Veteran radiochemist to discuss weapon test diagnostics in classified colloquium Wednesday

A key figure in radiochemistry for the past 47 years will talk about Los Alamos' central role in the radiochemical analysis of nuclear tests at a Classified Director's Colloquium on Wednesday.

Don Barr of Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry (C-INC), who spent 34 years on staff and 13 years as an associate contributing to research efforts in radiochemistry, will speak on "Radiochemistry as a Nuclear Weapons Diagnostic" at 1:10 p.m., in the Administration Building Auditorium at Technical Area 3.

Barr's talk is classified at the Secret/Restricted Data/No Foreign Nationals level and is open to Q-cleared U.S. citizens. All attendees must have sigmas 1-10 assigned by line management. To register for the colloquium and others in the classified colloquium series, write to the Security Help Desk at security@lanl.gov by electronic mail and include name, Z number, group, e-mail address and phone number.

"I am privileged to be able to report the cumulative work of many individuals over the past 60 years," Barr said, explaining that radiochemistry has been key to the Laboratory's nuclear weapons testing program from the time of the Trinity detonation in 1945.

In addition to their main job of determining the performance of all Los Alamos nuclear tests, radiochemists working at Technical Area 48 in C-INC and its predecessor groups -- Nuclear Chemistry (CNC), Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry Division (INC) and the Radio Chemistry (J-11) -- have made many innovative contributions to the nuclear testing program, which Barr will describe during his presentation, as well as progress made since the cessation of testing.

Barr came to the Laboratory in 1957 as a staff member in J-11. When that group changed its name to Nuclear Chemistry (CNC-11) in 1971, Barr served as an associate group leader, then for 10 years as deputy group leader. He was a laboratory fellow in 1981-82, relinquishing that title to become an associate division leader in INC Division in 1982 and division leader in August 1984. Barr retired from the Laboratory in 1990 and has served as a Laboratory associate since then.

Barr received a National Science Foundation Fellowship in 1955, and in October 1980 was honored with the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award for his "innovative and incisive diagnostic methods, which assist weapons designers in understanding and interpreting different aspects of their work and lead to improved designs."

His research interests are focused on nuclear and radiochemistry, physics and chemistry of nuclear explosives, nuclear weapons test diagnostics (U.S. and foreign), and nuclear cross sections (neutron/charged-particle theory). Barr holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a doctorate in nuclear chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

--Jim Danneskiold

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