Steven Alferink
Steven Alferink first heard about Los Alamos at a career fair at the University of Missouri-Rolla. "It sounded like a good opportunity for me, so I jumped at it," said Alferink.
Since then, he has spent four summers at the Lab, two as an undergraduate student (UGS) in Space and Remote Sensing Sciences (NIS-2) and two as a graduate research assistant (GRA) in 238Pu Science and Engineering (NMT-9).
His initial work in NIS-2 focused on satellite software programming, something completely new to him at the time. The algorithm he worked on his first summer is running aboard the Multispectral Thermal Imager satellite, which launched in 1999.
His work in NMT-9 has included writing an instruction manual for the Solution In-Line Alpha Counter (SILAC), which provides alpha activity measurements of aqueous solutions in glove boxes at the Plutonium Facility (TA-55).
He also created a document control database that tracks more than 200 documents used in NMT-9, including safety procedures, hazard control plans, training plans, drawings, equipment manuals, and lab notebooks.
Alferink currently is working on a method to improve on existing plutonium isotopic analysis computer codes for plutonium-238 samples.
The goal is to determine a correlation for the weight percentages of plutonium-240 and -242 in plutonium-238 oxide materials. Alferink is hoping to implement this correlation into a new version of PC/FRAM to automatically determine the isotopic composition of plutonium-238 oxide materials.
PC/FRAM, developed by Safeguards Science and Technology (NIS-5), is an isotopic analysis software package used mainly for plutonium-239 and uranium materials.
By analyzing gamma-ray spectra of a sample, the PC/FRAM software helps researchers determine nondestructively the percentage of weight composition of a sample.
If the isotopic composition of plutonium-238 samples can be determined accurately by this nondestructive method, it could save time and money, according to Alferink.
The current analytical method for determining the isotopic composition of plutonium in samples requires chemical separations and analysis by thermal-ionization mass spectrometry. The technique is very accurate and precise, but time-consuming, expensive, and requires destroying the sample.
Nondestructive analysis techniques based on gamma-ray spectroscopy have been developed to measure large quantities (tens of grams to kilograms) of plutonium-239 or uranium for safeguard and security purposes, but haven't been tested and applied to small samples (milligrams to nanograms).
Alferink's project will extend the use of the nondestructive analysis technique to analytical applications to provide rapid (a few hours or less) and accurate isotopic composition data for plutonium-238.
There is very little data on plutonium-238 because of the lack of a strong gamma-ray signature of plutonium-240 in plutonium-238 materials. Alferink is using historic data from the heat sources manufactured at Los Alamos for the Cassini probe to Saturn as a basis for his algorithm.
Alferink rates his student experience at Los Alamos as very positive and credits his team leader and mentor in NMT-9, Amy Wong, with making the past two summers so productive.
"She leads by example," said Alferink, "and she's always there when I need her. She's also very supportive of my working on the project back in Rolla during the school year."
He enjoys the relaxed atmosphere of the group and the people he works with. "I think I'm one of the few nonchemists in the group, but they don't hold that against me," he said.
If thereีs been a downside to Alferink's student experience, it's the time it has taken to get a clearance (he's still waiting), and the training required at the beginning of his assignment (which he politely referred to as "dry"). But he understands why the training is required: "After all, TA-55 is a nuclear facility."
On the upside, Alferink didn't experience some of the problems that may affect students: inadequate housing, loneliness, and adjusting to small-town life. He easily found housing his first summers through the Lab's Housing Office and the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos. Last year's Cerro Grande Fire burned the apartment he was planning to rent, so he lived in a motor home-along with his girlfriend and three cats.
"I'm pretty much of a loner and Rolla is a small town, so I was prepared for the smallness of Los Alamos, but I do miss green grass," Alferink said.
Yet he admits luck was with him four years ago when, on his first day of student orientation here, he met fellow GRA Beth Schlapper. The pair have been together ever since.
With summer over, Alferink is back in Rolla pursuing master's degrees in nuclear engineering and applied mathematics. He will continue his work on the plutonium isotopic analysis project during the school year and hopes to return to Los Alamos next summer.
Schlapper, who earned a master's degree from UMR in nuclear engineering in December 2000, is starting another master's program in environmental engineering.
And both are settling into a new life together-they got married July 28.
Beth Schlapper and Steven Alferink met on the first day of student orientation four years ago. They got married this summer.
Amy Wong, a radiochemist who joined the Laboratory in 1994, believes in the importance of mentoring. For Wong, mentoring is as much about on-the-job training as it is about developing an employee and looking toward the future.
Amy Wong has mentored Steven Alferink for the past two summers. He says she "leads by example" and credits her with making his work experience so productive.
"We need to invest time at the beginning, especially with new technicians at TA-55, as well as with other new hires, to make sure they learn all the basics of safe operations," said Wong. "In the longer term, we're much better off spending time early on helping them learn the right way to do things."
"But mentoring is also about helping an employee discover what direction to take in his or her career. It's an investment in the future to help them develop their personal skills as well as their technical skills," said Wong.
Wong doesn't have to look far for a role model: her group leader, Liz Foltyn, won a mentoring award this year from the Women's Diversity Working Group for promoting the advancement of women in the workplace.
More information about mentoring and tools to perform self-assessments are available at learning@lanl on the Training and Development (HR-6) web site. The address is www.hr.lanl.gov/TD.
Stories by Meredith S. CoonleyPhotos by Mick Greenbank (NMT-16).
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