Fall 2016 Colloquium Series

November 21, 2016January 10, 2019

Confessions of a Nuclear Physicist

SPEAKER:

PROFESSOR ERIC C. NORMAN

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

DATE/TIME:

MON, 11/21/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2016 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

For the first 25 years of my career, I performed basic research in the areas of nuclear astrophysics, weak interactions, and neutrino science. Following September 11, 2001, I decided to get involved with applications of nuclear physics related to national security and nuclear non-proliferation. I spent a sabbatical at LLNL where I met Stan Prussin and worked with him to develop a method to scan cargo containers for SNM. I then moved to LLNL for a while and finally to UCB. Since then I have had the good fortune to work with a group of exceptional undergraduate and graduate students, post-docs, and national lab collaborators on a wide range of topics from cross section measurements related to advanced reactor designs, studies of beta-delayed gammas and neutrons from fission products for nuclear forensics and reactor control, and remote monitoring of reactors using anti-neutrinos. The UCB NE department not only allows such diverse research, but fosters and encourages it. This is one of the things that makes us unique.

About the Speaker:

Rick received his A. B. degree in physics from Cornell Univ. in 1972, and a Ph. D. in physics from the University of Chicago in 1978. He worked for 20 years in the Nuclear Science Division at LBNL, 4 years in the Physics Division at LLNL, and 6 years in the Nuclear Engineering Dept. at UCB before retiring in 2014. He has published more than 180 refereed journal articles and holds 5 patents. He is also the co-discoverer of 4 isotopes. Rick is a fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was an Associated Western Universities/ US Dept. of Energy Distinguished Lecturer in 1990, received a DOE Outstanding Mentor Award in 2002, and was a co-recipient of the Breakthrough Prize in physics in 2015. He is still involved with research, supervising graduate students and post-docs, and enjoys babysitting his two grandchildren, travel, golf, and fishing.

November 15, 2016January 10, 2019

Overview of the Materials and Fuels Complex at the Idaho National Laboratory

SPEAKER:

JOHN C. WAGNER, PH.D.

CHIEF SCIENTIST, MATERIALS AND FUELS COMPLEX

IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY

DATE/TIME:

MON, 11/15/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2016 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

Beginning in the 1960s, the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) site was developed to demonstrate the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II and its associated fuel cycle. Today, boosted by substantial and growing interest in advanced nuclear energy systems, the mission of developing and demonstrating advanced nuclear technologies and systems continues and evolves. With unique facilities and core capabilities in the areas of fuel fabrication, post-irradiation examination, advanced characterization, analytical chemistry, transient testing (being reestablished), and space nuclear power and isotope technologies, MFC is the nexus for research on new reactor fuels and related materials. Through the Gateway for Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN), these core capability assets are being made available to the nuclear industry as part of the national research and development (R&D) test bed and demonstration platform for advanced nuclear technologies. The seminar will provide an overview of the capabilities, facilities, R&D activities, and current areas of focus for the future of MFC. The seminar will begin with a brief overview of the Idaho National Laboratory and conclude with a review of internship and other employment opportunities at INL.

About the Speaker:

Dr. John C. Wagner is the Chief Scientist for the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). He has more than 20 years of experience performing research and managing and leading research and development projects, programs, and organizations. Wagner received a B.S. in nuclear engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology in 1992 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Pennsylvania State University in 1994 and 1997, respectively. Wagner is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society and recipient of the 2013 E. O. Lawrence Award. He has authored or co-authored more than 170 refereed journal and conference articles, technical reports, and conference summaries.

November 7, 2016January 10, 2019

Nuclear Security Programs at Sandia National Laboratories

SPEAKER:

SHERYL HINGORANI

SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORY

DATE/TIME:

MON, 11/07/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2016 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

Discussion (4:00 – 5:00pm) Sheryl Hingorani will describe a variety of Nuclear Security Programs underway at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, CA. Sheryl
will also discuss opportunities for possible student intern placements.

Focus Group (5:00 – 6:30pm) The focus group will be a more intimate open discussion with Sheryl to discuss National Security and the National Labs. Students are encouraged to discuss their thoughts about Nuclear Deterrence as a possible career option.

About the Speaker:

Sheryl Hingorani leads Sandia’s Systems Analysis and Engineering organization in Livermore, California. Ms. Hingorani started her career at Sandia in 1986, as a mechanical design engineer, and has spent most of her career working in a variety of positions in Sandia’s Nuclear Weapons program, including as Sandia’s Nuclear Weapons Chief of Staff, and as Chair of the independent Red Team for the Annual Assessment of the state of health of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. Ms. Hingorani received a special appointment to Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Sandia in 1998, and moved into management in 2004. She completed studies as a Fellow with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for International Studies, and was the recipient of the Leadership Foundation Fellowship from the International Women’s Forum. Between 2000 and 2005, Ms. Hingorani was the Executive Director of the Albuquerque Committee on Foreign Relations; she also served as Secretary for the American Committees on Foreign Relations for two years. Ms. Hingorani is a Laboratory Advisor to the Defense Science Board Special Task Force on Weapons of Mass Destruction, and is a Laboratory Affiliate to the California Council on Science and Technology. She is a member of the Society of Women Engineers.

October 31, 2016January 10, 2019

Materials Walk Through Hell (High Temperatures)

SPEAKER:

KRAMPUS

DEMON, SEVENTH GATE, HELL

DATE/TIME:

MON, 10/31/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2016 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

It is Halloween; clowns, villains, demons and devils are on the streets asking for treats. We all have our idea of fear and horror, however many materials are born in a truly hellish environment, moving through 6 gates of hell just to enter through the seventh gate into “Nuclear Application”. Understanding materials behavior and components utilized in engineering applications requires understanding of how materials are manufactured. Krampus and his demon friends are going to present how the most common engineering metal, steel, is made from ore to product and how steels are tortured in their final application.

About the Speaker:

Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure described as "half-goat, half-demon", who, during the Christmas season, punishes children who have misbehaved, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards the well-behaved with gifts. In traditional parades and in such events as the Krampuslauf (English: Krampus run), young men dressed as Krampus participate; such events occur annually in most Alpine towns. Because he is only committed to terrorizing children in the month of December, Krampus spends the rest of the year studying materials science. The ultimate goal of his research is to eventually break free from the chains of hell.

October 24, 2016January 10, 2019

Ask Me Anything

SPEAKER:

PROFESSOR RACHEL SLAYBAUGH

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

DATE/TIME:

MON, 10/24/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2016 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

Rachel Slaybaugh is an assistant professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Slaybaugh received a BS in nuclear engineering from Penn State in 2006 where she served as a licensed nuclear reactor operator. She went on to the University of Wisconsin–Madison to earn an MS in 2008 and a PhD in 2011 in nuclear engineering and engineering physics along with a certificate in energy analysis and policy. Throughout her career, Slaybaugh has been engaged in computational science, educational outreach, starting an absurd number of student organizations, attending far too many conferences, and also having fun. Fun includes things like travel (she backpacked in central america for 3 months after getting a PhD), cooking and baking (because weird health food is the best), exercise (yoga, biking, climbing, etc.), and attending Burning Man. Beyond that, she lives in West Oakland on purpose.

October 17, 2016January 10, 2019

Ethics, Risk and Safety: Nuclear Engineering Then and Now

SPEAKER:

PROFESSOR WILLIAM E. KASTENBERG

DANIEL M. TELLEP DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF ENGINEERING, EMERITUS

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

DATE/TIME:

MON, 10/17/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2016 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

Ethics, risk and safety are three key aspects of nuclear science and engineering that occur in the pursuit of energy, the detection, treatment and cure of illness, and the need for national security. Professor Ahn, ruminating about the changes in nuclear engineering that took place during his career, raised the questions, “What is a nuclear engineer?” and “What makes a Berkeley Nuclear Engineer different?” In this presentation, I will attempt to provide my own answers from the perspective of ethics, risk and safety.

In particular, I will discuss how our understanding of ethics, risk and safety has changed during the past half-century or so, and how they might change again in the future. In the presentation, I will draw on examples from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, from considerations of high-level radioactive waste disposal and from national security; three issues that Professor Ahn was concerned with during his productive and innovative career.

About the Speaker:

Professor Kastenberg’s teaching and research interests include science and engineering ethics, risk analysis and nuclear reactor safety. He is currently the Principle Investigator for an NSF Grant entitled: Making Ethics Explicit: Relocating Ethics to the Core of Engineering Education. Dr. Kastenberg is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the AAAS and the ANS. More recently, he has been lecturing and writing on the interplay of safety culture and societal culture, and the interplay of cognition and emotion on science and engineering ethics education.

October 10, 2016January 10, 2019

Approaching Forty…

SPEAKER:

PROFESSOR EDWARD C. MORSE

PROFESSOR

NUCLEAR ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

DATE/TIME:

MON, 10/10/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2016 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

Approaching Forty...Years on the faculty of the Nuclear Engineering Department, that is. A great deal has changed since this time in 1978 when I was appointed as an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley at age 22. The world's enthusiasm for nuclear energy was dampened the following March with the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident in Pennsylvania. Fusion energy was in an enormous growth phase, with a $380 million experiment underway at Livermore, and an even bigger one at Princeton. The first Cray-I was installed at Livermore in 1978 and it was a single processor 80 megaflop machine. I worked on building microwave sources, negative ion sources, and started a compact toroid magnetic fusion experiment in the 1980s. Just as public opinion for nuclear was getting over TMI, we had the Chernobyl accident in 1986. In the 1990s, the National Ignition Facility laser fusion project started, and I brought in the Rotating Target Neutron Source (RTNS) from Livermore and used it to irradiate NIF concrete samples, detectors, and to get cross section data relevant to India's claims of thermonuclear weapon development. September 11, 2001 saw the growth of interest in nuclear terrorism, and I ran a large project called DoNuTS (for Domestic Nuclear Threat Security) from 2007 to 2013. I became interested in nuclear resonance fluorescence and nuclear forensics. March 2011 focused everyone on fission reactor safety (again!) with Fukushima, and I had a fair share of media outreach. At this time, the fastest computer in the world is from China (93 petaflops), North Korea has working nuclear explosives and has put satellites in orbit, the ITER fusion machine won't have plasma until 2025, and California won't have any nuclear power after 2025. Now that we have cleared this up, I will tell everyone why it's so important to have really good nuclear engineers coming out of Berkeley.

October 3, 2016January 9, 2019

The Challenges and Rewards of Operating a University Nuclear Reactor

SPEAKER:

DR. WESLEY FREY

FACILITY DIRECTOR, UC DAVIS MCCLELLAN NUCLEAR RESEARCH CENTER

DATE/TIME:

MON, 10/03/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2016 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

The McClellan Nuclear Research Center (MNRC) is home to a 2.0 MegaWatt Training Research Isotope built by General Atomic (TRIGA) nuclear reactor. The reactor is the newest research reactor in the United States and is the third most powerful (tie) university operated research reactor in the country. The facility was originally built by the US Air Force to conduct neutron radiography on airplanes and is located 10 miles north of downtown Sacramento. The operation of a research reactor in the 21st century is fraught with challenges as the reactors must operate under strict federal guidelines and public scrutiny. At the same time the facility must meet the short term needs and long term vision of the University. Discussed topics will include the supply of new nuclear fuel, disposing of spent nuclear fuel, relicensing the reactor, aging workforce, aging equipment, and planning for eventual decommissioning. Lastly, potential research and educational opportunities available to UC Berkeley nuclear engineering students at the MNRC will be discussed.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Wesley Frey is a California native who graduated from the UC Berkeley nuclear engineering program with a BS in 2001. After his undergraduate education, Dr. Frey completed his PhD at Oregon State University. Dr. Frey remained at Oregon State University for a number of years after graduating as a faculty instructor in radiation health physics. After this he returned to California to work as a health physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator to develop measurement methodologies to release metals from areas where neutrons had been present, in spite of the DOE metal recycling moratorium. Upon leaving Stanford he joined the UC Davis McClellan Nuclear Research Center as the Radiation Safety Officer and has since assumed the role of facility director. His educational interests include the teaching of health physics and beginning a reactor operator training program for university students. His research interests include radioactive isotope production, neutron activation analysis, and radiological measurements made for decommissioning and decontamination purposes. Dr. Frey is a board certified health physicist.

September 26, 2016January 9, 2019

Environmental Resiliency in Nuclear Energy

SPEAKER:

HARUKO WAINWRIGHT

RESEARCH SCIENTIST, LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY

DATE/TIME:

MON, 09/26/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2016 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

Environmental concerns pose the biggest challenge for nuclear energy, often preventing the construction of new plants, or the disposal of radioactive waste. There are currently more than a hundred sites in the world at which surface and groundwater have been contaminated by nuclear weapon production or nuclear accidents. Many of those sites remain unused and inhabited, which have been primarily the source of public concern. Developing capabilities to respond, assess and recover from such contamination – environmental resiliency – is critical not only to address existing contamination but also to build public confidence and support for nuclear energy.

This talk introduces recent technical advances to tackle nuclear-related environmental contaminations, including (1) in situ remote monitoring, (2) techniques for non-destructive geophysical imaging and multiscale data integration, (3) data analytics for large spatial and temporal datasets, (4) predictive simulation capabilities of contaminant transport and (5) enhanced natural attenuation remedies. At the Savannah River Site F-Area, where soil and groundwater are contaminated by various radionuclides, these technologies are used to achieve cost-effective remediation and to ensure long-term stability under various disturbances like climate change. In addition, after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, a Bayesian-based data integration method has been used to integrate different types of radiation survey data (e.g., airborne, car-based), providing an integrated map of air dose rates in the regional scale. With the trend of autonomous and advanced monitoring and characterization approaches such as those discussed here, there is significant potential to develop smart early warning and leak detection systems as an integral part of future nuclear facility planning.

About the Speaker:

Haruko is a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She earned master in nuclear engineering and statistics, and PhD in nuclear engineering at University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on hydrological modeling, spatial statistics, data integration, and uncertainty quantification. She has worked on various research topics in both nuclear engineering and environmental sciences, including nuclear waste, groundwater contamination, surface contamination after the Fukushima accident, climate change impacts on ecosystems, and geological CO2 storage. She has played a key role in many multidisciplinary projects. She is currently leading a project on modeling and data analytics at the Savannah River Site F-Area. She is a recipient of 2016 Director’s Award for Early Scientific Career Achievement at LBNL.

September 19, 2016January 9, 2019

Cyber Security for Nuclear Energy

SPEAKER:

ROBERT A. BARI

SENIOR PHYSICIST, BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

DATE/TIME:

MON, 09/19/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2016 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

Cyber threats to high technology systems are growing concerns and approaches are being developed to detect these threats and to protect against them. The objectives of a program in the nuclear energy area will be presented along with its current status. The threats and impacts will be briefly discussed as well events that have occurred. There are both technical and institutional challenges that must be addressed in the cyber security area. Some candidate approaches to evaluation will be reviewed and an approach based on attack trees will be illustrated for a model system. Insights on how to protect systems will be suggested and future work will be outlined.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Robert A. Bari is a Senior Physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and has over 40 years of experience in nuclear energy. For more than 25 years, Dr. Bari served at all levels of management at the laboratory. He is co-chairman of the working group on proliferation resistance and physical protection of the Generation IV International Forum. Dr. Bari has served on the Board of Directors of the American Nuclear Society and as President of the International Association for Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management. He was awarded the Theo J. “Tommy” Thompson Award in 2003 by the American Nuclear Society. In 2004, he received the Brookhaven National Laboratory Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science and Technology. He is a fellow of the American Nuclear Society and of the American Physical Society. He has been a committee member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences on Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving Safety and Security of the U.S. Nuclear Plants. Dr. Bari has also recently chaired a workshop of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences on safety and security culture held jointly between the U.S. and Brazil in Sao Paolo. He received his doctorate from Brandeis University (1970) and his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University (1965). He was awarded membership in the Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and Sigma Pi Sigma honor societies.