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Argonne-West may soon be home to a vital component of the nation's space exploration program, as the Idaho site has been named DOE's "preferred site" to conduct the assembly and testing of spacecraft power generators.
A final decision is expected soon. If Argonne-West is selected, it will become home to the assembly and testing of radioisotope generators, or RTGs. These devices convert heat from radioactive decay to electricity and have been standard equipment on both manned and unmanned spacecraft since 1969.
"Power is a very precious commodity in space," said Stephen Johnson, who is coordinating Argonne-West's involvement in the RTG program. "Solar power works relatively well if you're close to the sun. If you're going to some of the outer planets, for example the next NASA mission may be the 'New Horizons,' going to Pluto, your spacecraft is so far from the sun you'd need enormous solar panels to get enough energy to do anything."
In earth orbit, a solar panel five feet square can produce about 300 watts of electricity, about as much as an RTG. To produce the same power at Pluto, seven billion miles from the sun, a solar panel would have to be almost half the size of a football field.
One of the first RTGs used in the space program was used for experiments placed on the moon's surface by the Apollo 11 crew. The RTGs powered the experiments during the two-week lunar nights, when solar panels are useless.
Until recently, RTGs were assembled and tested at DOE's Mound Site in Ohio. DOE has been looking for a more secure facility; Argonne-West already has tight security in place, and would place the program inside the most secure area of the site. An existing building could be modified to house the assembly and testing equipment.
The RTG's heat source is plutonium-238, a form of plutonium that cannot be used in weapons. "Plutonium-238 generates heat though natural radioactivity in a reasonably efficient manner so you don't need a ton of it," Johnson said. "It has good material properties, and produces mainly alpha radiation, so it's easily shielded."
Its 87.7-year half-life is short enough that it produces a fair amount of heat, but the material lasts long enough to allow an RTG to be stored in flight-ready condition for quite a while.
"We have an RTG at Argonne-West that was originally created as a backup for the Galileo mission, which launched in 1989," Johnson said. "It's still capable of making electricity and still flight-ready."
Los Alamos National Laboratory will produce the sintered ceramic plutonium oxide. It will arrive at Argonne-West in the form of disks sealed inside an iridium shell. Each disk contains 150 grams of plutonium dioxide. The disks are "warm to the touch," Johnson said, and each is capable of producing about 60 watts of thermal energy.
Workers at Argonne-West will assemble the RTG components, including the heat-source disks, and solid-state silicon-germanium conversion devices that turn their heat to electricity. The finished unit is a cylinder about four feet tall and 17 inches in diameter.
After assembly, RTGs will be subjected to a grueling, 50,000-hour testing procedure. The first test simulates the intense vibration of takeoff.
"We'll put the RTG on a shake table and vibrate it for many, many hours," Johnson said. "Random shocks, sine waves, you name it. If all the wires are still connected to the right places and everything looks correct, we'll move on to the next test."
Further testing will include radiography to check the integrity of parts inside the RTG and exposure to intense cold and vacuum in a four-by-six-foot chamber. Workers will find its exact center of gravity, and measure its radiation and magnetic fields, which can interfere with sensitive instruments.
When fully operational in 2005, assembly and testing will create 20 to 25 jobs at Argonne-West, Johnson said. When more RTGs are needed for upcoming missions, up to 20 more employees may be redirected from other areas of the site to handle the extra work.
NASA currently has about eight missions in advanced or conceptual studies that will require RTGs or pu-238 powered units, called radioactive heater units. RHUs are small versions of RTGs without the thermoelectric converters. They are used to warm sensitive instruments.
-- Dave Jacqué
John Bahcall, a world leader in the field of neutrino astrophysics, will present Argonne's second annual Enrico Fermi Lecture at 3 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 12, in Argonne-East's Building 362 Auditorium.
In his talk "How the Sun Shines," Bahcall will summarize developments that led to theories of how the sun produces energy, and implications of recent discoveries about neutrinos from the sun.
Bahcall, who helped design the Hubble Space Telescope, won the National Medal of Science in 1998. The same year, he won the American Physical Society's Hans A. Bethe Prize for his "fundamental work on all theoretical aspects of the solar neutrino problem and his important contributions to other areas of nuclear astrophysics."
Bahcall joined the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton in 1968, was named a professor in 1971, and Richard Black Professor in 1997. He is also a lecturer at Princeton University.
The lecture is the second in an annual series in honor of Enrico Fermi, the founding director of Argonne.
Gary Winner, the laboratory emergency management officer, and Lt. James W. Hartley III of the protective force helped a fellow employee suffering from a heart attack by administering CPR. Because of their help and the quick response from Argonne paramedics, the employee suffered no significant heart damage.
Due to these events, the Argonne Fire Department would like to remind employees that American Heart Association CPR certification classes are available at Argonne-East.
Winner, who has been certified twice at Argonne, requested three classes for August at Building 201. Two of these classes are full, but the fire department holds classes throughout the month at Building 308.
"There are a lot of people in this building and on site," Winner said. "The number of those people that could have a heart attack is amazing. It could happen to anyone, and everyone deserves the assurance that someone else knows CPR."
Classes have been offered for the past 15 years at Argonne, and 400 to 500 people are certified yearly.
Chief Veerman said the class is tailored so employees can administer CPR at home or at work for friends and family. Participants receive training in the Heimlich maneuver and child and adult resuscitation. The class includes a lecture and hands-on experience with CPR mannequins.
The class generally lasts two to three hours.
"I think this is one of those courses you don't want to put off," Winner said. "You can't plan on emergencies, but you can plan for them. Being ready is important."
If you are interested in attending a CPR class, call Cynthia Hijuelos at ext. 6136 to sign up.
Argonne and University of Chicago employees will be among professional and amateur musicians from metropolitan Chicago who will extend a gesture of compassion to the families of victims of last year's terrorist attacks with a memorial concert Wednesday, Sept. 11.
The concert will begin at 8 p.m. at the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Chapel. The concert is free, but the audience may donate to hunger programs operated by the Hyde Park and Kenwood Interfaith Council.
Peter Lipari will conduct the Hinsdale-based West Suburban Symphony Orchestra (WSSO) in a performance of Mozart's "Requiem in D Minor," the classical composer's final piece. Joining the WSSO will be the Bach Chamber Choir of Rockford and the Downers Grove Choral Society (DGCS). The concert is part of a "rolling requiem" in which orchestras and choruses will perform this Mozart piece in every time zone throughout the day.
"The concert will give both performers and audiences a meaningful opportunity to remember and honor both people who lost their lives and those who helped others on Sept. 11," said IPD Director Kathy Macal, a violinist who serves on the WSSO board of directors.
The program will open with local broadcast journalists reading Sept. 11 news reports interwoven with smaller ensemble pieces. The requiem will begin at 8:46 p.m., 12 hours after the first plane hit the World Trade Center.
Members of the WSSO and the DGCS include Macal, French horn player Liz Moog (XFD), violinist Yiwen Xu (ER), violist Marv Tetenbaum (CMT), cellist Rich Lukes (University of Chicago), and singers Dee Wyman (IPD-MED), Don Newsom (DIS), Linda Gaines (ES), Debbie Hanson (BIO) and Ted Anderson (retired RAE).
"While suburban musical groups give highly professional performances, most of our members don't earn a living as players or vocalists," Macal said. "We have day jobs that pay the bills and volunteer after-hour gigs that we hope are as rewarding for our audiences as they are for us."
-- Jodi Genshaft
A mini-symposium on the results of Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) projects will be held Friday, Aug. 30, from 2-4 p.m. in Argonne-East's Building 402, Room A1100.
Presenters and topics will include:
Steve Johnson, ENT, "Development of
ICP-MS Techniques for Application to the Analysis of 59Ni, 94Nd,
129I, and 99Tc in Greater than Class C Waste"
George Crabtree, MSD, "Nanoscale
Information Storage Using Superconducting Vortices"
Zhirong Huang, ASD, "Comprehensive
Analysis of Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission"
Sam Jiang, MSD, "Improving
Exchange-Spring Magnets with Interfacial Modification"
Olelayo Ajayi, ET, "Engineered
Surfaces for Biomedical Applications"
Laura Skubal, ES, "Microsensor
Instrumentation to Support Monitored Natural Attenuation as a Remediation Technique"
Francesco De Carlo, XFD, "High
Throughput X-Ray Microtomography at 2BM"
A new service will help users identify and control unsolicited commercial e-mail, also known as "spam." The service will be provided to Argonne employees at both sites who use an "@anl.gov" e-mail address or alias.
Beginning Monday, Aug. 26, e-mail originating outside the laboratory will be automatically analyzed by "SpamAssassin," a program that uses a scoring system to determine the probability that a particular e-mail message is spam. SpamAssassin adds a "tag" to suspected spam messages; local e-mail clients can be configured to route tagged messages into a special folder for later review or deletion.
Messages tagged as spam by this service will never be automatically deleted. Instead, SpamAssassin adds special mail headers and an informative message to help end-users make the final decision.
Generally, messages originating inside the laboratory will not be affected by this service.
Users' help needed
Although this service is already in use by a number of Argonne computer users, employees can help fine-tune the rule system and reduce the number of e-mail messages incorrectly identified as spam.
Employees who receive e-mail incorrectly identified as spam should forward the message to spam-info@anl.gov. Send messages to the same address if SpamAssassin is not properly identifying unwanted e-mail. With employees' help, the service will get more effective over time.
Argonne-East's security status has been downgraded to "SECON-3," reducing overtime and on-call activities of the protective force. The previous level was "SECON-3 Modified."
Security personnel at the gates are not required to physically touch all badges to check for tampering. Security personnel will need to continue to see badges and gate passes as employees and visitors enter the site. Random vehicle inspections and inspection of delivery vehicles will continue.
Employees should continue to report suspicious persons, particularly those carrying suitcases or other containers, or those observing, photographing or asking questions about site operations or security measures.
Report unidentified vehicles parked or operated in a suspicious manner on or near the site, abandoned parcels or suitcases or any other activity considered suspicious.
To report suspicious situations or activities, call ext. 2-5730 or ext. 2-5731. Dial 911 if the situation is an immediate concern.
The following requirements are continued under Security Condition 3:
All employees and visitors must
prominently display their badges or passes while on site.
All visitors, including employees'
spouses and other relatives, must stop at the Argonne Information Center (AIC) for passes before
entering the site.
Employees hosting special events must
provide the AIC with a list of attendees far enough in advance to allow Security to prepare passes
for them. The list must include the names and citizenship of all attendees. Hosts of special events
should inform attendees of security requirements that may delay their entry to the site, such as
vehicle searches.
Visitors who are not U.S. citizens
cannot enter the site after regular business hours unless prior site-access arrangements have been
made.
Passes for visitors attending special
events held after regular hours (5 p.m. - 6:30 a.m.) or on weekends will be prepared by AIC
employees and issued at the main gate. Arrangements must be made in advance of conferences,
seminars and other meetings to minimize potential problems or delays.
All visitors will be positively
identified before receiving a pass, and must wear their passes while on site. Those with visitor
passes will also need positive identification at the gates.
Argonne and DOE employees may not
vouch for visitors in their vehicles by displaying their badges. These visitors should be processed
through the AIC.
Items that may not be brought onto the
site at any time include pets, firearms and other weapons, explosives (including fireworks),
illegal narcotics and radioactive sources.
DOE has established five levels of security conditions:
SECON-5: This condition exists when a
general threat of possible terrorist activity exists, but warrants only routine security measures
associated with daily operations.
SECON-4: This condition applies to a
possible threat of terrorist activities and generally enhances security awareness responsibilities.
SECON-3: This condition is used when
an increased and more predictable threat of terrorist activity exists and may increase access
controls to include additional personnel and vehicle barriers.
SECON-2: This condition is set when a
terrorist incident occurs or intelligence information is received indicating that some form of
terrorist action is imminent. It requires specific protection measures to be put in place.
SECON-1: This most serious condition
is declared in the immediate area where a terrorist attack has occurred which may affect the site
or when an attack is initiated on the site. This significantly increases protective measures and
may require additional protective elements along with those in SECON-2.
Wearing badges outside of the laboratory or leaving them in vehicles is strongly discouraged. Employee badges have been stolen at other U.S. Department of Energy facilities, which can lead to unauthorized use.
The Guest House Restaurant will be closed at lunchtime Monday, Sept. 9, for a special event.
Deadlines for the Monday, Sept. 9, issue of Argonne News will change due to the Labor Day holiday.
The deadline for news, seminar listings and classified ads for the Sept. 9 issue will be Friday, Aug. 30.
Eligible employees wishing to enroll or increase their current coverage in the Aetna Long Term Care Plan can do so without having to provide evidence of good health by sending in an enrollment or increase form to Aetna by Aug. 31.
Eligible employees include regular employees working at least 20 hours per week and temporary employees working at least 20 hours per week whose term of appointment is six months or more. All others will need to go through underwriting and be approved by Aetna before the coverage or increase in coverage becomes effective.
More information is available by calling Aetna at 1-800-537-8521 or by visiting the company's Web site.
Social Security Representative George Cutwright will be available in Argonne-East's Human Resources office, Building 201, Wednesday, Sept. 18, from 8 a.m. to noon.
Cutwright will be available to:
Enroll employees in Social Security.
Take applications for new Social
Security cards, including original cards for newborns, corrected cards due to marriage or
replacement cards.
Help with earnings posting problems.
Answer general questions about the
Social Security program.
To schedule a meeting, call Fran Perri (HR) at ext. 2-2989.
All classes offered by Electronics and Computing Technologies are held in Argonne-East's Building 201, Room 167. Unless otherwise specified, class sizes are limited to eight participants and the cost of each class is $215.
September classes include:
Advanced Word 2000 (ECT378)-- Tuesday,
Sept. 3, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Advanced Excel (ECT379) --Wednesday,
Sept. 4, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Advanced Access 2000 (ECT380) --
Thursday, Sept. 5, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Introduction to PowerPoint 2000
(ECT372) -- Friday, Sept. 6, 8:30 a.m. - Noon.
Intermediate PowerPoint 2000 (ECT373)
-- Friday, Sept. 6, 1 - 4:30 p.m.
Complete computer class descriptions, schedules and enrollment forms are available online.
For information about enrollment, contact Diane Cavazos (ECT) at ext. 2-7153 or dkcavazos @anl.gov.