The Roanoke Times - Representatives Highlight Benefits of Nanotechnology During Giles Co. Visit

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By: Alicia Petska

The bright-burning torch sparked as it bore down on its target, blasting it with temperatures north of 1,000 degrees.
But the sheet, treated with a protective, heat-resistant nanopolymer, remained intact. A hand pressed to the sample's backside found it still cool to the touch.

The cutting-edge polymer, created by NanoSonic in Giles County, is part of the rapidly expanding field of nanotechnology -- a small science with big potential for the nation's military and other industries.
On Monday, U.S. Reps. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, and Robert Wittman, R- Westmoreland, visited NanoSonic's Pembroke campus to get an up-close look at the products in development.
Wittman, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, recently backed a measure encouraging the military to expand adoption of nanomaterials.
"I think there have been missed opportunities," said Wittman, adding while some operations have been eager to explore the new technology, others remain attached to old, legacy products.
The Department of Defense, for example, is currently taking proposals for use of nanomaterials to better protect aircraft; NanoSonic is among those working up a submission.
But at the same time, the Navy is using circa-1970s technology in its firefighting suits for sailors, Wittman said.
"I think, in many instances, they aren't looking at the full application of these materials," he said.
NanoSonic, founded in 1998, has developed products for the Navy and NASA, among others. It was part of a recent Department of Homeland Security initiative that led to the creation of a more flexible and durable safety glove for firefighters.
Monday's visit was arranged by Griffith's office as part of a larger regional tour that included stops at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant and an aircraft systems manufacturer in Smyth County.
Griffith said he suggested the visit to offer Wittman, who heads a military readiness subcommittee, a closer look at the region's defense-related industry and to explore ways to help build upon its achievements.
"We've just scratched the surface," he said Monday. "There are a lot more defense-related things going on in the district than people realize."
Wittman, who represents Virginia's 1st District, has announced plans to run for governor in 2017. Griffith said Monday's was a congressional visit, and he hasn't made an endorsement in next year's race.
Other Republicans vying for the governor's seat include Ed Gillespie, a former GOP national chairman, and Corey Stewart, a Prince William County supervisor.
The media couldn't attend the tour of the Army's munitions-making plant in Radford, but the congressmen spoke about the visit afterward and expressed confidence in how the facility is handling a controversial open-burning policy.
"I am fully confident that what they're doing there, with closed burning versus open burning, is applying technology to the maximum effect possible to protect the environment," said Wittman, who worked as an environmental health specialist before joining Congress.
Open burning can't be taken off the table completely, Wittman said, because some types of munitions waste are too unstable to go through the grinding process used to prepare waste for closed incineration.
But the facility is doing its due diligence to operate safely and minimize open burning, he said, including moving to modernize its systems.
The plant's decades-long practice of openly burning certain types of waste has been strongly opposed by environmental groups worried about the emissions.
The facility's management, hoping to assure the public that emissions are within safe levels, recently announced plans to do a series of air quality tests next summer. It's also working to design a new type of enclosed incinerator that could handle much of the waste now openly burned.
Griffith, who represents Virginia's 9th District, emphasized the plant is operating within limits established by state and federal environmental regulators.
"That doesn't mean you shouldn't be vigilant, but it looks like they're doing everything they can to minimize it," he said of the burning.

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