FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	
Contact: Media Relations	202-268-2155
October 15, 2003
	Release No. 074
	www.usps.com

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE PROPOSES MAIL IRRADIATION FACILITY

WASHINGTON, DC - The United States Postal Service next week will publish a 
"Notice of Intent" to begin the Environmental Assessment process that will 
determine the feasibility of constructing a postal-owned mail irradiation 
facility in the Washington, DC, area.  The preferred site is located on Postal 
Service property at the Curseen-Morris Processing and Distribution Center on 
Brentwood Road, NE.

Immediately following the anthrax attacks in October 2001, all mail service to 
government offices within Washington, DC, was halted until measures could be 
implemented to assure the safety of the mail.  To meet the immediate needs of 
the federal government, the Postal Service contracted to have government mail 
irradiated at contractor facilities in Ohio and New Jersey.  The irradiation of 
government mail continues today at contractor facilities in Bridgeport, New 
Jersey.

Now - as part of an integrated network to improve the overall safety of its 
employees and the safety of the mail - the Postal Service is re-examining the 
procedures used to process, transport, and irradiate government mail.

To respond more efficiently and more cost effectively to the continued need to 
irradiate/sanitize mail delivered to government offices within the 202 to 205 
ZIP Code areas, the Postal Service proposes to build a postal-owned 
mail-irradiation facility within the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area.

Construction of a local facility would minimize logistics and security 
requirements currently needed in transporting government mail to a contractor 
facility in Bridgeport, NJ, and allow the Postal Service to better maintain 
custody and control of the mail.

Due to operational inefficiencies and the unavoidable delays in irradiating mail 
prior to its delivery to government offices, the continued use of contractor 
facilities is not a practical long-term solution in protecting government 
agencies from acts of bio-terrorism through the mail.

When constructed, this will be the nation's first irradiation facility 
specifically designed to sanitize mail using electron beam (e-beam) and x-ray 
technology.

The technology has been in use for more than 50 years, is safe, and does not use 
or create any radioactive substances or materials.

At the same time it tackled the challenges of sanitizing government mail, the 
Postal Service announced it would take further steps to safeguard the health of 
its employees and customers, and to help ensure the security of the mail.

To meet these goals, the Postal Service this summer successfully tested - and 
will begin nationwide deployment in early 2004 of - Biohazard Detection Systems 
to detect anthrax sent through the mail.  And, to further reduce employee 
exposure to potential biological threats at its mail processing centers 
nationwide, the Postal Service early next year plans to install new Ventilation 
and Filtration Systems.

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