PNRI partners with ITDI and Envirotech to recycle plastic waste using radiation technology
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PNRI Director Dr. Carlo Arcilla (4th from left), ITDI Director Dr. Anabelle Briones (middle) and Envirotech President Engr. Winchester Lemen (4th from right) with the respective agency and company officials and PREx project staff during the signing of the MOA for the Post-radiation Reactive Extrusion (PREx) initiative at the PNRI compound in Quezon City
PNRI partners with ITDI and Envirotech to recycle plastic waste using radiation technology
To help address the worsening plastic pollution problem in the country while also maximizing the use of reprocessed materials for industries, the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute partners with the DOST-Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOST-ITDI) and Envirotech Waste Recycling, Inc., to harness radiation in recycling plastic wastes.
PNRI Director Dr. Carlo Arcilla, ITDI Director Dr. Anabelle Briones and Envirotech President Engr. Winchester Lemen signed a Memorandum of Agreement for Post-radiation Reactive Extrusion (PREx), a research initiative by PNRI with funding from the DOST Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).
3 Navotas barangays & DOST nuclear agency partner in dengue control project
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3 Navotas barangays & DOST nuclear agency partner in dengue control project
Local leaders from Navotas City recently turned to nuclear technology as a tool in helping control dengue in their communities.
Barangay Captains Leonora Acosta of Tanza 1 (third from left) and Rochelle Vicencio of Tanza 2 (fourth from left), inked a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI) represented by PNRI’s Deputy Director Dr. Vallerie Ann Samson (third from right) and Atomic Research Division Chief Dr. Lucille Abad (second from right) on June 29, 2023 to formalize their support and participation to the project “Development and Application of Sterile Insect Technique for the Control of Dengue Mosquito Aedes aegypti.”
Led by entomologist Glenda Obra (rightmost), Scientist 1 and head of PNRI’s Agriculture Research Section, the three-year project will entail surveillance and monitoring of dengue mosquitoes; conducting community surveys, consultations, and capacity-building activities; and carrying out of sterile male mosquito release trials using irradiation, a nuclear technology that can, among others, make male mosquitoes unable to bear offsprings.
Also included in the study is Brgy. Daang Hari led by Alvin Oliveros (not in picture). (Framelia V. Anonas | Nuclear Information and Documentation Section | DOST-PNRI)
PNRI recognized as Champion Partner of DOST-STARBOOKS
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PNRI recognized as Champion Partner of DOST-STARBOOKS
Congratulations to the DOST - Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, who were among the institutions recognized as one of the Champion Partners of DOST-STARBOOKS!
The award was given on June 15, during the celebration of the 36th Anniversary of the DOST-Science and Technology Information Institute at the Philippine International Convention Center.
STARBOOKS is also celebrating 12 years of the successful program with the theme "STARBOOKS@12: Pagpupugay sa mga BIDA ng STARBOOKS"
STARBOOKS, which stands for Science and Technology Academic and Research-Based Openly-Operated KioskS, was launched on 2011 as a stand-alone information portal designed to reach those with limited or no access to S&T information resources.
The kiosks, which are sent to various schools, communities, and institutions across the Philippines, contains hundreds of thousands of digitized S&T resources, including materials on nuclear and radiation applications, presented in various audi-visual formats with user-friendly interface.
“Maraming salamat sa STARBOOKS ng DOST-Science and Technology Information Institute, sa pagpupugay na ibinigay nyo sa inyong mga "Champion Partners", kabilang na ang DOST - Philippine Nuclear Research Institute” said DOST-PNRI on its Facebook page as it thanks the DOST-STII for the recognition.
“Kami ay patuloy na makikipagtulungan sa DOST-STARBOOKS upang palawigin ang access ng ating mga mag-aaral sa mga nuclear S&T information materials.”
Scientists discover nuclear signals that could possibly mark the start of the Anthropocene
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Left: DOST-PNRI’s Dr. Angel Bautista VII presents a segment of the ice core containing the I-129 radionuclide signals which they propose as the most probable golden spike indicator of the Anthropocene epoch
Right: Sampling the ice core at the SE Dome site in Greenland
Segment of an ice core
Scientists discover nuclear signals that could
possibly mark the start of the Anthropocene
When did human activities start affecting the earth permanently on a planetary scale? This proposed new period of such human activities is called the Anthropocene epoch. This period, and all other periods such as the Jurassic Age, has a start flag called the “golden spike,” an event marker that signals a tremendous physical, chemical, or biological change across the Earth.
In a new study by DOST-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, RIKEN, Hirosaki University, and Hokkaido University, researchers propose that the beginning of the Anthropocene, or its “golden spike,” is best recorded as nuclear bomb peaks.
In particular, the scientists found the peaks of the radionuclide iodine-129 or I-129 found in an ice core at the Greenland Southeast Dome site as an “excellent candidate for the Anthropocene period’s golden spike.”
Scientific debate
Identifying the Anthropocene’s golden spike is a comprehensive scientific debate that started in 2009 and has been ongoing for years. A growing consensus within the scientific community is that the most pronounced global start of the Anthropocene is within the mid-20th century. Called the “Great Acceleration,” it is a period of exponential human population, economic, and technological growth at a scale that caused massive changes in the Earth’s environment.
Quest for the golden spike
Scientists have explored several probable golden spikes in the Great Acceleration. Among those considered are the global fallout signals from nuclear weapons testing, particularly of the radionuclides carbon-14 (C-14) and plutonium-239 (Pu-239). However, these radionuclides will decay and disappear a few hundred thousand years into the future, and their signals will be impossible to be found by humans by then. Thus, they may not be quite enduring to serve as the golden spike.
In their quest, scientists found a more fitting golden spike indicator-- iodine-129 (I-129) whose half-life is 15.7 million years, which means that its signals can be found by humans even millions of years into the future.
Ice recordings
The authors in this study measured I-129 in ice deep in the Greenland Southeast-Dome site, even as they explored its potential as the likely Anthropocene golden spike.
As they took the core out from the 90-meter deep ice drilling, the researchers found that the I-129 in the ice core recorded almost the entire history of the nuclear age, particularly the period 1957-2007. “It was in unprecedented detail at a resolution of about every four months,” the scientists say.
More specifically, the I-129 in the ice core recorded signals from nuclear weapons testing in 1958, 1961, and 1962, the Chernobyl Accident in 1986, and other various signals from nuclear fuel reprocessing within the same year or a year after. The relationships between I-129 in the ice core and these human nuclear activities were defined and quantified through a mathematical model.
Most importantly, these I-129 nuclear signals were also seen in other records from different locations and environments worldwide, such as in trees, corals, and sediments. This means that these signals can be found virtually anywhere – a good characteristic of a potential golden spike. This global presence is comparable with those of the C-14 and Pu-239 bomb signals, but the much longer half-life of I-129 makes it a more enduring and ideal golden spike.
The study was published in Science of the Total Environment, one of the world’s leading environmental science journals with an impact Factor of 10.75.
(By the Nuclear Materials Research Section, DOST-PNRI)
