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CNN Sunday Morning

Russian Scientists Invent a Cheap Way to Sterilize Mail

Aired November 04, 2001 - 10:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Here's an interesting story: Some Russian scientists say they may be able to help the U.S. deal with the anthrax threat. They say they have a system that can kill anthrax in mail on the cheap.

CNN's Colleen McEdwards reports on some old technology that's getting new attention.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This contraption was designed to sterilize beer bottles and test tubes. Now, it could end up in U.S. post offices.

DR. YURY KOTOV, RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: This electron beam accelerator in my opinion very simple, very cheap.

MCEDWARDS: Dr. Yury Kotov at the Russian Academy of Sciences says it's also fast. It can process 75,000 pieces of mail a day.

"The letters move by conveyer and are completely sterilized by the electron pulse," he says. It was first developed in the '70s, perfected in the '90s. and Russian scientists say it will be ready for mass production in about four months.

"It's the baby of my scientific career," says Genadiy Mesiats (ph). "The United States has told us, guys, make it less expensive, and we'll talk about industrial production."

Letter-zapping technology in the United States is still considered slow, and the electron beam on some of the machines is too small to penetrate all kinds of mail. The Russian version has an adjustable beam, and the Russians say it's going to be much cheaper. They're eager to ink a deal, but admit there's nothing in place yet.

They say it could be used in Russian post offices as well, where workers are taking extra care with the mail these days.

"Any scientist wants their inventions to be appreciated," Dr. Kotov says, "We've been working on this machine for a long time and it's good to know our machine is also known in the U.S."

And consider the irony, at a research center in the Urals, a place that used to do Soviet military research during the Cold War, a new weapon for a whole new war has been born and may actually be shared.

Colleen McEdwards, CNN, Yekaterinburg.

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