VA hospitals adopt software to track hazardous materials

The Business Journal of Phoenix - by Ty Young Phoenix Business Journal

The Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix signed on to use Tucson-based MC Technologies' Maxcom software to monitor hazardous waste products.

Six U.S. Veterans Administration hospitals, including two in Phoenix and Tucson, have signed on to use the first multicenter software system to catalog hazardous waste.

Tucson-based MC Technologies inked the $668,000 deal to provide its highly specialized Maxcom System to the Veterans Integrated Service Networks' Southwest region.

The decision comes as VA centers nationwide are scrambling to comply with a 2005 law requiring federal buildings to meet strict Environmental Protection Agency guidelines. The centers also have to meet additional standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. To read more……….

University of Florida reactor safe

By: Alireza Haghighat, chair of the UF Department of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sets the standard for all reactors.

In light of the recent scrutiny of university research reactors, I believe I have a responsibility as an educator in nuclear science and engineering to provide information on the importance of the discipline and the reactors.

Following the Manhattan Project, U.S. leaders realized the significant potential to generate ample cheap energy as well as the possibility of improving man’s standard of living. So, the Atomic Energy Commission initiated a worldwide program for educating nuclear scientists and providing assistance in building research reactors. To read more…………….

Health and safety questioned at Immokalee migrant camps

KELLY FARRELL, Daily News correspondent

The owner of multiple immigrant housing properties in Immokalee is facing more Collier County code violations than he and his son can keep up with.

Alfredo Miralles Jr. translated between Spanish and English for his father, Alfredo Miralles, and the Collier County Code Enforcement Board during Thursday’s board meeting.

“He’s not happy because this is his bread and butter,” Miralles Jr. said of his father’s rental properties that were under scrutiny by Code Enforcement.

Senior Investigator Ed Morad said the property was called in as a health department concern due to overcrowding in October 2006.

“It’s the same situation as numerous migrant camps in Immokalee. We decided to deal with these [building code] issues first,” said John Santafemia, a Code Enforcement property maintenance specialist.

One of the major violations code enforcement officials said they were concerned about were the single-family dwellings being used as multifamily apartment rentals.

Two buildings on the property, at 108 S. Sixth S. in Immokalee, received and failed structural inspections. Those buildings were removed in the time frame set by the board; however debris from the demolition remained on the property for over 30 days. At the rate of $250 per day for the remaining debris, Miralles accumulated a $7,500 bill. To read more………….

Florida county plans to vaporize landfill trash

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida county has grand plans to ditch its dump, generate electricity and help build roads — all by vaporizing garbage at temperatures hotter than the sun.

The $425 million facility expected to be built in St. Lucie County will use lightning-like plasma arcs to turn trash into gas and rock-like material. It will be the first such plant in the nation operating on such a massive scale and the largest in the world.

Supporters say the process is cleaner than traditional trash incineration, though skeptics question whether the technology can meet the lofty expectations.

The 100,000-square-foot plant, slated to be operational in two years, is expected to vaporize 3,000 tons of garbage a day. County officials estimate their entire landfill — 4.3 million tons of trash collected since 1978 — will be gone in 18 years.

No byproduct will go unused, according to Geoplasma, the Atlanta-based company building and paying for the plant.

Synthetic, combustible gas produced in the process will be used to run turbines to create about 120 megawatts of electricity that will be sold back to the grid. The facility will operate on about a third of the power it generates, free from outside electricity. To read more……..

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