Plutonium Futures - The Science 2006

The Plutonium Futures—The Science 2006 conference will be held July 9-13 in Pacifi c Grove, Calif. The conference, fourth in a series, will provide an international forum for presentation and discussion of the chemical and physical properties of plutonium and other actinides in complex media and materials. The conference also will focus on current and emerging sciences (chemistry, physics, materials science, nuclear science, and environmental concerns) of plutonium and actinides relevant to enhancing global nuclear security. The technical basis for addressing these important and timely issues requires intensive and increasing understanding of the underlying science and technology of plutonium and other actinides.

The Plutonium Futures—The Science conference was established to increase awareness of the importance of plutonium research and to facilitate communication among its international practitioners. U.S. and international scientists, engineers, faculty, and students from universities, national laboratories, and DOE’s nuclear complex are encouraged to participate and make technical contributions. Most technical papers will be presented in one of three poster sessions. About eighty papers will be selected for oral presentation as plenary or invited papers. The deadline for submission of abstracts is Feb. 15. Authors must register for the conference for their abstracts to be accepted. Additional details on submitting abstracts and a downloadable template are available on the website provided below.

Repeating a successful innovation introduced in the past two conferences, there will be a half-day introductory tutorial session on actinide science for students, nonspecialists, and other interested parties on the afternoon of Sunday, July 9, before the offifi cial start of the conference. The tutorial will cover three topical areas that should be educational to those new to plutonium and actinide science. At the same time, the contemporary nature of the topics will also be of interest to “old-timers.”

The previous conference, held in July 2003 in Albuquerque, N.M., attracted more than 350 people from sixty institutions and eighteen countries. Plutonium Futures—The Science 2006 is organized by Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and is co-sponsored by the American Nuclear Society. The registration deadline is May 15. Additional information about the conference and registration and guidelines for submitting abstracts is available online at http://www-cms.llnl.gov/pu2006.