.....Advertisement.....
.....Advertisement.....

Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • LANL names 2012 Fellows

    Three members of the Los Alamos National Laboratory scientific staff are being honored with appointment as Laboratory Fellows for 2012.

    The new Los Alamos Fellows include Charles Farrar,  Steven Elliott and Mikhail Shashkov.

    The committee ranked a collection of nominations on the basis of:
    •  Sustained, high-level achievements in programs of importance to the laboratory;
    • A fundamental or important discovery that has led to widespread use;
    • Having become a recognized authority in the field, including outside recognition and an outstanding record of publications.

    “Chuck, Steven and Mikhail have made exceptional contributions in their fields and to national security,” Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan said. “To be honored by their peers is a testament to their work. I congratulate the 2012 Laboratory Fellows and thank them for their service.”

    Farrar, of the Los Alamos National Security Education Center, is one of the preeminent structural health monitoring pioneers in the world.

    Click here to read more...
  • LANL names 2012 Laboratory Fellows

    Three members of the Los Alamos National Laboratory scientific staff are being honored with appointment as Laboratory Fellows for 2012. The committee ranked a collection of nominations on the basis of:

    1) Sustained, high-level achievements in programs of importance to the Laboratory; 2) A fundamental or important discovery that has led to widespread use; 3) Having become a recognized authority in the field, including outside recognition and an outstanding record of publications.

    The new Los Alamos Fellows are

    •  Charles Farrar
    •  Steven Elliott
    •  Mikhail Shashkov

    "Chuck, Steven, and Mikhail have made exceptional contributions in their fields and to national security,” said lab Director Charlie McMillan. “To be honored by their peers is a testament to their work. I congratulate the 2012 Laboratory Fellows and thank them for their service.”

    Click here to read more...
  • Coalition gets heads-up on D.C.

    Attorney Seth Kirshenberg has his finger on the pulse of Washington.

    The D.C. based attorney has helped Los Alamos County with issues regarding the Department of Energy. And he also is the director of the Energy Communities Alliance of which the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities is a member.

    Kirshenberg was in town Friday to address the coalition and offer it a glimpse in what to expect in Washington now that the election season is over.

    Kirshenberg told the coalition that there are three things it needs to be doing as the New Year approaches.

    He said the coalition needs to plan ahead, identify priorities and understand the environment in Washington.

    “And that is not always easy,” said Kirshenberg, who works at the firm Kutak Rock in Washington.

    Primary issues facing the lame-duck Congress is a possible fiscal cliff where sequestration might take effect if a budget agreement is not in place by the end of the year. Sequestration would trigger mandatory budget cuts of $1.2 trillion and would cause massive financial headaches for DOE facilities including the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

    Click here to read more...
  • Report traces the timeline of contamination

    This is the conclusion of a two-part series that began in Friday’s edition.

    A 116-page federal report delves into the background of how the radioactive contamination accident happened at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Neutron Center in August.

    The report traces a timeline back to 2010 at the Luján Center, which is a national facility for defense and civilian research in nuclear and condensed-matter sciences, hosting scientists from national laboratories, universities, industry and international research facilities. One type of experiment conducted there is irradiation of sample materials in a neutron beam.

    The report goes on to state that between 2010 and 2012, Luján Center personnel worked with personnel from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to irradiate samples of powdered praseodymium technetate, neodymium technetate and lutetium technetate.

    Each of the three samples contained Technetium-99 (Tc-99), an intrinsically radioactive isotope that emits low energy beta particles.

    The report concluded that it is difficult to know that a sample canister contains Tc-99 if the canister is not clearly marked and/or labeled. The lutetium technetate sample was later determined to be the source of the contamination in the August 2012 incident.

    Click here to read more...
  • TA-21 demolition

    Workers continue to tear down enclosures at TA-21 on DP Road near the Los Alamos Monitor. The metal enclosures were used to cover the excavation and cleanup of a decades-old waste disposal site.

    Click here to read more...
  • Order modified to include Intellus NM

    The National Nuclear Security Administration and Los Alamos National Security, LLC, submitted a modification to the March 1, 2005 Consent Order and received approval for requested modification from the New Mexico Environment Department Hazardous Waste Bureau.

    The Class 1* equivalent modification to the Consent Order was submitted to the NMED-HWB Oct. 22.

    The modification added a new section, Section III.Z, Public Environmental Database, that requires the maintenance of a publicly accessible database containing data from environmental media collected as part of environmental investigation and monitoring activities. The NMED-HWB approved the modification Oct. 29.  The name of the database is Intellus NM,

    The new Consent Order requirement replaces the Risk Analysis, Communication, Evaluation and Reduction (RACER) database which was terminated by NMED-HWB on Oct. 30.

    “Adding this enforceable requirement to the Consent Order ensures that the laboratory will continue to make its environmental data available to the public,” said Pete Maggiore, assistant manager of the Environmental Projects Office for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Site Office.

    Click here to read more...
  • Lab begins tearing down TA-21 enclosures

    Demolition of the metal buildings used to shield the public from potentially hazardous materials during the excavation and cleanup of a decades old waste disposal site at the historic Technical Area 21 situated along DP Road is now underway.

    Some prep activities are beginning this week and the work should be completed by the end of March 2013, lab officials said. The project brings the laboratory closer to transferring the six-acre tract of land to Los Alamos County at some point in the future.

    The metal structures, which look like a modern interpretation of the Quonset hut, were erected in 2010 to protect workers and the public from exposure to hazardous and radiological contamination while excavating and packaging contaminated debris and soil from Material Disposal Area B.

    “Removal of the structures marks the completion of a highly successful environmental cleanup project at Material Disposal Area B,” said Ed Worth, federal project manager with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Site Office. “We look forward to the day we officially turn the property over for the benefit of our community.”

    Click here to read more...
  • Regional Coalition cracks WIPP

    The Regional Coalition of  Los Alamos National Laboratory Communities took a field trip to Southern New Mexico last week. Fourteen members toured the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and met with Carlsbad and Eddy County officials to discuss mutual concerns.

    “They really rolled out the red carpet for us. The mayor of Carlsbad, Dale Janway, was extremely appreciative. He had a dinner that recognized Los Alamos for taking the lead in putting the coalition together,” Council Chair Sharon Stover said.

    The trip was enhanced by County Administrator Harry Burgess’ close ties to Carlsbad. Burgess was city administrator of Carlsbad for six years before accepting his position here.

    “The City of Carlsbad obviously still has a great deal of confidence in Harry,” Stover said. City officials even let Burgess drive the boat for a tour down the Pecos River.

    The highlight of the trip was a very detailed tour of the WIPP facility.

    The coalition watched trucks arrive with LANL waste shipments, saw the “remote” waste area (waste handled robotically instead of with human contact), then descended 2,150 feet and took golf carts into the bowels of the salt mine to see where the waste is deposited. Stover said it was like being in an Indiana Jones movie.

    Click here to read more...
  • Some wary of NMED move

    More details emerged Wednesday afternoon concerning the termination of the Chromium Agreement between the New Mexico Environment Department and the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Department of Energy.

    NMED concluded that the terms of the Chromium Settlement Agreement were met as follows:
    • Payment of a civil penalty in the amount of $251,870.00 on July 13, 2007;
    • Modification of the March 1, 2005 Order was modified on June 28, 2008 to add a section requiring notification of detections and increases in contaminant concentrations in groundwater and that this modification would be a Class 2 modification if made under the Permit;
    • Creation of a publicly accessible database containing information related to the presence and concentrations of contaminants in environmental media; “The termination of the Chromium Settlement will provide continued transparency by allowing public access to a database on reporting requirements stipulated by the Consent Order,” said NMED Secretary Dave Martin.

    “The information provided in the database is important for the public to access in the long-term.”

    Click here to read more...
  • McDowell to speak at Fuller Lodge

    What are the exact physiological mechanisms that lead to tree death during prolonged drought and rising temperatures?
    These are the questions that scientists are trying to answer at a Los Alamos National Laboratory research project called SUMO. SUMO stands for SUrvival/MOrtality study; it’s a plot of land on the lab’s southern border that features 18 climate controlled tree study chambers and a large drought structure that limits rain and snowfall.
    There is a growing body of evidence suggesting vegetation mortality during drought or periods of high temperatures is rising both locally and globally.
    Resolving these questions is essential to improve global climate models and to improving our understanding and modeling of climate-terrestrial impacts and feedbacks.
    Nate McDowell, a staff scientist in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory will share his research methods and results with the community at 7 p.m. today at Fuller Lodge.  
    He was awarded a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at LANL in 2003. McDowell studies the interdependency of plant and ecosystem water and carbon cycles and their response to climate and disturbance.

    Click here to read more...