#5
BBC Monitoring
USA wants Russian equipment for tackling suspect mail
Source: Russia TV, Moscow, in Russian 1700 gmt 31 Oct 01
[Presenter Mikhail Antonov] Russia is ready to help the USA repulse new attacks by bioterrorists. The electrophysics institute of the Urals branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences has received a US request for special mail sterilization equipment.
The unique equipment is capable of destroying not only anthrax spores but also other deadly bacteria. Natalya Bogdanova has the details.
[Correspondent] This is a laboratory at the Urals electrophysics institute. A unique set of radiation sterilization equipment is being tested inside a special bunker. Yekaterinburg's scientists designed it in the beginning of the 1990s. Both their Russian colleagues and foreign specialists are now interested in their equipment. Americans call the institute every day. They have found out that the Urals scientists can help them defeat the anthrax inside mail envelopes.
This equipment does not look very appealing but it can fully neutralize dangerous infections with the help of an electron beam.
[Sergey Sokovnin, captioned as senior researcher at the electrophysics institute of the Urals branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences] Electrons get inside a material, including anthrax spores, and cause various internal processes which lead to the destruction of the substance's molecules.
[Correspondent] This is the experiment itself. A yellow plastic detector is put inside an envelope. It is sent through the equipment. Half a second later the plate changes colour. This means that all dangerous substances inside it have been destroyed.
[Sokovnin] If the equipment is installed at a conveyor where mail is sorted, the majority of envelopes weighing up to 80 g - those which can hold several sheets of paper inside them - will be fully sterilized.
[Correspondent] At present, there are several institutes in the world which produce sterilizing equipment. However, they are mainly intended for very large cargo. Tonnes of letters have to be put together to enable the operation of the Titan equipment currently in use in the USA. The Urals equipment can handle small quantities. Even small post offices can afford to install it. It costs 25 times less than the American counterpart. Moreover, the equipment poses no radiation hazards. The electrophysicists designed it for use in hospitals, for medical equipment sterilization...
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