Some of this week's stories

Leading scientists to offer
preview of next 50 years

Part of Argonne's 50th anniversary celebration, the symposium will be held in the Advanced Photon Source Conference Center Auditorium (Argonne-East's Building 402).

Argonne Director Dean Eastman will introduce the symposium at 8:30 a.m. Scheduled to speak are:

* 8:40 a.m. -- Nobel laureate J. Robert Schrieffer, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University: "Exotic Materials and Fundamental Concepts: Writing Volume II of Condensed Matter Physics."

* 9:40 a.m. -- Peter M. Eisenberger, Princeton Materials Institute: "Synchrotron Radiation Research: The APS and Beyond."

* 11 a.m. -- Chauncey Starr, Electric Power Research Institute (Emeritus): "The Future of Nuclear Reactor Power."

* 1:30 p.m. -- Nobel laureate Johann Deisenhofer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center: "Directions and Opportunities in Structural and Computational Biology."

* 2:30 p.m. -- Freeman Dyson, Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies (Emeritus): "Mathematics and Machines." * 4 p.m. -- Harold (Hub) Hubbard, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Retired): "R&D for Sustainable Development! What is it?"

Site shuttle service will be provided from the 900, 300 and 200 areas from 7:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Service also will be available from Building 402 to the Building 213 Cafeteria at noon and returning to Building 402 at 1:20 p.m. for the afternoon session. Site shuttle service will also be provided after the symposium.

Diverse commercial applications
found for new ceramic binder

Called CERAMICRETE, the binder -- developed to stabilize and solidify radioactive and hazardous wastes -- can also join ceramics together and convert nonhazardous wastes into useful construction products and nonflammable structural materials.

"Besides solidifying wastes, it can be used to convert lumber wastes into non-flammable particle board or to recycle waste plastic into blowable insulation that is fire- and moisture-proof," said Arun Wagh (MSD), one of the inventors.

CERAMICRETE has already been used to make insulation products with thermal resistance (R values) of 4.5 per inch of thickness. The binder can also be used with recycled ash from utility plants to make structural products, such as paving materials and reef barriers, Wagh said.

Currently, engineers are considering using the blowable insulation to rehabilitate residential buildings in Chicago under Argonne partnership with Bethel New Life -- a Chicago , Ill., community economic initiative focused on developing the West Garfield Park neighborhood.

CERAMICRETE can be manufactured at a low cost compared to other ceramic binders because it is made at room temperature and does not need high-temperature treatment.

Because it is nontoxic and nonflammable, CERAMICRETE can replace the expensive and less environmentally friendly organic binders currently in use. It is being used at Argonne to treat "mixed waste" -- waste that is both hazardous and radioactive.

Argonne is using the CERAMICRETE process to stabilize low-level radioactive waste, such as soil, sludge, and lead bricks in a 55-gallon drum mixer. Contaminated wastes that contain radioactive contaminants and hazardous volatile chemicals, such as mercury, lead, and cadmium are solidified in the binding process at room temperature to form a ceramic, noncorrosive, and final waste form.

"The CERAMICRETE process is unique because contaminants are converted and stabilized chemically into their natural minerals in a single step," said co-inventor Dileep Singh (MSD). "Once encapsulated, the chemicals do not dissolve in groundwater and are isolated from the environment."

Performance tests show that the waste forms far exceed the regulatory performance criteria set by DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"The strength of the binder is twice that of Portland Cement and the process can be easily adapted for commercial use," said Singh. "Work is under way to begin using it at other DOE sites and at private companies."

Wagh and Singh recently won a 1996 R&D 100 award for CERAMICRETE. The awards are given by R&D magazine to the "100 most significant technical products of the year."

This project was funded through the Office of Technology Development as a part of DOE's Mixed Waste Focus Area to explore innovative technologies for managing mixed waste.

Final preparations
for open house under way

More than 100 demonstrations, exhibits and presentations will showcase Argonne's scientific and engineering programs.

During the open house, radio station WJTW-FM (93.5) will broadcast a series of short, live interviews about Argonne research.

Gates will open at 9:30 a.m. Free on-site shuttle service will be available throughout the day. It is recommended that visitors park their vehicles and use the shuttle to travel between the 200, 300 and 400 areas.

Free off-site shuttle service will be available for visitors parking at the Argonne Park, on Cass Avenue.

Information centers will be located at Buildings 203 and 362. Fiftieth anniversary memorabilia will be available for purchase at the information centers.

Food and beverage will be available for purchase at Buildings 213 and 362. Refreshments will be available at Buildings 203 and 401.

The open house will conclude at 4:30 p.m. Off-site shuttle service will continue until 5 p.m.

For more information about the 50th anniversary open house call 2-6700.

Combined appeal organizations
to visit Argonne-East cafeteria

During these two weeks representatives from two different agencies supported by the ACA will be available each day to answer questions and inform employees how their donations benefit these organizations.

The first week will bring mostly agencies supported by the United Way/Crusade of Mercy, which is the largest single component of the ACA program. The second week other agencies supported by the ACA will be present.

Agencies scheduled for the week of Sept. 16 are:

Monday, Sept. 16

* Camp Fire Inc., Lombard -- Provides educational and recreational programs for children as well as summer day camp.

* Just of DuPage Wheaton -- Provides chaplaincy, social services and education plus a victim/offender reconciliation program.

Tuesday, Sept. 17

* Serenity House, Addison -- Licensed halfway houses for men and women. Also provides continued aftercare treatment program for recovering alcoholics and chemically dependent men and women, individual and group counseling and AA meetings.

* DuPage Senior Citizens Council, Oak Brook -- Provides home delivered meals, home maintenance and support information and referral.

Wednesday, Sept. 18

* ChildServ-Group Homes, Naperville -- Three group homes for adolescents 13-17 years old that serve emotionally disturbed, behaviorally disordered children.

* Girl Scouts of DuPage Council, Naperville -- Provides a variety of group and individual activities under the guidance of trained adult volunteers.

Thursday, Sept. 19

* DuPage Senior Citizens Council, Oak Brook

Friday, Sept. 20

* Breaking Free, Inc., Aurora -- Provides outpatient drug and alcohol counseling for adults and youth, placement referals to facilities, educational representatives to schools and community organizations and women's recovery group.

* Alliance for the Mentally Ill of DuPage County -- Protects the rights and promotes and provides for the welfare of mentally ill individuals and their families through advocacy, support, research, and education. This is not a United Way Agency.

The Alliance for the Mentally Ill of DuPage County is new this year to the list of agencies supported by the Combined Appeal. Each year, the ACA steering committee carefully studies the credentials of each charity that benefits from the campaign. Charities that do not receive at least five percent of employee pledges are removed from the next year's list of ACA agencies.

The agency weeks are a prelude to the annual campaign, which takes place in October. For more information about this year's Combined Appeal campaign, visit the Argonne Combined Appeal home page.

Time running out
for old badges

Employees who have not received a new badge should go to the Vistor's Reception Center (VRC) where they will be issued a new badge.

For more information, call the VRC at 2-5755.

Reception kicks off
Photo Fest exhibit

Photographs will remain on display through Friday, Oct. 11. Images that were selected in the "Arts in Science" category will be displayed on Argonne's pages on the World Wide Web.

Party to feature
both kinds of music --
country and western

The party will feature country and western music and dancing with two dance floors, a dance instructor and a disc jockey.

Drinks and food, including sloppy joes and pizza, will be available for purchase.

Seat-belt scofflaws
to be ticketed

The law requires that all drivers and passengers of government vehicles at the laboratory have seatbelts properly fastened whenever the car is in motion.

Attorney to discuss
estate planning in the 90s

Attorney Kathleen T. Zellner will present the seminar at 11:30 a.m. in Argonne-East's Building 203 Auditorium. Prior registration is not necessary.

Zellner will outline recent changes in estate planning, inlcluding the "living trust" and other aspects of a sound estate plan including a durable power of attorney, durable power of health care, and living will.

For additional information, contact Rosemary Stanton at ext. 2-4114.

Valves, fittings
to be displayed

Representatives of Dearborn Valve and Fitting Co., an AMOS vendor, will conduct demonstrations of their complete line of valves and fittings for fluid system applications.

-- Pacesetter Award --

Nick Friedman, Jon Hawkins and Christine Seaver (all XFD) won Pacesetter Awards for designing and overseeing the construction of the personnel safety, equipment protection and machine protection systems at the Advanced Photon Source (APS). These hardware and software systems have critical roles in the facility's operation.

Monday, Sept. 16

Chemistry Division Monday Morning Seminar Series: "Rational Design of Nonlinear Optical Material" by Seth Marder, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. 11 a.m., Bldg. 200 Auditorium.

Physics Division Seminar: "Physics with Trapped Radioactive Ions" by Guy Savard, Chalk River Laboratories, AECL Research, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada. 3:30 p.m., Bdlg. 203, Conference Room R150.

Tuesday, Sept. 17

Technology Development Division, Arms Control and Nonproliferation Seminar: "Curtailing Nuclear Smuggling: The Role of International Law" by Barry Kellman, JD, DePaul University, College of Law, Chicago, Ill.. 10:30 a.m., Bldg. 207, Conference Room AA108.

Chemical Technology Division Seminar: "Molecular Simulations and NMR Measurements of Diffusion in Zeolites" by Randall Snurr, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. 10:30 a.m., Bldg. 205, Y-Auditorium.

High Energy Physics Division Seminar: "The Brain, Visual Processing, and Consciousness" by Rudi Thun, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 11 a.m., Bldg. 362, Room F108.

ACCA Chemistry Seminar Series: "Introduction to the Principles of Medicinal Chemistry" (Workshop Included) by Robin Zavod, Chicago College of Pharmacy,

Bruce Currie, Jeffrey Christoff, (Workshop), Chicago College of Pharmacy. 7 p.m., Bldg. 223 Auditorium.

ACCA Biology Seminar Series: "The Biodiversity Crisis and the Role of Systematics" by Paul Sorensen, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb. 7 p.m., Bldg. 203 Auditorium.

Wednesday, Sept. 18

High Energy Physics Division Seminar: "Flavor Oscillations for Pedestrians Neutrinos, Kaons, and Heavy Flavors" by Harry Lipkin, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. 11 a.m., Bldg. 362, Room F108.

Materials Science Division Seminar: "Kinetic of the Strain Induced Directional Coarsening in Nickel Based Superalloy AM1: A Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) Study" by P. Bastie, Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Physique, Universite Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France. 2 p.m., Bldg. 223, Conference Room L119.

Thursday, Sept. 19

Materials Science Division Special Colloquium: "Computation and Recognition with DNA" by Albert Libchaber, Center for Studies in Physics & Biology, Rockefeller University, New York City. 1:30 p.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room A157.

Physics Division Theoretical Physics Seminar: "Chiral Perturbation Theory for Vector Mesons" by Kevin Mitchell, TRIUMF, Vancouver, Canada. 3 p.m., Bldg. 203, Room B221.

Experimental Facilities Division Seminar: "Applications of Soft X-ray Microscopy" by Chris Jacobsen, State University New York, Stony Brook. 4 p.m., Bldg. 432, Conference Room C010 (note building and room change).

Tuesday, Sept. 24

Argonne Chapter of Professional Secretaries International Lunch (brown bag) Seminar: "Estate Planning" by Kathleen Zellner, Kathleen T. Zellner & Associates, P.C., Naperville, Ill. 11:30 a.m., Bldg. 203 Auditorium.

Wednesday, Sept. 25

Materials Science Division Special Colloquium: "Thin Film Lithium Batteries" by John Bates, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn. 11 a.m., Bldg. 212, Conference Room A157.

Friday, Sept. 27

Chemistry Division Seminar: "VUV Laser Time-of-Flight Mass Spectroscopy Valence to Ion Pair Transition States of Bromine Chloride to Chlorine" by Peng Wang, Department of Chemistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. 11 a.m., Bldg. 200, Conference Room J183.

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