EPA issues rules on Halon

EPA's " Final Rule on the Protection of the Stratospheric Ozone: has
been published in the March 18th, 1994 Federal Register.  The section
dealing with Fire Suppression and Explosion Protection (pp.13097-13110,
13137-13144) focuses on a discussion of potential substitutes for Halon
1211 and 1301 which have been proven to be " among the most
ozone-depleting chemical in use today" and will be banned by
international convention before the end of the century.  Each substitute
chemical or technique is discussed from the point of view of
environmental impact and effectiveness in fire suppression. Although each
of these chemicals or techniques will require evaluation as to their
library, archival or museum applicability, the data provided by the
Register and in NFPA Standard 2001 are useful starting points for such
evaluation.

    **** Moderator's comments:   The document is available via Gopher at
    the following URL:

gopher://gopher.counterpoint.com:2002/0R0-953586-/ByDate/031894/031894/0318

    I had hoped to make it available on CoOL, but it copyright to the
    electronic text is held by Counterpoint Publishing, who provide the
    above gopher.

The "Final Rule..." also discusses substitutes for Ethylene Oxide(10\88
formula), pp. 13111-13112, which was used for the fumigation of books
and archives in pressurized fumigation chambers in the recent past.
Since the standards focuses on ozone-depletion avoidance rather than
general safety, the use of pure EO is suggested as acceptable in this
standard since it contains no fluorocarbons, but the standard also points
out that EO is "toxic, carcinogenic and flammable."

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                   Conservation DistList Instance 8:5
                   Distributed: Friday, July 1, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-8-5-001
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