Stamford, CT - February 22, 2006 - FUJIFILM Medical Systems along with FUJIFILM NDT Systems, a Stamford-based digital imaging company, have announced that Fuji has donated a computed radiography (CR) system to The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va., which has named FUJIFILM its official imaging company. The technology will facilitate the excavation and conservation of the USS Monitor, the Civil War battleship which sank off the coast of Cape Hatteras in 1862. It allows conservators at the museum to take x-rays digitally, without the use of film, to look at artifacts covered with concretions - layers of sediment and marine life - which have collected for more than a century on the artifacts that were brought up from the wreck. It also enables conservators to remove the concretions from the artifacts without breaking or damaging them.

Lead conservator Eric Schindelholz and his team have been relying on a Fuji CR system located at neighboring Northrop Grumman (formerly Newport News Shipbuilding) to help unravel the Monitor's mysteries. Soon The Mariners' Museum will have its own CR unit that will be housed in a state-of-the-art conservation lab in the museum's Monitor Center, a new exhibition and research facility scheduled to open on March 9, 2007. Fuji was chosen as the official imaging company of both The Mariners' Museum and the USS Monitor.

"With CR we have quick and easy access to thousands of images in a computer network, without having to manually look through hard copy files for x-ray films," said Schindelholz. "This makes it much easier to examine the images, take measurements, and make comparisons, which is crucial to the conservation process. It not only facilitates the whole process, but we also no longer have to worry about wasting film and the tremendous costs that can be associated with film."

As conservators and archaeologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-the federal agency responsible for the USS Monitor National Marine Sanctuary-excavated the ship's gun turret, the skeletons of two crewmembers, as well as personal effects such as coins, silverware, and pocketknives were discovered inside. The Museum has more than 1,200 individual artifacts on site that were recovered from the Monitor over a five-year period. Examining some of the larger items, like the engine or the gun turret, requires thousands of small images, which are then pieced in a mosaic to form a large image.

Aside from aiding in the visual examination and documentation of the encrusted artifacts, Fuji's CR is also integral to the excavation and conservation process. "The x-ray images let us know where to dig and chisel so we don't harm the object," noted Schindelholz. "Sometimes the artifacts within the concretion - especially those made of iron - have corroded away. The concretions create a perfect cast or mold of the artifact, and the digital image allows us to see what was underneath before the significant corrosion took place."

"Fuji's computed radiography system offers conservators a means to overcome the challenges associated with the specialized nature of underwater excavation and maritime artifact conservation," said Doug Hackradt, national sales manager, Fuji's NDT Systems. "We're very excited to enter this partnership with The Mariners Museum and to see that our technology has proven to be such a critical tool in the preservation of American history."

Fuji has also donated equipment to assist in two other restoration efforts, including the excavation and conservation of the H.L. Hunley, the first Civil War submarine to have sunk an enemy warship. The submarine, which has remained dormant at the bottom of the sea for 130 years, was discovered in 1995 and raised on Aug. 8, 2000. Additionally, Fuji served as the official imaging company for the excavation and conservation of the LaBelle, the shipwreck (1686) of French explorer LaSalle that was discovered off the coast of Texas in Matagorda Bay.

About Fuji's Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Group
As one of the Fuji Photo Film family of companies with 70 years of imaging experience and almost $25 billion in sales, FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA Inc. (Fuji) is responsible for all U.S., Puerto Rico, and Caribbean operations for Fuji's full line of imaging products. The company is divided into three distinct groups: Medical Imaging, Non-Destructive Testing, and Life Sciences. Fuji's NDT group includes Fuji Computed Radiography (FCR) and x-ray film systems for non-destructive testing in the industrial marketplace, including the aerospace, automotive, shipbuilding, electronics and composites industries. Fuji's advanced digital x-ray imaging systems bring a new dimension of ease and precision to NDT image analysis. Products include: NDT CR; x-ray films; intensifying and lead screens; developing chemistry; film processors; silver reclamation systems; cineradiography systems; and films. Fuji is headquartered in Stamford, CT. More information is available at www.fujimed.com.