South Carolina State University radiochemistry program at SRNL first year overview
Michael
South Carolina State University (SCSU) in conjunction= with Clemson and SRNL was awarded a grant from the National Nuclear Security Age= ncy (NNSA) Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Program to start a radiochemistry program. The program = will utilizes the resources and talents of SCSU with the existing graduate radio= chemistry program at Clemson and the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River National Laboratory(SRNL). The overall intent of this project= is to assist the DOE in increasing the pool of radiochemists= that are US citizens and to augment the nation’s security by developi= ng an educational and research program in radiochemistry for the education and training of radiochemists. To accomplish this, SCSU is settin= g up a radiochemistry minor in its chemistry and nuclear engineering programs, and expand its new Applied Radiation Sciences Laboratory (ARSL) capability to include additional instrumentation necessary for radiochemistry instruction= and research. SCSU will coordinate the radiochemistry program and the summer in= tern and faculty research programs in radiochemistry in conjunction with Clemson University and SRNL.
The SRNL point of contact Dr. Michael Bronikowski is to provide technical consultation to SCSU in setting up its radiochemist= ry minor while keeping in mind NNSA future needs and utilize the unique SRNL environment for student training.
SRNL technical consultation began with a meeting at C=
lemson
University on November 4th 1995. Dr.
Bronikowski attended a meeting at Clemson with =
Dr.
Kenneth Lewis, SCSU Dean of Science, Mathematics and Engineering Technology
along with Dr. Robert Fjeld, and Dr. Timothy
The SCSU program would have a summer program of a cou= rse and training at Clemson with time spent at SRNL. It was decided that for the first = year the time at SRNL would be a week of instruction and touring of the Savannah Riv= er Site’s various radiochemical operations and proce= sses with a direct emphasis on those dealing with the NNSA. In future years, the time at SRNL = would be extended to two weeks or co-op’s and su= mmer work in radiochemistry at the site would be looked into for the students. <= /p>
Four undergraduate students from SCSU visited SRNL fo= r the week of June 26-30 as part of a summer course in radiochemistry. The students stayed at he University of South Carolina Aiken dorms and commut= ed to the site. The students were the first group of students in the new radioche= mistry minor being set up at SCSU. T= he students had spent the last six weeks in an accelerated radiochemistry detection class with laboratory work, at Clemson, prior to coming to SRNL w= ith Dr. Fjeld, and Dr. DeVol.
The students were able to see how the radiochemistry concepts learned at Clemson are used in an applied setting, for the NNSA through tours and lectures at SRNL and the SRS. After an initial meeting with SRNL director Todd Wright and Dr. Kenneth Lewis, SCSU Dean of Science, Mathemati= cs and Engineering Technology, the students were given a realistic experience = at a DOE site. They filled out pap= erwork to obtain dosimetry, discussed ALARA concepts, = ate in the SRNL lunch room, and were talked to about site security all before tour= ing SRNL. The next day consisted = of lectures on NNSA activities including tritium processing, analytical radiochemistry, actinide process chemistry, and a waste evaporator process upset. A behind the scenes to= ur of the whole body counting facility was given, and = the students experienced an Actinide Technology Section (ATS) researcher group meeting. The talk and discuss= ion at the meeting was on the new chemistry found in a future waste sludge batch a= nd how it affected processing glass at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (= DWPF). On day three the students mainly s= pent touring site with a driving tour of H area, F area, sa= ltstone, and DWPF. They were given a personal tour through the Mock up shop, where they were able to see equipme= nt to be used in H-Canyon and DWPF being tested, set up, and worked on. As all new SRS employees they also= spent some time in a trailer. In the afternoon the students saw a neptunium being eluted from an anion exchange column and had a tour of the SRNL Engineering Development Lab where an evap= orator was being mocked up. Day four was spent with hands on work with hot cell ma= nipulators, and in a training glovebox, followed by an hour= of one on one time with a SRNL researcher.&nb= sp; At the end of the day the students met with ATS manager Dr. A Murry to discuss careers in radiochemistry. Their last day was a half day which consisted of touring and sample counting in the mobile lab as well as touri= ng the analytical department labs with a radiochemist.
During the closeout meeting the students said they we= re impressed by what was being done at SRNL and the site. The students also expressed an int= erest in possibly working at SRNL next summer.&n= bsp; Specific interests were in working at the new tritium facility, at S= RNL in the counting lab doing radiochemistry in the analytical development group and working with manipulators.
SRNL technical consulting next fiscal year will entail
three main areas; helping prepare a radiochemical course at SCSU, getting an
SRNL speaker to give a seminar at SCSU, and working on the summer program. =
Dr. Bronikowsk=
i
will work with the new SCSU radiochemistry faculty member, (=
Dr. Zheng Chang ?) to set up a=
300
level radiochemistry course to be taught in spring 2007. This will entail choosing a book,
determining course content, and suggesting needed laboratory experiments.
The summer program at SRNL in 2007 is expected to hav= e the same student participants as last year and as such will be different. As junior students a longer stay, = at least a two weeks, is being worked on.&nbs= p; The following year new sophomore students will be expected to take t= he one week program which was given this year. Prior to setting up the two week S= RNL part of the summer program an attempt will be made to get the students plac= ed in the as summer students at the site.&nbs= p; If this is untenable, the two week stay at SRNL will be set up more = as a course which will cover various NNSA and radiochemistry aspects of the site= .
Recommendations for the future if funding were availa= ble would include an actinide process chemistry course which would compliment t= he latest Mixed Oxide Fuels (MOX), and Global Nuclear Energy Program (GNEP) initiatives, as well as DWPF process chemistry.