Public release date: 7-Aug-2001
Contact: Staci Maloof
staci.maloof@pnl.gov
DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Russian, PNNL scientists advance US seed production, oil remediation RICHLAND, Wash.-While searching for a better way to grow turf grass in light of stricter government regulations, a Washington state seed company found help from an unlikely source - former Soviet Union scientists who supported the production of weapons of mass destruction during the Cold War, but who now share their expertise through a U.S. nonproliferation program. Dye Seed Ranch, a seed processing and production company based in Pomeroy, Wash., sought technical expertise for its turf grass seed operation from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Laboratory scientists linked them with Russian scientists who had developed a plant growth stimulator and an oil remediation biotechnology. The Russian scientists work at Biochimmash, a former Soviet weapons development center, the prestigious Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Russian State Institute for Gas and Oil. In August, Dye Seed and scientists from PNNL and the three Russian organizations will be testing the plant growth stimulator and oil-eating microbes throughout the Northwest. The testing follows the signing of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement in June that formalized Dye Seed's interest in pursuing commercial opportunities with PNNL and the Russians. | |
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