contents

238Transactinium Science Needs Educational Rearmament-A Strategic Reinvestment for the Nation

Figure 1. Transactinium elements in the periodic table.

Transactinium science deals with the chemical, physical, and nuclear properties of a large group of elements ranging from thorium through lawrencium (the actinides), and rutherfordium through the most recently discovered element with atomic number 118 (the transactinides). (See Fig. 1.) This group of transactinium elements, which comprises about 21% of the elements in the periodic table, is unique because most of these elements are man-made (with the exception of the first three members-thorium, protactinium, and uranium). The remaining elements are either synthesized by neutron irradiation of uranium or are produced in atom amounts by bombardments with heavy ions. Another common characteristic of these elements is that they are all radioactive, which makes their study a particularly difficult and highly specialized field of science. To perform measurements on highly radioactive materials requires special facilities, instrumentation, and training for their safe handling. In total, these characteristics distinguish transactinium science from other research fields.

A knowledge of transactinium science continues to be essential to the U.S. and central to the mission of the DOE, including national defense, energy, environmental restoration, and radioactive waste management. The U.S. has not had a long-range policy for the development of nuclear power or nuclear fuels. However, with the growing shortfall of fossil fuels, the recognition of greenhouse warming, and the environmentally destructive effects of burning coal, it is virtually certain that nuclear energy will assume a greater role in the nation's energy policy in the future. Moreover, it is clear that nuclear weapons technology will continue to play a key role in national defense policy for the foreseeable future.

Figure 2. This famous historical photograph shows an early postwar scientific colloquium at Los Alamos. Seated from left to right are Norris Bradbury, Robert Oppenheimer, John Manley, Richard Feynman, Enrico Fermi, and J. Kellog.

Knowledge and expertise in the production, processing, purification, characterization, analysis, and disposal of transactinium elements is essential to U.S. national security. Even if no new radioactive or transactinium waste were generated, a host of DOE sites require assessment, cleanup and closure. Our nationšs future therefore requires a core capability and expertise in transactinium science that will allow future decisions in defense and energy policy to be made based on sound technical understanding and expert judgement developed through theory, experiment, and simulation.

DOE and its predecessors (Manhattan Project, AEC, ERDA) have a half-century-long historical commitment and tradition of leadership in transactinium science. Of real concern, however, is the recognition that the academic component of the field of transactinium science is small and shrinking, with the majority of research faculty nearing retirement. The impending manpower shortage will soon affect all aspects of government and industrial nuclear science and technology. At the national laboratories, for example, we recognize that a large fraction of Laboratory staff will retire within the next decade. The field of transactinium science is becoming subcritical at a time when its core competence is crucial for our nationšs industrial, environmental, and scientific survival. It is strategically important that all of us involved in the science and technology of nuclear materials take on a more active role in transactinium science education. J. Robert Oppenheimer recognized the strategic value of nuclear science education in 1943 when he initiated weekly technical colloquia (see Fig. 2.) to teach Laboratory staff about the disparate scientific fields that had to cooperate to produce the first atomic weapons.

In order to ensure the future of nuclear science and technology at the Laboratory, we must recapture Oppenheimeršs seminal philosophy of teaching our colleagues and our students about the science and technology of nuclear materials. This type of educational rearmament should include new educational programs for our current Laboratory employees, enhanced interactions with colleges and universities, and improved student opportunities (at all levels) at the Laboratory. The need for educational rearmament goes far beyond the future requirements of the Laboratory. Nobel Laureate Glenn T. Seaborg (See Fig. 3.) argued in 1991:

"Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the worldŠthe educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and as a people.ŠIf an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselvesŠ. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament."

Figure 3. Nobel Laureate Glenn T. Seaborg (1913-1999), co-discoverer of the element plutonium, points to element 106-Seaborgium-recently named in his honor. Seaborg devoted his career to nuclear science education.

We must act now to begin an educational rearmament at the Laboratory in order to help provide an adequate pool of scientists and engineers with the quality and breadth of knowledge to meet the changing needs of the nation. At Los Alamos, for example, our Laboratory mission is to enhance global security by ensuring confidence in the safety, reliability, and performance of U.S. nuclear weapons without testing; develop technical solutions to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction; and remediate the environmental and nuclear materials legacy of the Cold War. However, no program of nuclear stewardship can be better than the quality of the scientists and engineers doing the work and providing the necessary leadership. Transactinium science education is therefore strategically important for the nation.

This article was contributed by David L. Clark, (Director, G. T. Seaborg Institute), NMT-DO.

The opinions in this editorial are the author's. They do not necessarily represent the opinions of Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of California, the Department of Energy, or the U.S. government.


NMT | LANL | DOE
Phone Book | Search | Help/Info

L O S  A L A M O S  N A T I O N A L   L A B O R A T O R Y
Operated by the University of California for the US Department of Energy

Questions? - Copyright © UC 1996 - Disclaimer 26 June 1996