In New Orleans, on the Mississippi River, the largest dry dock in the United States is being built by Conrad Dry Dock. Dry docks are utilized to repair large ships, and range in size up to three hundred feet long (more than 90 metres).
The process of preparing a ship to be dry docked can be long and tedious. The dock is first flooded, allowing the ship in need of repair to be pushed into the dock by tugboats or tow boats.
Once the ship is in place, the dry dock is then raised by emptying the water out of the dock with pumps that are placed in chambers on each side of the dock.
Sixteen large AFP 2523 M360/6 pumps from ABS will be used to pump the water out of the dry dock. Each pump is rated at 47 hp (corresponding to 35 kW) and delivers almost 19,000 litres of water per minute. With the 16 pumps, a total of 80,000 gallons per minute (more than 300,000 litres) will be pumped from the dock!
Computerized control panel
ABS also designed a special control panel that operates all the pumps, valves and accessories from one location. The computerized control centre can be operated by just one person, controlling all 16 pumps at the same time.
The modular control system monitors the level of docks and level of chambers, the alarms, and operating and closed valves. The pumping system will reduce the time to raise and lower the dock by 50%.
The whole process used to take seven hours with the old pumping system, but now the dock is flooded and drained in only 3.5 hours.
The Hon. Elizabeth Witmer has been appointed Ontario Minister of the Environment. Elizabeth Witmer was first elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1990 as the representative for Waterloo North. In June 1995, she was sworn in as Ontario's Minister of Labour. First appointed Minister of Health on October 10, 1997, Mrs. Witmer was re-appointed Minister of Health and Long-Term Care in June of 1999.
Born in the Netherlands, she was raised in Exeter, Ontario, and graduated from the University of Western Ontario.
The London-based Rolls-Royce aero engine and industrial group has committed itself to a long-term industrial gas turbine technology partnership with the Canadian government. Under an agreement signed mid-year, Rolls-Royce (RR) will invest 100 million pounds sterling in R&D at its Montreal facility, while the Canadian government will invest an additional 33.3 million pounds sterling in its Technology Partnerships Canada program. The investments are aimed at increasing the R&D effort to advance combustor innovation, and achieving further reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from industrial gas turbines.
Rolls-Royce Industries Canada, the UK group's local subsidiary, will work with the Canadian government on the research partnership.
The 53-megawatt industrial Trent gas turbine, which is the world's most powerful and efficient gas turbine of its kind, was the first major research and development program to be undertaken by RR outside the UK. Canada was also the location of the first industrial Trent application when it went into service at the Whitby Cogeneration company partnership plant in 1996.
Web site: www.rolls-royce.com
The Ontario government has passed the toughest hazardous waste regulation in the province's history. The new rules take effect on March 31, 2001.
The new regulation requires the use of the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) to determine if a waste is hazardous. This procedure is more advanced than the leaching test currently being used in Ontario. The requirements will be tougher than those in the US.
The regulation also introduces a new "derived from" rule, stating that any listed hazardous waste will keep this classification until it can be clearly demonstrated that it is no longer hazardous. As well, Ontario's schedules of hazardous wastes have been updated to include 129 new chemicals and industrial processes.
The province has now fulfilled its six-point action plan announced in September 1999. The plan included:
Contact: www.ene.gov.on.ca.