 1,4-perhydrothiazine (PHT).
Ermakova's research team grew Pseudomonas putida in cultures containing mustard reaction mass. They then monitored the levels of PHT derivatives in the cultures until the bacteria stopped growing, using monoethanolamine (MEA) and ethylene glycol (EG) - both residual components of the initial de-toxification process that are present in the reaction mass - for growth. The results showed that the concentrations of each PHT derivative decreased significantly when Pseudomonas putida was grown in the presence of these carbon sources. By the time the bacteria had stopped growing, the concentration of the PHT derivatives had decreased by 50-55 percent. When further MEA and EG were added, the overall PHT decrease was 83 percent. In the absence of a carbon source other than PHT, the PHT levels remained constant. When no bacteria were present, the PHT concentrations also remained constant.
The authors suggest that the PHT undergoes transformation by the microbial cells when a growth substrate (MEA/EG) is present. However as the cells did not grow in the presence of PHT alone, the authors conclude that the bacteria cannot use them for growth. The group hopes that the bacterial strain can be used in the context of plant-microbial associations to create a new generation of biotechnologies for remediation of soils contaminated by chemical warfare agents or products of their detoxification.
"Bioutilization of organic compounds of reaction masses is a biotechnological method that provides maximum environmental safety, since the pollutants are naturally degraded to innocuous products such as carbon dioxide and water, as well as microbial biomass," concluded Ermakova.

Министерство обороны США рассматривает предложение о том, чтобы обезопасить 74 российских объекта, связанных с биологическим оружием, с целью лишить террористов возможности получить патогенные микроорганизмы, которые там находятся.
В конечном счете этот шаг может привести к закрытию самых важных в России объектов по производству оружия, в том числе лабораторий в Оболенске и Новосибирске, а также предприятий министерства обороны в Кирове и Сергиевом Посаде.

Washington, March 10 (UPI) - The U.S. Department of Defense reportedly is weighing a proposal to secure as many as 74 possible Russian bioweapons sites so terrorists cannot obtain possession of the pathogens stored there.
The move ultimately could put out of reach some of the most important Russian weapons facilities, including laboratories in Obolensk and Novosibirsik, as well as Ministry of Defense facilities in Kirov and Sergiev Posad.
The proposal, being made by the International Exchange Group, would begin with a pilot project to secure six specific sites and then expand to other locations if successful. Destruction of pathogens stored at the facilities is a possibility, but that would depend on further negotiations with the Russians, said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., a supporter of the idea and part of the group's oversight body.
IEG is a non-governmental organization with offices in Washington and close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin's government. In fact, the group's ability to influence those in authority in Russia is at the center of the proposal. It is supposed to be able to ensure American funds spent on securing the dangerous material are not subject to the fraud and abuse that Weldon said has consumed 25 percent to 30 percent of such U.S. aid to Russia since the demise of the Soviet Union.
The six proposed sites include the State Scientific Center of Applied Microbiology in Obolensk - a former biological weapons facility where scientists researched bacteria including anthrax, plague, tularemia and glanders.
Also on the list is the State Scientific Center of Virology and Biotechnology, a part of the notorious Vektor Institute.
Vektor had some 4,500 scientists working on bioweapons in 1990, author Richard Preston told Congress in 1998. It also is supposed to be holding Russia's samples of smallpox virus -- supposedly only one of two such sample sets in the world.
The smallpox connection makes the center - which Ken Alibek has identified as being in Novosibirsik -- particularly interesting. Alibek, a Russian bioweapons expert who defected to the United States in 1992, confirmed to United Press International the center worked on virus-based biological weapons.
The headquarters for Biopreparat -- the Biopreparat Open Joint Stock Co. in the city of Moscow -- also is on the list. Created in 1973, Biopreparat was an umbrella organization for commercial pharmaceutical research and a front for bioweapons activity. Though no research was done there, Alibek said, the site could hold clues to work done at other locations. "In my time all biological weapons development information was kept in that building," Alibek said.
Other sites on the list include the Scientific and Research Institute of Virology and the Epidemiological and Microbiological Scientific and Research Institute in Moscow. These were not bioweapons sites, said Alibek, but both housed collections of pathogens. The sixth is the Federal Center of Animals Health Protection. The type of work done there and its role are unclear.
The six sites are "absolutely" worth securing, Alibek said, and the expanded list has facilities he thinks gaining access to would be particularly important.
Among the most valuable would be the Scientific Research Institute of Microbiology in Kirov and the Center of Virology at Sergiev Posad. Both were run by the Ministry of Defense and access to the latter has been refused up to now.
Gaining access previously denied is exactly what the proposal is about, Weldon said.
"It is a brand new concept," Weldon told UPI. "They have never done it before. Usually this work is done ministry to ministry. What we are exploring is the use of a non-governmental entity in Russia that is very close to Putin to get access that we haven't been able to get through the traditional channels. This is kind of a whole new process. That is why we are doing two small pilot programs to test it - to see if it is real."
Weldon, fluent in Russian and a long-time proponent of improving relations between the United States and Russia, co-chairs IEG's Joint Political Council with Alexander Kotenkov, plenipotentiary representative of the president at the Russian Federation at the Council of Federation - the upper house of the Russian Parliament, roughly equivalent to the U.S. Senate. The two men provide "guidance, consultation and strategic oversight" a company brochure said.
Also looking over IEG's shoulder are a number of seemingly well-placed Russian officials. The group's Board of Guardians includes Victor Zavarzn and Vladimir Vasilev, chairmen of the Duma committees on defense and (homeland) security, respectively.
Also on the board are:
- Aleksander Bortnikov deputy director of the Federal Security Service, which handles internal security and, as of last year, head of FSS's Economic Security Service;
- Yury Baluevsky, first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation;
- Lubov Sliska, first deputy chairman of the State Duma, and
- Alexey Alexandrov, member of the Council of Federation.
Money for the project, a figure in the low millions of dollars, Weldon said, likely would come from the Defense Department's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, with no further congressional approval required. Work would be done by Russian agency personnel but inspected by the American funders. Work would not be paid for until it was confirmed to be correct and complete, he said.
The proposal is being reviewed, Weldon said, by the office of Douglas Feith and an interagency panel, Weldon noted. Feith is the Defense Department's undersecretary of defense for policy.
Feith's office did not respond to several requests for information on the proposal.
"We haven't had access to all the biological sites or the chemical sites," said Weldon, who has been pushing the idea for the past six months. "The Russians have said if we work through this process we can get access to any site in Russia."

Начало дайджеста за МАРТ 2005 года (часть 1)

предыдущий месяц

1998-2005

следующий месяц