MIT scientists report significant progress on two techniques
that could convert a variety of hazardous wastes into harmless
or less noxious compounds.  Recently the researchers began
operation of a new furnace that melts solid wastes such as
contaminated soils into glassy blobs while vaporizing and
decomposing any volatile chemicals present. "We fed in simulated
waste soil continuously, it was processed in the furnace, and it
came out as a lava-like material that solidified into a glass,"
said Daniel R. Cohn, acting assistant director of the Plasma
Fusion Center and director of the PFC program on waste
remediation.  The new furnace is capable of ultimately
processing up to 700 pounds of waste per hour (a smaller version
tested last year handled only 40 pounds per hour).  On another
front, the researchers are currently loading a second type of
unit onto a tractor trailer that they'll be ready to drive out
to the DOE Hanford Reservation in Washington state within the
next few weeks. There they'll use the unit i