EFFECTIVE MAY 3, 2023: CNM USERS REQUIRED TO PROVIDE IDENTIFICATION COMPLIANT WITH THE REAL ID ACT

Starting Wednesday, May 3, 2023, all Argonne National Laboratory site visitors who are 18 years old or older, including users of the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), must show identification compliant with the REAL ID Act to enter all Argonne sites.

This updated identification policy puts Argonne in compliance with the REAL ID Act, passed by the United States Congress in 2005, which establishes minimum security standards for people accessing federal facilities.

Please note that, although the Department of Homeland Security extended the deadline for REAL ID compliance for boarding an aircraft to May 7, 2025, Argonne will require updated identification for users to access all sites on May 3, 2023.

Users will need to present identification at the Argonne Information Center during business hours (6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or to a Protective Force officer at the North Gate entrance after hours. Users only need to present a REAL ID or acceptable documentation one time to be verified. Argonne will log each person’s verification and keep it on record.

Details on compliant documents can be found here. Please contact the CNM User Office at cnm_​useroffice@​anl.​gov if you have questions.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS REVISED PER CDC GUIDANCE

Argonne has received new guidance from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in response to streamlined recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This new guidance emphasizes personal choice and personal responsibility.

Argonne has updated its COVID-19 safety plan to align with this guidance. The laboratory and the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) are revising COVID restrictions and minimizing our need to adjust safety protocols when the CDC changes COVID-19 community transmission levels for DuPage County (the county in Illinois where Argonne is located).

The requirements that shift based on community levels are indicated below. All changes are effective Wednesday, August 24, 2022. Currently, the DuPage County COVID-19 community level is medium (yellow).

Tied to COVID-19 Community Levels: 

• Face Coverings: High-quality face coverings from our approved options will be optional on site when the COVID-19 Community Level is low (green) or medium (yellow); they will be required when it is high (orange). 
• Fans and Heaters: When the COVID-19 Community Level is high (orange), restrictions on placement and the direction of the airflow in shared spaces apply. 

Not tied to COVID-19 Community Levels: 

• Access Requirements for Visitors: Vendors, facility users, and other guests are no longer required to provide proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test results to enter an Argonne site. 
• Contact Tracing: We will only perform complete contact tracing at the discretion of Argonne Health and Employee Wellness if there are signs of a cluster of cases on site. 
• Close Contacts: People who are exposed to the coronavirus through a close contact will not need to quarantine. They will need to wear a face covering for 10 days and complete COVID-19 testing five days after exposure. 
• Isolation of Infectious People: Users should adhere to the latest CDC guidance for COVID-19 quarantine and isolation periods. 
• Meeting Maximums: There are no limits to the number of people who may attend a meeting in person. However, events should be planned so that attendees can be encouraged to maintain distance from others and avoid crowding.
• Proximity Devices: We are discontinuing the wearable proximity device program. If you have a wearable proximity device in your possession, please return it to the proximity badge station where you were originally assigned the monitor.
• Social Distancing: Social distancing will be optional on site, no matter the COVID-19 Community Level. 
• Testing Programs: We are discontinuing our screening program.

REMEMBER:  Users should not come to Argonne or CNM if they are not feeling well or exhibit symptoms consistent with COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status. If you become ill while at Argonne, stay away from others and immediately call the COVID-19 Question Line at 630-252-2555 for guidance on isolation and restriction requirements.
 
Only users who have an approved UWA, and who have signed up via the CNM Visit Management System (VMS) (external VMS link and internal VMS link) are allowed on site. Mail-in and remote experiments will remain available.

Please contact the CNM User Office at cnm_​useroffice@​anl.​gov if you have questions.

AMENITIES OPEN

Some amenities are now open. The Argonne cafeteria (Bldg. 213) and the 401 Grille at the Advanced Photon Source are serving food. The Argonne Guest House is also open. 

CNM SUPPORTS REMOTE AND MAIL-IN EXPERIMENTS

Principal Investigators (PIs) are notified when work is completed using remote operations, or as newer UWAs are activated or identified. Accepted proposals that have not yet begun, as evidenced by a UWA start date, are being kept in a pending status. 

Currently, the CNM user program is supporting: 

• Mail-in/remote operation/participation for many capabilities. Tools available remotely are indicated by an asterisk in the list of capabilities at this link.
• Remote access to the supercomputing cluster, Carbon, and programs developed by CNM’s Theory and Modeling Group.
• Mail-out programs for select samples, depositions, fabrications, and other select capabilities
• Onsite Access: Visit registration must be booked before arriving at the CNM to conduct experiments. Time can be reserved on the CNM Visit Management System (VMS) (external VMS link and internal VMS link). An existing or pending user work approval (UWA) on an allocated proposal is required. For the safety of everyone at the CNM, there will be repercussions if we determine you are in a CNM facility without a visit request. For the first occurrence there will be a loss of one month of access, for the second occurrence there will be a loss of two months and a third occurrence will result in loss for the duration of the user work approval (UWA). 
• Off-hours access for authorized users who do not hold a student status (graduate, undergraduate or high school).