Some of this week's stories

Electrorefiner begins operations at ANL-W

At 11:01 a.m., Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim pressed a touch-sensitive computer screen to lower the first irradiated fuel from Experimental Breeder Reactor-II into the electrorefiner.

Speaking to Argonne-West employees, Schriesheim called the startup "a tremendous historical event. This is a prototype for the future -- not only for our country, but for the world. The nation owes you a debt of gratitude."

The electrorefiner will separate EBR-II fuel into uranium, which can be preserved for future use in new reactor fuel, and waste, which includes both short-lived radioactive by-products of uranium fission, such as cesium and strontium, and the long-lived transuranic elements, such as plutonium.

The process generates no secondary wastes, and the total high-level waste volume occupies about one-tenth the volume of the original spent fuel.

The electrorefiner technology could save taxpayers billions of dollars in disposing of some 3,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel stored at various U.S. Department of Energy

Some of it cannot be disposed of safely until it is treated to form a stable waste package suitable for a nuclear-waste repository. DOE's inventory includes fuel that is seriously degraded, highly enriched with fissionable or chemically reactive materials, and lacking the chemical integrity to remain stable during long-term storage.

Argonne's electrorefining process can treat all of DOE's spent fuel, converting it into a common waste form suitable for treatment and long-term storage. A single process for this task would save billions of dollars compared to the alternative of developing dozens of processes to treat dozens of different fuel types.

Meridian, some driveways
to close for cable project

During construction, workers will be replacing underground cables in the 200 area.

Work will tentatively begin this week and take about three weeks to complete, said project manager Leslie Davis. However, the road closure will only last a day or two.

Picnic to help mark 50th

The picnic is at Argonne Park on Saturday, July 13. Gates open at 10 a.m., events begin at 10:30 a.m., and the picnic ends at 3 p.m.

Activities for the entire family will include a moon walk, bungee run, airplane ride and miniature Ferris wheel. For those less adventurous, there will be games like darts and hole-in-one golf. Country band High Noon with Kent Cleveland will also be performing.

The Argonne Club still needs volunteers to help run games and the hayride, sell tickets and greet picnickers. Volunteers will work three-hour shifts and must be at least 16 years old. All volunteers will receive a free T-shirt.

Interested volunteers should call Fred Onesto (APO) at ext. 2-5260 or Kandi Smith (APO) at ext. 2-1680.

Raffle ticket sale to benefit
Argonne Combined Appeal

Tickets are five for $1 or 25 cents each. Prizes include two round-trip airline tickets to a continental U.S. destination, a two-day, one-night stay at the Lisle-Naperville Hilton and tickets to the Candlelight's Forum Theater, as well as many other prizes.

The raffle will be held at Argonne-East's employee picnic, Saturday, July 13, in Argonne Park.

Clean-up walk
beautifies site

Twenty-five volunteers, comprising Argonne employees, families and friends, spent the afternoon cleaning and beautifying Argonne and Forest Preserve grounds and a a stretch along Lemont Road, south of the Westgate entrance. The WM&PP Advisory Committee provided refreshments for the volunteers and PFS-Grounds personnel donated their time, bags, gloves, and a small tractor and cart to transport the trash.

Volunteers picked up enough trash to fill a large dump truck, said WM&PP's Co-Chair Keith Trychta. The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County collected and disposed of the trash.

"The district staff was pleased to have such enthusiastic individuals delittering along Lemont Road at Waterfall Glen. It is encouraging to know that the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County has your support," wrote Forest Preserve Volunteer Coordinator Chris Linnell in a letter thanking Argonne volunteers "for making a difference."

Porter appointed to legal dept.

Porter is the laboratory's legal representative in collective bargaining negotiations, acts on behalf of the laoratory in the resolution of employee and union complaints under collective bargaining agreements and before outside agencies, and provides advice in major human resources policy decisions.

Previously, Porter was a commissioner with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Hinsdale, Ill., and an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago.

Chemical engineers
honor ES's Rathin Datta

The Ernest W. Thiele Award is presented each year to a Midwest region member of AIChE who has made outstanding contributions to advance chemical engineering. Datta was honored for his contributions in the areas of membrane-based separation technologies and pioneering research in metabolic engineering of anaerobes, microscopic organisms whose life processes don't require oxygen.

Sponsored by Amoco Corporation, the award consists of an engraved plaque and $1,000.

AIChE is the premier professional organization of Chemical Engineers, which provides leadership in advancing the chemical engineering profession as it meets the needs of society.

HR offers Russian class

To register, contact a Training Management System (TMS) representative. Call Betty Iwan (HR) at ext. 2-3410 for more information.

Computer Users
to meet July 2

The agenda includes:

* Update on CUG future

* Updates on microfiche and 3900 printer

* PC to PC video teleconferenceing capabilities

* Progress on the distributed computing environment project

* Andrew file system changes

* Access to Fermilab training classes by Argonne employees and vice versa

* Common desktop environment under Solaris

The meeting is open to all interested Argonne and DOE employees.

Additional CUG information is available in the newsgroup anl.committees.cug and on the World Wide Web at http://www.anl.gov/CUG/home.html.

Pacesetter Awards

Steve Twarowski, Joe Midlock, Dave Liebfritz, Mike Eisenberg, Ken Sidorowicz, Bruce Stejskal, John Crissup (all ASD), Rodney East, John Smejkal and Dave Wallis (all XFD) won Pacesetter Awards for transferring computer resources during the Advanced Photon Source move. Although the effort involved six servers, 100 networked printers, 400 networked personal computers and 150 networked Unix workstations, there was no loss of electronic services, information or communication.

A group of Experimental Facilities Division employees shared Pacesetter Awards for carrying out the design, production and installation of narrow-aperture vacuum chambers for the Advanced Photon Source storage ring. Honored were Joseph Arko, John Attig, Patric Den Hartog, Thomas Klippert, Kevin Knoerzer, Tim Roberts, Emil Trakhtenberg, Greg Wiemerslage and Shenglan Xu (all XFD).

Juan Barraza, Try Leng Kruy, Robert Nielsen, Mohan Ramanathan and Deming Shu shared a Pacesetter Award for commissioning of bending-magnet and insertion-device beamline front ends at the Advanced Photon Source (APS). The team's efforts have helped keep the APS well ahead of schedule for the start of experimental operations.

Jeffrey Collins and Anthony Passi (both XFD) received a Pacesetter Award for designing, building and installing utilities for the front ends and beamlines of the Advanced Photon Source (APS). Their work with the cooling water, compressed air, electricity and other utility systems will contribute to the APS's reliability.

Service Awards for June include:

35 Years

Judith M. Beumer (MCS), Anthony D. DeWitt (IPNS), Thomas E. Kasprzyk (HEP), Francis Markun (CMT-AC), Donald G. McGhee (ASD), Algirdas Paugys (XFD), Curtis F. Peterson (ET), Donald J. Piatak (IPNS), Stanley J. Rudnick (TD), C. Gary Schlesselman (ECT-CTT).

30 Years

Jon C. Beitel (RA), Bobby D. Dunlap (MSD), Eddie C. Gay (CMT), Mary Ellen Hennebry (EST), Patricia A. Krueger (PFS-PMO), Nicole J. Long (CHM), Gordon D. Muma (OD), Judith A. Philbert (ESH), Don L. Shepherd (OD).

25 Years

Linda M. Graf (IPD-MED), Sharon K. Janning (OTD-ERA), Sally A. Moll (ET), Bruce W. Spencer (RE), Dorthea L. Wagar (IPD).

20 Years

Geraldine D. Agerton (PFS-US), Kenneth D. Albert (PFS-DR), Andrew P. Bracken (OCF-SPM), Ronald L. Gilbert (PFS-BM), Glenn Harmon (PFS-BM), Ruth A. Hill (HEP), James F. Lucas (PFS-GR), Kenneth J. Madritsch (PFS-MAT), Bryant R. Messenger (PFS-SUP), Sofia L. Napora (CMT), Douglas J. Schwartzenberger (OD), Leland H. Sprouse Jr. (ESH-HP), Rodney L. Surman (RA), Donald L. Zolecki (ESH-FD).

15 Years

Ronald S. Noble (PFS-CU), W. Elane Streets (CMT-AC), Constantine P. Tzanos (RE), Venkateswara R. Veluri (ESH-HP), Thomas D. Veselka (DIS).

10 Years

Robert A. Amber (TD-DES), Thomas K. Begeske (PFS-DR), James Dominick Cavallo (DIS), Patricia Ann Clark (SPO), Avin C. Gonzales (PFS-CU), Tina M. La Mantia (OCF-ACT), David W. Leibfritz (ASD), Ronda L. Lockhart (SEC), Candace M. Rose (ER).

5 Years

Benedict Affetto (PFS-DR), Scott Benes (ASD), Thomas E. Bingham II (RPS-RM), Val G. Cooper (OD-PS), Howard Czerwinski (ASD), Noel R. Duckwitz (OD-PS), Loretta Fagiano (PFS-CU), Nahum Friedman (XFD), Travis A. Hall (OD-PS), Akemi Hanus (PFS-CU), Catherine Harris (PFS-CU), Rhea J. Hickman (RPS-FS), Marianne Jakusz (ITD), Mark Kedzie (PHY), Jesse L. Kirby (OD), Raymond Klann (ED), Clareen A. Krolik (XFD), James Maines (XFD), Danny Mangra (ASD), Michael M. Michlik (ED), Barry Miller (OCF-PRO), Joseph T. Mitchell (ED), Thomas Mullen (PHY), Tracy Rogness (PRA), Edward Semones (ESH-HP), Andrew Stevens (PFS-BM), Cynthia Sullivan (ESH-HP), L. Edward Temple (APO), Patricia Thigpen (PFS-CU), Troy L. Wright (RPS-SPM), Irma Zepeda (CMT).

Tuesday, July 2

Materials Science Division Seminar: "Role of Free Radicals in the Degradation of Polyimide Materials" by Myong-Ku Ahn, Department of Chemistry, Indiana State University, Terre Haute. 2 p.m., Bldg. 200, Conference Room J183.

Friday, July 5

Energy Technology Division Seminar: "Measurement of the Interaction Between Jet and Free Surface" by Koji Okamoto, Nuclear Engineering Research Laboratory, University of Tokyo, Japan. 10:30 a.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room A157.

Monday, July 8

Materials Science Division Seminar: "Hall-Petch Behavior in Gamma Titanium Aluminides" by W.O. Soboyejo, Ohio State University, Columbus. 1:30 p.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room B201.

Wednesday, July 10

Materials Science Division Seminar: "RHEED and Mössbauer-Effect Investigation of Epitaxial fcc-Fe on Cu(001)" by Werner Keune, (MSD). 11 a.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room A157.

Thursday, July 11

Experimental Facilities Division Seminar: "Partial Structures of Disordered Materials" by David Price, (MSD). 4 p.m., Bldg. 401, Conference Room A1100.

Friday, July 12

Materials Science Division Seminar: "Metallization of Hydrogen" by W.J. Nellis, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Calif. 11 a.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room A157.

Monday, July 15

Energy Technology Division Seminar: "Induced Current in a Superconducting Fault-Current-Limiter" by Yung S. Cha, (ET). 10:30 a.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room A157.

Wednesday, July 17

High Energy Physics Division Seminar: "A LEP Forward: Results from the L3 Experiment at [[radical]]S = 130 GeV" by Thomas Ferguson, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa. 11 a.m., Bldg. 362, Conference Room F108.

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