Hi Gang,
...some worrisome news from ORNL. Perhaps some of you will be interested in
the following message. NOTE: please address your concerns to DOE, not to me
or Dave Smith!

thanks!
dave wayne

+++++++

> To all those concerned:
>
>Once again the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Stable Isotopes Enrichment
Program is threatened with extinction.  The calutrons are now in stand-by
mode and will remain so for the rest of FY 98.  A decision will be made in
October whether to restart them or not.  The idea seems to be to give this
sort of work to another country.
>
>If, like me, you feel such a policy would be short-sighted in the extreme
and jeopardize much important research, you may wish to express your
feelings in a letter (or via other means) to:
>
>Mr. Owen W. Lowe, director
>Isotope Production & Distribution Program
>GTN, Ne-70
>US Department of Energy
>19901 Germantown Road
>Germantown, Md @0874-1290
>
>Phone (301) 903-5161
>FAX   (301) 903-5434
>
>Points you might consider making include the fact that the loss of this
capability in the U. S. is highly undesirable, particularly since future
availability of important isotopes would be dependent on an uninterrupted
source of supply over which we have no control.  Another point to make is
that many isotopes vital to important research are not commercially
profitable and whose future availability would be uncertain, to say the
least.  Isotopes used in medical treatment (e. g., 203-Th, 88-Sr) are
commercially profitable and would probably still be available.  Most others
(e. g., 84-Sr, 204-Pb, the rare earths, etc., etc.) may well not be.
>
>Please let your feelings be known to Mr. Lowe.  Maybe we can save our
research!
>
>David Smith
>ORNL
+++++++


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave Wayne
Mass Spectrometry Section
NMT-1, MSG-740
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM USA 87545
Phone: 505-665-5933, FAX: 505-665-4737
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~