CORE CAPABILITY -- Argonne-West's NRAD (neutron radiography) reactor recently recorded its 4,000th startup. The machine's specialty is creating images of reactor fuels and components that would be impossible to make with conventional techniques.

Radiography reactor marks 4,000th startup

By Dave Jacqué

Argonne-West’s Neutron Radiography Reactor (NRAD) was started for the 4,000th time July 15, marking another milestone for the workhorse in the basement of the Hot Fuel Examination Facility.

Although the 4,000th run of the reactor will involve re-activating a radioactive ytterbium source used in research, the reactor’s main function has been indirect neutron radiography, said Steve Kahn, NRAD Reactor supervisor. Its bread and butter through the years was fuel samples from Experimental Breeder Reactor-II. Neutron radiography was used to analyze EBR-II fuel and cladding for cracks, corrosion and other types of failures.

Routine radiography techniques can’t be used on these kinds of materials. Gamma rays from intensely radioactive specimens would almost quickly fog photographic film. Argonne-West pioneered and refined “indirect” neutron radiography, a process that sidesteps this problem.

The reactor projects a beam of neutrons through a specimen. After passing through the specimen, the neutrons strike a metal foil, activating it. The foil is placed against a sheet of photographic film and left for several hours; radiation from the foil renders an image on the film, which is then developed.

“Indirect neutron radiography takes longer than the direct method but can show a lot more detail,” Kahn said. Neutron radiographs also penetrate through metal specimens and can show plastic and other materials. X-rays can’t penetrate metal more than a fraction of a millimeter, and can’t be used on radioactive specimens at all.

The NRAD facility provides the ability to neutron radiograph highly irradiated fuel elements, fuel subassemblies and loop experiments -- which may react chemically with air -- without removing them from the main cell’s argon atmosphere. A second neutron radiography station outside the main cell permits neutron radiography of either unirradiated or irradiated specimens without introducing them into the contaminated main cell.

Although neutron radiographs are generally taken of irradiated components, such as fuel elements, they can be taken of almost anything. NRAD has been used to check Space Shuttle booster-rocket parts for corrosion. Oysters affected by an oil spill were also radiographed to check for any residual contamination.

For more information on NRAD and its capabilities, contact Kahn at ext. 3-7157 or steve.kahn@anlw.anl.gov.

Award-winning series begins second season

By Rhianna Wisniewski

A second series of workshops dedicated to helping Argonne’s women scientists and engineers develop skills to enhance their careers is now under way.

“Survival Skills for Successful Women in Science, Engineering and Technology” is a six-month series covering topics like mentoring and goal-setting. During the two-hour workshops each month, participants learn skills necessary to succeed. The pilot series of this workshop, which ran from June 2002 to February 2003, recently won the 2003 Department of Energy (DOE) Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Diversity Best Practice Award. This award recognizes innovative programs and initiatives within programs throughout the Department of Energy complex that enhance equal employment opportunity and diversity.

“In selecting the winners, we look for innovation and results, but we also look for programs that others can easily emulate at their own sites,” said Neil Schuldenfrei, senior attorney and advisor for DOE’s EEO Resolution Division.

Results of a survey sent to participants of the pilot series indicated women felt more confident and more in control of their own careers after the series’ completion.

“Survival Skills” was initiated at Argonne by Dongqi Li, physicist in the Materials Science Division, after she held a similar series at the American Physical Society’s 2002 meeting. An organizing committee was formed, including Li, Kirsten Laurin-Kovitz (NE), a project engineer, Linda Phaire-Washington (DEP), a bio-scientist and program administrator, and Eve Gohoure (HR), Argonne’s Diversity Program Officer. Supporting the organizing committee’s formation were Argonne’s then Deputy Director Beverly Hartline, the counsel of Maryka Bhattacharyya, a biochemist and initiator of Women in Science and Technology (WIST), Human Resources (HR) and the Division of Education Programs (DEP).

“Being recognized by DOE for best diversity practices validates the importance of such workshops. It’s good to know that this type of workshop is appreciated outside of Argonne,” said Laurin-Kovitz, the current chair of the organizing committee for the second series.

She explained that the idea behind the series is to bring together as many women as possible. Women in technical fields are often isolated from one another and don’t have the resources and networks available to their male counterparts. The goal of the workshop is to help women in science and engineering enhance their careers and help the laboratory retain and attract employees.

“The barriers women face today are subtle, and might be hard to recognize and overcome. But they clearly exist,” Phaire-Washington said. “The goal of the workshop series was to help women learn the rules of the game to enable them to navigate through the waters of today’s science and engineering world.”

Laurin-Kovitz said she felt that winning the award meant that DOE recognized the positive influence that the series has on Argonne’s work environment.

“We think it means that this is ground-breaking work in DOE. No one is doing anything else like this,” she said.

The second series kicked off June 19 with a workshop on goal setting, one of three topics from the first workshop that will remain the same. The three new workshop topics include: “Strategies to Balance Life and Work,” “Mentoring for Success” and “Negotiation Skills for Women.” A complete list of workshop topics and a schedule is online.

Physicist Kathy Harkay (ASD) attended the first series and felt that it helped her to feel less isolated and more connected with the women around her. She plans on building those connections and continuing to network by attending the second series.

“After each Survival Skills workshop session that I attended, I felt very energized and enthusiastic. I think most of all, the sessions were empowering. Seeing successful women as speakers and sharing common experiences with the participants gave me positive energy,” Harkay said.

At the launch of the second series, Li stepped down from the committee in order to allow new people with fresh perspectives to be brought in. The committee invited Michelle Arora, a molecular biologist in the energy systems division to join.

“I am really hoping that the series keeps its momentum. This can be an annual event and retain and grow the community of women here,” Arora said.

In addition to the six monthly workshops, Arora has initiated an informal brown bag luncheon, which will consist of six informal one-hour discussion sessions held at lunch on dates in between each workshop. Participants who attended the pilot series are welcome to attend the workshop or discussion sessions free of cost.

“I’ve always thought that if we even helped one woman through the series to find the skills to be successful in her career, it would be worth it,” Laurin-Kovitz said.

Argonne libraries testing INSPEC database

Argonne libraries will host a month-long trial of the INSPEC- Physics Abstracts database, the leading bibliographic database to the world’s literature in physics, electrical engineering and control engineering.

The database will be available via the Engineering Village 2 (EV2) platform, the same provider of the Compendex-Engineering Index database. EV2 allows for combined database searching of Compendex and INSPEC, including “de-duplication,” or suppressing duplicate records.

Check out INSPEC via EV2 at the Argonne Information Management System home page. Currently, Argonne subscribes to the INSPEC database via the AXIOM gateway. The Argonne libraries are comparing the two platforms for renewal purposes and appreciate feedback from users.

For more information, contact any Argonne librarian.

IPD employees are honored for publications

By Megan Mills

Several Argonne IPD employees have been honored for their accomplishments in business communications.

Cheryl Drugan was presented with a District 4 Silver Quill award of merit from the International Association of Business Communicators for her work on TransTech, an online newsletter that reports the accomplishments of Argonne’s Center for Transportation Research.

Renée Nault, Sana Sandler and Suzanne Williams received a Dalton Pen Communications award of merit from Warwick Publishing for “Idling Reduction,” a brochure sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of FreedomCar and Vehicle Technologies. This is the first time that IPD entered either competition.

The Silver Quill awards program showcases and endorses exceptional work of professional business communicators in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

The Dalton Pen awards program recognizes outstanding achievement in writing, graphic design, corporate programs, advertising and other categories.

Other IPD employees who helped Drugan create and develop TransTech include Nault, Betty Waterman, Lori Meisinger and Vicki Skonicki.

“Our success in both these competitions the first time we entered them shows that Argonne’s communication products are highly competitive with the best the private sector can produce,” said IPD Division Director Kathy Macal. “I’m very proud of the outstanding work done by all who contributed to TransTech and ‘Idling Reduction.’”

Grunder to signal start of fun run

Argonne Director Hermann Grunder will drop the flag to begin the Argonne Running Club’s annual Director’s Run at noon Wednesday, July 23, at the Advanced Photon Source Gallery.

The Director’s Run includes a five-kilometer run and a two-mile walk. Refreshments will be available after the run. Runners and walkers of all abilities are welcome to join in the fun.

For more information on the run, contact Karl Grimm at ext. 2-6721. More information about the Argonne Running Club is online.

Nuclear energy communication topic of talk

Communicating with the public about nuclear power will be the topic of a lunchtime talk at noon, Friday July 25, in the Argonne-East Cafeteria Dining Room B. All employees are welcome to attend.

Retirees and the Center for Reactor Information will meet to hear American Nuclear Society Communications Specialist Laura Hermann present “What Does Your Neighbor Know About Nuclear? Public Communication Strategies For Nuclear Professionals.”

MetLife rep to visit ANL-E, offer quotes

A representative from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife) will visit Argonne-East Tuesday, July 22, to meet with individual employees for insurance comparisons and quotes for the “METPAY” group automobile and homeowners insurance programs.

To schedule an appointment, call (630) 810-0346, ext. 143. Employees can receive a quote over the phone by calling (800) 438-6388.

On Wednesday, July 23, a representative will be available in the Building 213 Cafeteria from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Researchers to discuss LDRD work

Researchers will give 15-minute presentations summarizing their work on Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) projects at a “mini-symposium” Wednesday, July 23, from 2-2:30 p.m. in Argonne-East’s Building 402, Conference Room E1100-E1200.

All employees whose schedules permit are invited to attend. Topics will include:

2 p.m. -- “Designer Nanocomposites for Hydrogen Storage,” by Robert Botto (CHM)

2:15 p.m. -- Adaptive Nanoscale Self-Assembly,” by Seth Darling (MSD)

2:30 p.m. -- “Functional Genomics of Hypothetical Proteins,” by Andrzej Joachimiak (BIO)

2:45 p.m. -- Break

3 p.m. -- “Self Assembly in Functionalized Diblock Copolymers,” by Hsien-Hau Wang (MSD)

3:15 p.m. -- “Nanophotonics,” by Gregory Wurtz (CHM)

3:30 p.m. -- Adjourn

Guest House chef to host cooking classes

Guest House Executive Chef Chris Kaminski will host “Taste of America” cooking classes Monday, Aug. 4, and Thursday, Aug. 7, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Students will learn how to prepare several dishes, including grit soufflé with roasted garlic and cheddar cheese, cedar planked salmon, grilled chicken salad with spinach, avocado dressing and jicama slaw, shrimp with tequila and mango salsa and red, white and blue shortcake.

The two-hour classes cost $25. No experience is necessary.

Registration for the Aug. 4 class is due Monday, July 28, and registration for the Aug. 7 class is due Friday, Aug. 1. Pay by cash, check or credit card at the Argonne Guest House, Building 460. For more information, call Kathy at ext. 5-2006.

IN MEMORIAM

Andre Mirzabekov, former Argonne researcher and director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ W.A. Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, died July 13 after a long illness. He was 66.

Mirzabekov joined the Englehardt Institute in 1961 as a laboratory technician. He became director in 1984. One of Russia’s most distinguished scientists, Mirzabekov initiated and launched the Soviet (now Russian) Human Genome project together with Academician A. Bayev. In 1988, he initiated the development of original biotechnology that uses biological microchips to rapidly identify DNA structures.

In 1995, Mirzabekov joined Argonne as part of a joint research project between the laboratory and the Engelhardt Institute. The project developed new super-efficient biochips to decode the human genome and let scientists read nature’s instructions for building and operating the human body. Mirzabekov divided his time equally between the two organizations. He returned to the Englehardt Institute full-time in 2001.

Mirzabekov is survived by his wife, Nataly Romanov, a daughter and a grandson.

Retirement vendors to visit ANL-East

Representatives from the laboratory’s retirement vendors will visit Argonne-East during August to meet individually with employees and answer questions about retirement plans and retirement plan assets.

Appointments are for one-half hour, except for Prudential, which offers half-day morning sessions. To schedule an appointment, call the number listed. 

Fidelity -- Tuesday, Aug. 12, and Tuesday, Aug. 26; (800) 642-7131

TIAA-CREF -- Monday, Aug. 18, and Tuesday, Aug. 19; (800) 842-2005

Prudential -- Wednesday, Aug 6, and Tuesday, Aug. 20; call Cheryl at (847) 619-3519

CIS CLASSES

Classes offered by Computing and Instrumentation Solutions are held in Argonne-East’s Building 221, Room 167. Unless otherwise specified, class sizes are limited to eight participants and cost $215.

August classes include:

“Intermediate Access Version 2000” (CIS105) -- Wednesday, Aug. 6, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

“Intermediate Word 2000” (CIS103) -- Monday, Aug. 4, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

“Intermediate Excel 2000” (CIS104) -- Tuesday, Aug. 5, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

“Introduction to PowerPoint” 2000 (CIS106) -- Thursday, Aug. 7, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

“Advanced PowerPoint 2000” (CIS107) -- Friday, Aug. 8, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Complete computer class descriptions, schedules and enrollment forms are available online. For information about enrollment, contact Diane Cavazos (CIS) at ext. 2-7153 or dkcavazos@ anl.gov.

Product show set for July 24

An on-site product show geared toward instrument and piping technicians, mechanical and process engineers, designers and product managers will be held at Argonne-East Thursday, July 24.

The Parker Hannifin Corporation’s Instrumentation Group will feature Argonne Materials Ordering System (AMOS) supplied products, product literature and catalogs, new products and demonstrations. Attendees will also have the chance to talk with product experts.

The show will be held in the parking lot of Building 212, just south of the Building 213 Cafeteria, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.