I am 38 years of age, spent some 13 years in the commercial end of the industry, and I know there is always a place open even in times of depression.

The only worry we have is if and when we can return, and have a chance to dig in and resume a normal life. A little bit of work will take care of everything.

Refrigeration on top of the world (near Point Barrow, Alaska) does not present any great problem, for the yearly mean temperature is so low that all that is necessary is to open the door a little wider.

Eskimos use refrigeration by nature, and the cellars are cold storage vaults the year around.

Common practice is to dip meat in the Arctic Ocean, let it freeze, repeat several times, and you have the fall kill all ready for storage. Sanitation is of no importance.

You are having spring in Detroit, and it is also spring in the Arctic. However, the temperature still gets as low as 0°F. The good old sun does not set until around 11:30 p.m. and we will soon have 24 hours of sunshine each day instead of 24 hours of darkness as in the dead of winter. Snow and ice is still plentiful.

I have greatly appreciated receiving The News in order to keep up with the industry. What commercial models will be after the war is what I am interested in. Many new changes, no doubt, will be made.

E.N. Nash, Y 1/C

1989

Danger in the Classroom

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) disclosed new documentation that high levels of radon are present in schoolrooms throughout the nation, reported the June 5, 1989 edition. Experts have cited that exposure to high levels of radon increases the risk of cancer.

The EPA had completed part one of a two-part study and, based on its findings, recommended that action be taken to reduce risks when levels inside a room or a building reach 4 picocuries per liter of air (pic/l).

The first part of the test contained two-day screening measurements in about 100 schools. The measurements were taken by putting charcoal canisters in all regularly occupied ground-level rooms.

The second phase of the study was to focus on the rooms where high levels of radon were found. To be included were short-term (two-day) and long-term (three months and one year) tests.

The then EPA administrator, William K. Reilly, reported that more than half of the 3,000 classrooms sampled displayed high levels of radon. In more than 3% of the rooms, the contamination level was over 20 piC/l.

According to the EPA study, operating the ventilation system at a reduced rate or entirely shutting down the system could raise or lower radon concentrations, depending on the type of system and the school’s construction.