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ARQ: 10 years and counting

This issue of Actinide Research Quarterly marks the beginning of the publication's second decade. Throughout the past ten years, ARQ has showcased progress in actinide science at Los Alamos, and especially in the Nuclear Materials Technology (NMT) Division, in such areas as process chemistry, metallurgy, surface and separation sciences, atomic and molecular sciences, actinide ceramics and nuclear fuels, characterization, spectroscopy, analysis, and manufacturing technologies. ARQ is instrumental in educating our colleagues-whether internal, national, or international-on the vital research being done at Los Alamos to support the nation's needs in national security, nonproliferation and energy security, and environmental stewardship.

ARQ was launched in December 1994 under the guidance of NMT Division's chief scientist, K.C. Kim, who saw a need in the division for a scientific periodical to keep staff apprised of new scientific and technical developments relevant to NMT's mission. Over the years ARQ has grown in size, distribution, and scope.The current distribution of almost 3,500 goes not only to NMT Division employees and selected colleagues at the Lab but also to funding agencies in Washington, D.C.; U.S. House and Senate special committees; college and university nuclear engineering, chemistry, and physics departments; and national and international peers. The publication can also be read on the World Wide Web at http://www.lanl.gov/arq/.

When Kim retired several years ago, David L. Clark and Gordon Jarvinen of the Seaborg Institute took over as the magazine's scientific advisors. Ann Mauzy and Meredith Coonley of Communication Arts and Services (IM-1) have served as editors. Mauzy joined the magazine's staff with the second issue and continued for almost six years. Coonley took over with the first issue of 2001. One member of the staff has remained constant since ARQ's first eight-page issue: illustrator and designer Susan Carlson, also of IM-1. Carlson is primarily responsible for the evolution of the publication's design from a simple black-and-white layout to the ARQ's current four-color design.

The next decade of science is bound to be an exciting one as the nation's nuclear strategy evolves. A short list of new research endeavors includes the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative; the 2010 Initiative to build the first new reactor in the United States in 30 years; the Gen IV program to design the next generation of reactors; and the Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative, which raises the possibility of using nuclear power to make hydrogen fuel.

NMT Division and the Lab will also continue to make significant contributions to stockpile stewardship and weapons engineering and manufacturing in support of our national security mission. In lieu of underground testing, the small-scale experimentation and integrated tests that NMT Division conducts in collaboration with other divisions will continue to play an important role in certifying newly manufactured weapons. Key to understanding and predicting stockpile aging are our efforts in the Pit Surveillance and Enhanced Surveillance Programs, and work is beginning in actinide surface science, metallurgy, and physics that promises to provide new understanding to poorly understood phenomena.

I want to commend the staff of ARQ for producing a quality publication that I consider to be the flagship of NMT Division's communications efforts. I encourage readers to continue to support the magazine by suggesting topics or contributing articles. In the coming decade Actinide Research Quarterly will continue to play an important role in educating about the useful role actinides play in our world and in attracting a new generation of actinide scientists to Los Alamos.

Steve Yarbro, NMT Division Director


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