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National Nuclear Security Administration

In This Issue

HEU Recovered From Czech

‘Every Day Hero’ Is CampaignTheme For CFC................................3

NNSA Facilities Mobilize People,Technology For Gulf CoastHurricane Response....................... 4

Disposition Program ReachesAnother Milestone.............................7

THEY CAME BY THE BUSLOAD: Evacuees from Hurricane Katrina enter Fort Chaffeein Arkansas. NNSA staff members at the Office of Secure Transportation trainingfacility at Fort Chaffee volunteered almost 700 hours over the Labor Day weekend tohelp the evacuees with medical, food and temporary housing needs. See pages 4and 5 for a summary of NNSA responses to the technical and human challenges ofhurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Fourteen kilograms of highlyenriched uranium (HEU) havebeen safely andsecurelyreturned to theRussianFederation fromthe CzechRepublic underNNSA’s GlobalThreat ReductionInitiative (GTRI)program. The Czech TechnicalUniversity secret operation inPrague was a joint effort

between the United States, theCzech Republic, the RussianFederation, and the International

Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA).The shipmentwas part of theprioritized,acceleratedscheduleimplementing akey element ofthe Bush-Putin

Bratislava Joint Statement onNuclear Security Cooperation.

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NNSA RecoversUniqueRadiologicalDevices

A two-month effort by the Off-Site Source Recovery Project(OSRP) at Los Alamos NationalLaboratory has resulted in therecovery of 13 small irradiatorsfrom 10 states. This projectreflects NNSA’s commitment toremove and secure materialsthat pose not only a safetyhazard, but also a security risk. “These recoveries are part ofa nationwide effort to reducerisks associated with accessibleand unwanted radioactivematerial,” said NNSAAdministrator Linton F. Brooks.“NNSA is aggressively removingradioactive materials that couldbe useful to terrorists attemptingto make a dirty bomb.”

Technical University

Secures Material UsefulFor “Dirty Bombs”

This is the eighthsuccessful shipmentof uranium returned toRussia under NNSA’sGTRI program.

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HEU Recovered FromCzech Technical University

“The return of this highlyenriched uranium is an importantmilestone in the administration’sGlobal Threat Reduction Initiativecampaign to reduce stockpiles ofthis high-risk, vulnerable materialworldwide,” said NNSAAdministrator Linton F. Brooks.“Due in large part to the strongcooperation of the Czech Republic,Russia and IAEA, we were able tosuccessfully complete this criticalinternational nonproliferationproject. In particular, I would like tocongratulate the Czech Technical

University for its assistanceregarding this shipment.” The HEU was airlifted underguard from an airport near Prague,Czech Republic, to a secure facilityin Dimitrovgrad, Russia, where thematerial will be down-blended tolow enriched uranium (LEU). TheUnited States has provided securityupgrades at the facility in Russiaunder NNSA’s U.S.-RussianMaterial, Protection, Control andAccounting Program. During the first day of the two-day operation, approximately 14kilograms of weapon-grade HEUwere loaded into three specializedRussian transportation containers.IAEA safeguards inspectors andU.S. technical experts werepresent at the university to monitorthe process of loading the fuel intothe canisters. A Russian airplanetransported the HEU fuel back to

Russia. The HEU, originally supplied tothe Czech Republic by the SovietUnion, was used as fuel for theDepartment of Nuclear Reactors ofthe Czech Technical University inits VR-1 Sparrow research reactor. The repatriation of the HEU fuelfrom the VR-1 research reactorwas part of the joint effort betweenthe NNSA, the Russian Federationand the IAEA to convert theVR-1 reactor to operate on LEUfuel, and to supply new LEU fuel tothe university. The VR-1 researchreactor is the first Soviet/Russian-supplied research reactor toconvert to LEU fuel. At the end ofJuly, the HEU fuel was discharged

from the reactor inpreparation for return toRussia. U.S. andCzech technicalspecialists conductedall necessarycalculations to assuresafe and efficientoperation of the VR-1research reactor usingLEU fuel. This is the eighth

successful shipment of uraniumreturned to Russia under NNSA’sGTRI program. To date,approximately 122 kilograms offresh HEU have been repatriated toRussia from Serbia, Romania,Bulgaria, Libya, Uzbekistan, theCzech Republic, and Latvia. Thisis the second shipment of freshHEU fuel from the Czech Republicthis fiscal year, and highlights theaggressive efforts of the GTRIprogram. With the successfulcompletion of this mission, allRussian-origin fresh HEU fueldesignated for repatriation hasbeen removed from the CzechRepublic. The mission of the GTRI is toidentify, secure, recover and/orfacilitate the final disposition ofhigh-risk vulnerable nuclear andradiological materials around theworld as quickly as possible.

U.S. Navy Capt. Curtis Stevenshas been named NNSA executivestaff director for AdministratorLinton F. Brooks. He replacesCapt. Douglas Fremont, whoretiredfrom theNavy. Prior tohis NNSAassignment,Stevenshad at-seaassignmentsincludingUSS HenryL. Stimson,USS La Jolla and USS Drum. Heserved as executive officer on USSHartford, and was the lastcommanding officer on USSWilliam H. Bates. Stevens hasmade seven strategic deterrentpatrols, five extended deploymentsto the Western and NorthernPacific and one extendeddeployment to the North Atlantic. Significant shore dutyassignments include SquadronEngineer at Submarine Squadron16 and Deputy Commander forReadiness at SubmarineSquadron 7. Stevens also servedtwo consecutive tours on the staffof the Chief of Naval Operationsas a branch head in the CurrentOperations Division and asassistant deputy director of SeaShield/Antisubmarine Warfare. Stevens graduated with highdistinction from Pennsylvania StateUniversity in 1982 with a Bachelorof Science in Nuclear Engineering,and received his commissionthrough the Navy ROTC program.His graduate education includes aMaster of Political Science AuburnUniversity and a Master ofEngineering Management from OldDominion University.

Curtis R. StevensNamed NNSAExecutive StaffDirector

This is the second shipmentof fresh HEU fuel from theCzech Republic this fiscalyear, and highlights theaggressive efforts of theGTRI program.

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‘Every Day Hero’ Is Campaign Theme For CFC

The 13 irradiators, known asGammators, originally contained400-curie Cesium-137 sealedsources. Thedevices posedlittle risk ofradiationexposure owing toheavy shielding.However,increasedsecurityrequirementsheightenedawareness of theneed for removalof these sourcesto a safe andsecure location.The irradiatorswere originallysupplied to highschools andcolleges acrossthe United States in the 1960s and1970s through the U.S.

government’s “Atoms For Peace”program. The OSRP recovers and

disposes excess and orphanradioactive sealed sources for

NNSA Recovers Unique Radiological Devices (continued from page 1)

This year’s Combined FederalCampaign (CFC), under the theme“be an everyday hero,” started earlyin September with a special appealfor donations to help victims ofhurricanes Katrina and Rita. The

campaign concludes in mid-December. Administrator Linton F. Brooks isleading the fund drive for NNSA andDOE in Washington, D.C. at therequest of Secretary of Energy

Samuel Bodman. “As many of you know, I am verypassionate in my support of CFC,”he said in a message to federalemployees. “In previous years, Ihave been quite proud of NNSA

support forCFC, and Iearnestly askthat each NNSAfederalemployee be asgenerous aspossible.” He said he is

equally proud of the significantdonations made to local UnitedWay charities by contractoremployees who work at the labsand plants throughout the NNSAcomplex.

“Two important hallmarks ofthe American people are that weare generous and we refuse toaccept the term impossible,”Brooks said. “Many in ourcommunity have grave needs; forexample, the homeless, thehungry, the battered, theterminally ill, and the despondent.Our generosity can make the‘impossible’ for these neighborsof ours ‘possible.’ I urge everyNNSA federal employee to notonly support the CFC, but to bemore generous than before. Iurge every contractor employeeto do the same. It can be assimple as writing a check orsigning up for payroll deduction toperform a miracle for someone inour community.”

“Two important hallmarks of theAmerican people are that we aregenerous and we refuse to acceptthe term impossible.” Administrator Linton F. Brooks

storage at NNSA sites. Theproject has recovered more than11,000 sources containing

plutonium, americium,cesium, cobalt and

strontium from medical,agricultural, research,and industrial locationsthroughout the nation. The project is part ofthe U.S. RadiologicalThreat Reductionprogram led by NNSAand is overseen by theGlobal ThreatReduction Initiative,NA-21. The Los Alamos

Nuclear Nonproliferation Divisionconducts the work.

RADIOACTIVE SOURCERECOVERY: OSRPcontractors hoist a Cesium-137 irradiator into a Type Bshipping container at anIllinois high school.

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IMAAC serves as a singlefederal source of plumemodel predictions duringincidents of nationalsignificance. A team of LLNLemployees was alsodeployed to the NewOrleans area with detection,communication and nightvision technologies for usein search and recoveryoperations coordinated bythe Department of Defense(DoD). The team’stechnologies included radarknown as “Urban Eyes” thatcan detect motion such asrespiration or hand waving up to25 feet away and through thickwalls. NNSA’s Remote SensingLaboratory (RSL) in Las Vegas,Nev., also has a long history ofproviding support to national andinternational emergencies. The

NNSA Facilities MobilizePeople, Technology For Gulf Coast

In a wide-ranging response tothe human and technical needs ofthe Gulf Coast region in theaftermath of hurricanes Katrina andRita, NNSA’s labs, plants andfederal officeshave providedsignificantassistance tohelp fellowAmericans inneed. Prior toKatrina’s landfall,the NationalInfrastructureSimulation andAnalysis Center(NISAC),operated jointlyby Los AlamosNationalLaboratory(LANL) andSandia NationalLaboratories

(SNL), both in New Mexico, wasactivated by the Department ofHomeland Security to provideimpact predictions for thehurricane. NISAC teams from thetwo labs generated detailedcomputer models of vulnerablepower lines and stations, and theeffects of flooding on powersystems. They also developedeconomic impact assessments.Ongoing analysis by NISAC hasbeen provided during the recoveryfrom the two powerful cyclones.

Hurricane Response Equipment developed by LANLwas used on an EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA) aircraft as

part of NNSA’shurricaneresponse effort.The plane wasdeployed toscan thedisaster area fortoxic chemicalsin the air as aresult ofchemical tankdamage. Theaircraft was alsoused to locatemissingchemicalcontainers,perform aradiologicalsurvey of theNew Orleansarea, and toassess damageto rail linesin the GulfCoastregion.

As the hurricaneemergency began, anothernational crisis asset atLawrence Livermore NationalLaboratory (LLNL) inCalifornia, the InteragencyModeling and AtmosphericAssessment Center (IMAAC),was placed on alert by theHomeland SecurityOperations Center to provideairborne hazard predictionsfor potential fires and toxicchemical releases. The

MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS FOR RECOVERY EFFORTS: JoeHassen, Hans Devouassoux, and Chris Engebretsen fromNNSA’s Remote Sensing Lab in Las Vegas, Nev., preparesatellite equipment for deployment to the Gulf Region. The labprovided state-of-the-art mobile communications packages andpersonnel in support of Katrina recovery efforts.

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The devastation wreaked onNew Orleans by HurricaneKatrina and the television imagesof victims clinging to rooftops andscavenging for food were just toomuch to be ignored by DaveBourne, an environmentalmanagement staff memberlocated at the NNSA ServiceCenter in Albuquerque, N.M.. A former Peace Corpsvolunteer, Bourne took a one-month leave of absence from hisjob and joined a Peace Corpsteam working in New Orleanswith the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency. He took upresidence in tents and othertemporary housing with 12 othervolunteers and began working inanimal shelters, food banks andsupply centers. He and his fellowvolunteers passed out food, tookcare of lost animals and did avariety of other tasks in an effortto serve the basic needs of thepeople they came to help. “Visualizing this is a lotdifferent than seeing it ontelevision,” Bourne said. “Seeingthe images, I just thought thatthere was something I could do tohelp out, and I wanted toexperience it for myself.” He received training in Floridabefore being sent to BatonRouge, then had to wait outHurricane Rita before arriving at ahigh school in the New Orleansneighborhood of Algiers. “The scope of what happenedis just so widespread,” he said. “Itis something you have to see tobelieve. You can’t grasp it fromwatching television.”

Television ImagesCompelledAlbuquerqueVolunteer To Go ToNew Orleans

Arkansas where OST maintains atraining facility. Staff members atthe facility volunteered hundreds ofhours to assist the hurricanevictims. Because generators wereneeded to help provide sources ofpower for victims and responders,numerous NNSA facilities worked

with the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency (FEMA) andother agencies to transfer excessand available machines for use atemergency medical sites and otherresponse locations. The KansasCity Plant in Missouri, the Y-12National Security Complex inTennessee and the three nationallabs all contributed generators.The Pantex Plant in Texas sent amobile command vehicle to LakeCharles, La., in response to arequest from the Office of FossilEnergy. Individual NNSA staff members

throughoutthe complexparticipated infood drivesand fundraising effortsto helpvictims of thehurricanes.NNSA and the

Department of Energy haveencouraged employees to becomevolunteers for 30-day fieldassignments to work with FEMA.Employee volunteers will continuein regular duty and pay status asDOE employees. DOE and FEMAwill pay travel costs for volunteers.

RSL was requested to providecommunications for the StrategicPetroleum Reserve (SPR). Associate Administrator forEmergency Operations Joe Krol saida portable version of theDepartment’s emergencycommunications network gave SPRthe ability to communicate locally and

across the complex, despite the lackof power and cell phone support inthe immediate area of the storm. The NNSA Office of SecureTransportation (OST) providedvaluable air transportation supportduring the crisis, which includedtransporting 126 Navy Seabeepersonnel and their gear from

California to the impact areassoon after Katrina landed. OSTalso flew the Secretary ofVeterans Affairs to affectedareas. Additionally, thousandsof evacuees were temporarilyhoused at Fort Chaffee in

IN-PROCESSING FOR KATRINAEVACUEES: Fort Chaffee, Ark., was one ofmany sites in the U.S. where victims ofHurricane Katrina were sent for housingand other assistance. NNSA’s Office ofSecure Transportation (OST) has trainingfacilities there and staff members spenttheir Labor Day weekend tending to theneeds of evacuees.

KATRINA VOLUNTEER: Ivan Herrera, a contractor employee atthe NNSA Service Center in Albuquerque and a member of theNew Mexico Air National Guard, stands in front of a mobilecommand post in New Orleans. Herrera was called totemporary active duty after Katrina hit Louisiana. A FirstSergeant in the 150th Security Forces Squadron, he helpedNew Orleans police patrol the city, assisted in the recovery ofbodies of storm victims, and helped to evacuate persons whohad chosen not to leave.

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Kansas City Plant volunteers were recentlytapped to finish work on a Habitat For Humanityproject that was nearing completion. Honeywell associates at the Kansas City Planthave a long history of supporting Habitat forHumanity, having collaborated over the years to buildeight houses and rehab a ninth. “We have a solidcore of volunteers who are out there every weekendand even during the week afterwork, to help build these houses,”said senior engineer Bill Spurny,one of the Kansas City Plant’sperpetual volunteers. On a steamy summer day, Honeywell FM&TPresident Carol Bibb and more than ten members ofher senior leadership staff joined other volunteers tomove the house nearer to completion, painting andinstalling doors on the two-story concrete house. “Itis coming along nicely and should be ready for itsnew family to move in before fall,” said Spurny. A fewof the other senior leaders on hand to help outincluded Reed Childers, human resources andinternal communications director; Sharon Robinson,external communications manager; Chris Gentile,

Kansas City Plant Senior Leaders

Los Alamos Joint Dispatch Center Is Operational A new joint dispatch systemlocated at the Los AlamosNational Laboratory (LANL)Emergency Operations Centerhas been created to bring allemergencymanagementsystems in theLos Alamos,N.M., communityunder one roof. Created withfunds from theCerro GrandeFire recoveryappropriation, the newcenter combined theresources of the Los AlamosCounty police and firedepartments, County offices, andthe LANL fire alarm system, whichincludes alarm testing andmaintenance. It is a majormilestone for all of the agenciesinvolved.

vice president national security programs; JaneFitzpatrick, Six Sigma and business excellence director;Gary Fitzpatrick, NWC integration director; and JimJeffries, facilitymanagementservicesdirector. Habitat for

Humanity buildsand rehabilitatessimple, decenthouses throughvolunteer laborand donationsof money andmaterials, and with “sweat equity” help from homeownerfamilies. Habitat houses are sold to partner families atno profit, and financed with affordable, no-interest loans.

Take Up Tools For Habitat For Humanity

“Basically, it is a win-winsituation,” Los Alamos PoliceCaptain Wayne Byers said. “Thisnew system will provide anautomated records management

system. Inaddition, it willprovide intelligenttechnology todispatch

emergency resources, shareimportant information withresponders, file reports from thefield, and manage incident recordsand materials.” The key players who workedaggressively to open the joint centerare Robert Gall, NNSA Site Officeemergency manager; Beverly

Ramsey, LANL EmergencyOperations Office; and WayneTorpy, Los Alamos police chief. In December an enhanced 911system will become operational atthe joint center. It will provide astreet address, room number andname of the caller to theemergency operator. Los AlamosFire Department vehicles are

equipped with GlobalPositioning Systemtechnology that will showtheir location on theComputer Aided Dispatchsystem in the center. Thiswill help managers know

where their assets are during afire or other emergency. Currently, LANL is assigningstreet addresses to all lab roadsand numbers to each lab building.When this is accomplished, theenhanced 911 system will receivethe necessary location informationfor emergency calls.

COMMUNITY COORDINATION:A Los Alamos County, N.M.,police officer works in the newJoint Dispatch Center at theLANL Emergency OperationsCenter.

HABITAT HOUSE COMPLETED: Carol Bibbtouched up trim paint at the Habitat forHumanity house being completed byfellow Kansas City Plant volunteers.

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Disposition Program Reaches Another Milestone Site preparation activities for aMixed Oxide (MOX) FuelFabrication Facility at theSavannah River Site in SouthCarolina have begun. In September 2000, the UnitedStates and Russia signed thePlutonium Management andDisposition Agreement,committing each country todispose of 34 metric tons ofsurplus weapon-grade plutonium.To eliminate the plutonium, bothnations agreed to fabricate it intoMOX fuel for use in existingnuclear reactors. At a ceremony initiating theclearing, grading and excavatingphase for the Savannah Riverfacility, NNSA Administrator LintonF. Brooks said, “The real reasonthat we are all here today isbecause starting these activitieshas a deeper meaning thanclearing trees and moving dirt. Itsignifies that the United States iscommitted to proceeding with theplutonium disposition program. Itsignifies the site’s important newrole in the nonproliferation field. Itsignifies the Department ofEnergy’s commitment to providinga pathway out of South Carolinafor plutonium brought here fordisposition.” Brooks said even though theU.S. has been ready to beginconstruction of a MOX facilitysince 2003, lack of adequateliability protections for U.S. workperformed in Russia prevented thestart of the program. “I am pleased to report that theUnited States and Russiasuccessfully completednegotiation of a liability protectionprotocol for the plutoniumdisposition program in July,” hesaid. “We expect that bothcountries will sign the protocol inthe near future, once routineinternal reviews are completed.” The design of the U.S. MOXfacility will also be adapted for usein Russia as a way of saving time

and money. The Russian facility willbe built at the Siberian ChemicalCombine in Seversk. Other successfully completedmilestones in the project includeconstruction authorization for theMOX facility from the U.S. Nuclear

Regulatory Commission (NRC);approval by the NRC of a licenseamendment for the CatawbaNuclear Station in South Carolina, toirradiate four MOX fuel leadassemblies made from weapon-grade plutonium; signing of atechnology transfer agreementallowing the U.S. use of French MOXtechnology at the planned SavannahRiver facility; and completion ofabout 70 percent of the design of thefacility by the contractor, DukeCogema Stone & Webster. Becausethe design is based on Cogemafacilities already operating in France,NNSA can take advantage ofCogema’s operating experience toperfect the design of the U.S. facility. Brooks said, “We have alsomade progress on the design of thePit Disassembly and ConversionFacility to be constructed atSavannah River, and we expect to

begin work next fiscal year on atraining module to ensure thatthis first-of-a-kind facility will beable to provide plutonium oxidefeedstock to the MOX facility onschedule.” South Carolina U.S. Senator

Lindsey Graham, an outspokenproponent of the nonproliferationprogram, was also a speaker atthe site preparation ceremony. “The congressional delegationand the Bush administration arecommitted to ensuring the MOXprogram becomes a reality,”Graham said. “Today is anotherimportant step in the rightdirection. The MOX program isvital to our national security andwe will continue to work togetherto ensure it is adequately funded.The citizens of South Carolina,along with the Savannah RiverSite workforce, should be proudof the role we are playing inmaking the world a safer place.” U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, U.S.Representative Gresham Barrettand U.S. Representative CharlieNorwood also attended theceremony and deliveredremarks.

MOX MATTERS: A lineup of VIPs shovel the first dirt to preprare the site for aproposed MOX fabrication facility at the Savannah River Site. Pictured from left toright are: Jeff Allison, DOE Savannah River Operations Office manager; Rep. CharlieNorwood, R-GA; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC; Rep. Gresham Barrett, R-SC; NNSAAdministrator Linton F. Brooks; Sen. Jim DeMint, R-SC; and Sterling Franks, FissileMaterials Disposition Site Office director.

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Nine students with high scores in the annualNNSA Office of Research, Development andSimulation Go Figure! Mathematical Challengehave been hired as interns at NNSA’s nationallaboratories as a result of their achievement. The group included a Lucent Global ScienceScholar and Intel Science Talent Searchscholarship recipient, National MESA teamcompetitors, 2005 Scripps National Spelling Beefinalists, a freshman at Harvard, a U.S. ChemistryOlympiad semifinalist and former U.S. PhysicsTeam member. The competition is designed to identify studentswho have the ability to learn, retain, and applymathematical concepts. It measures the ability ofstudents to think mathematically, independent oftheir mastery of mathematics in school. Complexproblems are broken into small steps. Studentsmust find and use clues to solve the problems,which are designed to test their ingenuity andability to apply a newly acquired understanding inyet a different kind of problem. Go Figure! is hosted by Sandia NationalLaboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratoryat eight sites throughout California and NewMexico. The problems are devised by CynthiaPhillips, Ph.D., Distinguished Member of TechnicalStaff at Sandia. Visit www.sandia.gov/gofigure forfurther information. Student programs at Sandia, Los Alamos andLivermore serve as models for national laboratorytechnical workforce development, securing apipeline of employable technicians, technologist,engineers, researchers, and scientists who will becapable of ensuring the nation’s StockpileStewardship security mission. These programswork with universities and other technicalinstitutions in an effort to mitigate existingworkforce shortages. Students benefit by gainingexposure to state-of-the-art technologies andenjoying challenging technical career opportunitiesfrom pre-college to post-doctoral levels.

Mines Exceptional TalentGO FIGURE!

NNSA News is published monthly by the Office of Congressional,Intergovernmental and Public Affairs, C. Anson Franklin, Director.Editors: Al Stotts and Bryan WilkesLayout: Barbara L. Courtney.Contributors include: Teresa Branom, NNSA Service Center; Carrie Dittmer,Los Alamos Site Office; Joel Grimm, NNSA HQ; Jonathan Kiell, NNSA HQ; GaryMcIlnay, NNSA HQ; Cheryl Oar, Remote Sensing Lab; Norma Restivo, NevadaSite Office; Nicole Ross, Kansas City Plant; Lori Schmitt, Wackenhut FortChaffee; Gordon Yano, Lawrence Livermore Lab

FRONTIERS OF PHYSICS: High school students gaze intothe 30-foot-diameter target chamber of the National IgnitionFacility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory during“Frontiers of Physics” day at the lab. The special day inSeptember brought more than 400 high school sciencestudents and their teachers to the lab for tours,presentations and discussions around the topic of physics.The event was part of the lab’s year-long celebration of theInternational World Year of Physics.

Got an article for the NNSA Newsletter?Submit it for consideration to

Astotts@doeal.gov

CROSS COUNTRY RIDE: Two Lawrence Livermore NationalLaboratory employees and a friend dipped their bicyclewheels into the Atlantic Ocean at Virginia Beach, Va. onSeptember 28, concluding their 60-day, 3,815-mile bicycleride across the country. Through pledges, the trio raisedseveral thousand dollars for the Tri-Valley Hope Hospice.Pictured from left to right are: Rose O’Brien and CelesteMatarazzo and retired Livermore teacher Janis Turner.