Division Completes Science and Technology Assessment

NMT Division successfully completed its yearly science and technology assessment (May 11 through 13). It was the first in a new three-year cycle that covers all division operations. The formal review this year concentrated on four focus areas: materials stabilization, Seaborg Institute and LDRD projects, plutonium disposition, and collaborations (internal, international, and across DOE, universities, and industries). The report of the 11-member review committee will go to Laboratory Director John C. Browne and the University of California Science and Technology Panel of the Office of the President.

Division Review Committe Members (left to right) Dr. Susan Wood, Dr. Tony Thompson, Dr. Stephen Carpenter, Dr. Darleane Hoffman.

In the first session Division Director Bruce Matthews (standing in for Associate Laboratory Director for Nuclear Weapons Steve Younger) gave the committee an overview of the division's place in the restructured Laboratory organization. He then gave a division profile-its people, organization, resources, and major programs and significant accomplishments during the past year. Over the remainder of the first two days division scientists made 26 oral presentations and gave 22 poster papers, demonstrating the depth and breadth of NMT's science and technology in this year's four focus areas. The committee spent the third day formulating its assessment after meeting with several selected groups of individuals representing the technical staff, program managers, and Laboratory senior managers.

The division is evaluated on review criteria that have been agreed upon by the UC Science and Technology Panel and the Laboratory: quality of science and engineering, relevance to national needs and agency missions, performance in the construction and operation of major research facilities, and programmatic performance and planning. Although the assessment report will not be completed and submitted until sometime after this issue of the Actinide Research Quarterly goes to press, the committee's comments at the close-out session were uniformly positive. The successful review was a tremendous effort over many months on the part of the division's scientific, support, and management staff with a record number of NMT members and members of other Laboratory support organizations participating.

The accompanying photos show some of the review committee members, division participants, and activities in the annual review.

Division Review Committee

Dr. Ned A. Wogman, Chair
Associate Director, National Security and Defense
Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories

Dr. Richard A. Bartsch
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Texas Tech University

Dr. Rohinton K. Bhada
Director, Waste Management Education and Research Consortium
Associate Dean of Engineering
New Mexico State University

Dr. B. Stephen Carpenter
Director, Office of International Affairs
National Institute of Standards and Technology

Dr. Gregory R. Choppin
Department of Chemistry
Florida State University

Dr. Darryl D. DesMarteau
Department of Chemistry
Clemson University

Dr. Darleane C. Hoffman
Charter Director of the Seaborg Institute
Professor of Graduate School
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Dr. Todd LaPorte
Department of Political Science
University of California, Berkeley

Dr. W. Lamar Miller, invited guest
Department of Environmental Engineering Science
University of Florida

Dr. Anthony W. Thompson Materials Science Department
University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Robert Uhrig
Nuclear Engineering Department
The University of Tennessee

Dr. Susan Wood
Vice-President and Director
Savannah River Technology Center
Westinghouse Savannah River Company

The following talks were presented at the NMT Division Science and Technology Assessment, May 11-13: T. Allen, "Container Inspections"; L. Avens, "The NMT Integrated Approach to Combustible TRU Waste Treatment"; R. Wieneke, "Waste Certification"; T. Blair, "Thermal Treatment of Weapons-Derived PuO₂ to Reduce the Gallium Content"; D. Brandt, "Packaging Nuclear Materials for Storage at Los Alamos"; T. Nelson, "Fabrication of MOX Fuel for DOE's Plutonium Disposition Program/Russian Interaction on MOX"; D. Christensen, "Managing Skills During a Period of Transition"; D. Clark, "Seaborg Institute/LDRD"; T. Cremers, "Nondestructive Assay-a Joint United States and Russian Activity"; T. Hayes, "Current Aqueous Operations and Near-Term Upgrades"; D. Horrell, "Material Characteristics and Issues for Storage'; C. Hoth, "Container Designs for Intermediate and Long-Term Storage"; G. Jarvinen, "A New Paradigm in Separations: Molecular Recognition Membranes"; D. Kathios, Pyrolysis";

M. Lopez, "MOX Fuel for Parallex from PuO₂ Converted by LANL"; S. McKee, "The National Material Stabilization R&D Program"; T. Nelson, "Pu Disposition/ARIES"; A. Neuman, "MOX Fuel for ATR Irradiation Test Using PuO₂ Converted by LLNL";

L. Pansoy-Hjelvik, "Nitrate Anion Exchange in 238-Pu Scrap Recovery Operations"; K/. Ramsey, "Molten Salt Oxidation"; L. Schulte, "Effluent Polishing Techniques for Nitrate and Chloride Operations"; J. Williams, "Plutonium Recovery/Purification Flowsheet for the Future"; T. Nelson, "Russian Interactions on Pit Disassembly and Conversion"; L. Worl, "Development of Hydrothermal Plutonium Combustible Waste Treatment Process"; and T. Nelson, "The United States Pit Disassembly and Conversion Facility."

The following posters were presented at the NMT Division Science and Technology Assessment, May 11-13: W. Brown, "Pit Bisection to Achieve ALARA Goals"; A. Carrillo and A. Morales, et al., "MOX Fuel Fabrication Using Plutonium from Weapons for Irradiation Testing in the Advanced Test Reactor";

K. Chidester. C. James, et al., "Thermal Removal of Gallium from Weapons Grade Plutonium Oxide"; K. Chidester, K. Ramsey, et al., "Development of Advanced Mixed Oxide Fuels for Plutonium Management"; D. Clark, et al., "Actinide Complexes under Highly Alkaline Conditions"; B. Cort, et al., "Plutonium Aging: Investigation of Changes in Weapon Alloys as a Function of Time"; C. Davis, et al., "Characterization of Rocky Flats and Hanford 94-1 Materials"; K. Fife, "Pu Residue Stabilization and Scrap Recovery"; J. FitzPatrick, D. Knobeloch, et al., "ULISSES, The Uranium Line for Separation Science, from Concept to Reality"; B. Flamm, et al., "Alpha Ingot Thermal Cycling/Alpha Beta Phase Transformation"; B. Flamm, et al., "Hydride-Dehydride-the Second Generation System"; L. Foster, et al., "Moisture Probe Based on Neutron Moderation"; C. James, "Weapons Grade Plutonium Metal to Oxide Conversion for MOX Fuel"; T. Knight, et al., "Thermal Analyses of Plutonium in BNFL Containers"; D. Kolman, "94-1 Core Technology Corrosion Research: Correlating Crystallographic Orientation"; J. Lloyd, "Small Molecules Adsorbed at U and UO₂ Number 1: H₂O, CO₂, and CH₃OH";

R. Mason and T. Baros, "Materials Characterization of MOX Powders and Fuel"; E. Moody, M. Barr, et al., "Molecular Modeling of Cation/Anion Interactions"; L. Morales, and J. Haschke, "Investigation of the Plutonium Oxide-Water Reaction"; J. Morris, et al., "Fiberscopic Examination of Pit Interiors"; C. Smith, M. A. Martinez, and K. Veirs, "Quantitative Analysis of Gallium in Plutonium using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy"; K. Veirs, et al., "Acoustic Sensing in Storage Containers"; D. Wedman, et al., "Decontamination of Surface Transuranic from Uranium"; and S. Yarbro, et al., "Using Distillation to Recover Nitric Acid and Actinides from Radioactive Liquid Waste."

Reported by Ann Mauzy, CIC-1.Photos by Gary Warren, CIC-9.

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