NS&D Monitor
9/5/2014
IN DOE
The Congressionally mandated Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories is scheduled to hold its second meeting Sept. 15. The meeting will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Institute for Defense Analyses in Alexandria, Va., and will include a review of previous studies on the Department of Energy’s national labs and discussion with DOE office directors that oversee the labs and user facilities. The final agenda has not been released. Former Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon and former Deputy Energy Secretary T.J. Glauthier are chairing the nine-member panel.
IN THE INDUSTRY
USEC has named Glenn Strausser as the new manager of quality assurance at the American Centrifuge Plant. Strausser previously was director of engineering, procurement and construction for American Centrifuge. In his new role, he will “oversee independent oversight and assessment of the plant and will work to ensure the plant’s compliance with safety, safeguards and quality requirements,” USEC said in a release.
Ann Gehl has been named manager of the Department of Energy’s Beryllium Lymphocyte Proliferation Laboratory, which is managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities. The Oak Ridge lab annually processes thousands of blood samples to determine whether workers exposed to beryllium have developed a sensitivity that makes them vulnerable to development of chronic beryllium disease—an incurable respiratory illness. The lab is one of only three in the country certified to perform this testing. Gehl, who has almost 30 years of medical technology and lab experience, will replace Linda Nichols—who will continue working as a senior technologist and quality control specialist, ORAU said.
ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT
The Republic of Congo on Sept. 4 became the 163rd country to ratify the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty. The CTBT prohibits nuclear explosions around the world. Three African countries—Mauritius, Somalia and South Sudan—have not signed the CTBT, and Angola, the Union of the Comoros, The Gambia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe have not ratified the treaty. For the CTBT to enter into force, eight remaining “Annex 2” states—including Egypt, China, North Korea, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the U.S.—must ratify the treaty. After the treaty enters into force, an International Monitoring System established at 337 locations will scan the oceans, the earth’s crust and the atmosphere for signs of nuclear explosions.
