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Aug. 14, 2000 -- Some of this week's stories:
INSC Website hosts 20,000 visitors a month
ANL-West prepares for wildfires
Meteorological Society honors ER's Wesely Security tightens no-passsing zone enforcement Argonne Pool to close for fall Barbecue held
Wednesdays |
Since its creation in 1996, the U.S. International Nuclear Safety Center (INSC) Web page has been accessed more than eight million times. Operated by Argonne, the Web site is a comprehensive resource for safety analysis of nuclear power facilities around the globe. A complementary database and Web page is provided by the Russian counterpart, the Russian International Nuclear Safety Center (RINSC).
Currently, the site receives 20,000 visits each month. Online visitors come from 80 countries and spend an average of 11 to 12 minutes browsing the pages. Users include high school students interested in the maps of nuclear facilities across the world, individuals seeking unbiased information on nuclear safety and scientists reading detailed assessments of material behavior during nuclear accidents.
"The materials property database provides critically assessed thermodynamic and transport properties of U.S. and Russian reactor materials during normal operations and accidents," explained Web site manager Hubert Ley (RA).
Much of the materials information is available publicly, but the INSC Web site makes it available in one place. Data are provided for nuclear fuel and other reactor materials, including material properties at high temperatures. Argonne research in this area is included with studies from Russian researchers and others. "There are not many other publicly open materials-properties databases that provide information for extreme temperatures," Ley said.
Registered INSC users can access more highly detailed research that may not be available publicly or is copyright-protected.
The INSC and RINSC Web pages grew out of a 1995 agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy. The two groups agreed to focus resources to improve nuclear safety analysis capabilities and safety management techniques for Soviet-designed reactors. In addition to working on the Web pages, U.S. and Russian researchers collaborate on 10 safety-related joint projects.
The INSC project includes improving the safety culture at Russian reactors by adapting and applying U.S. guidelines for managing severe accidents, and determining if computer safety codes developed for U.S. reactors can be usefully applied to Russian-designed reactors. The Russian INSC, located in Moscow, is run by an independent, non-commercial organization as a part of the Ministry of Atomic Energy.
An unanticipated outgrowth of the research projects is that the INSC is now becoming an asset for other DOE research projects in Russia. The INSC has worked out valuable lines of communications and procurement protocols that help accommodate the cultural differences between the two nations.
-- Evelyn Brown
A wildfire broke out near the Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) Facility at Argonne-West Aug. 5. The sagebrush and grass fire burned 5,400 acres but did not pose any risk to the laboratory.
High temperatures, lack of rainfall, and large amounts of tinder-dry vegetation have heightened the possibility for a wildland fire at or near the Argonne-West site, and several defensive measures have been taken:
The fire break
outside the perimeter fence has been expanded to a width of 60 feet.
The area between
the inner and outer property protection area fence has been cleared of
vegetation.
Both sides of the
access road from Highway 20 and the road to the TREAT Facility have been mowed.
Troy Wright, emergency management coordinator, or Roy Nelson, fire protection engineer, must be notified of any work being conducted outside the Argonne-West fenced area or in the TREAT/Radioactive Scrap and Waste Facility area, including vehicles being driven off established paved or dirt roads.
Notification of Wright and Nelson will remain in effect until further notice. Please contact Wright (ext. 3-7421) or Nelson (ext. 3-7576) for more information.
L. Michael Boxberger began his role as director of the newly-formed Office of Safeguards and Security Aug. 1.
Boxberger will be responsible for security programs, special materials and property management, foreign travel, foreign visits and assignments, and export control. He will report to the chief operations officer.
Prior to his appointment to the Office of Safeguards and Security, Boxberger was assistant division director and administrative program manager in the Chemical Technology Division. From 1984-1996 he was administrative program manager in Electronics and Computing Technologies.
Before Boxberger joined Argonne in 1984, he was an assistant division director with the State of Missouri Office of Administration, responsible for statewide budgeting, planning and management of computing and telecommunications resources and services. He received his bachelor's degree from Kansas State University in computer science in 1971.
Bill Vroman had served as acting director since May, when the Office of Safeguards and Security was created.
Marvin L. Wesely (ER) received the 2000 Editor's Award from the American Meteorological Society (AMS). The award is given to an individual who does an outstanding job critiquing a manuscript submitted to the society's Journal of Applied Meteorology.
A senior meteorologist at Argonne, Wesely has studied atmosphere-surface exchange of heat, water and trace chemicals, and developed methods to describe dry deposition of chemicals to the surface of the earth. He has also studied turbulence in the lower atmosphere, interactions of the biosphere and the atmosphere and remote sensing from the ground and from satellites.
From 1996-1998, Wesely chaired the AMS Committee on Measurements. Since 1995, he has been the chief scientist of the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Chemistry Program. He has been the leader of the instrument team for DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program since 1990 and served as head of the Atmospheric Research Section in the Environmental Research Division since 1981. The University of Chicago awarded him a Distinguished Performance Award in 1987.
Wesely received his bachelor's degree in technical agronomy from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in 1965. He received his master's degree and Ph.D. in soil science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1968 and 1970. He began his career at Argonne in 1973.
Recent observations of cars passing in no-passing zones on Westgate Road, between Lemont Road and the laboratory's gate, have prompted Argonne Security to increase their enforcement efforts in the area.
Passing in no-passing zones is a violation of the Illinois Vehicle Code and poses an extreme risk of a head-on collision, said Greg Dely (ESH), chair of Argonne's Traffic Safety Committee.
No-passing zones are set up where it is difficult or impossible for a driver to see an oncoming car in time to get back into the correct lane, such as at curves and blind hills.
Other traffic rules to keep in mind while at Argonne:
The site speed
limit is 30 mph unless otherwise posted.
Observe all posted
traffic signs and highway markings.
Pedestrians in
crosswalks have the right-of-way; cars must stop when pedestrians are in the
crosswalk.
Drivers must yield
the right-of-way to responding emergency vehicles.
Argonne's swimming pool will close for the season on Thursday, Aug. 24.
The Argonne Guest House Restaurant holds a lunchtime barbecue each Wednesday, rain or shine during the summer.
Prices range from $4.95 to $9.95, and entrees include ribs, rib-eye steak and other items. Salad only is $5.95.
Lunch hours are 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
