National Lab Briefs

Argonne Reactor Program Turns To The East Faced with dwindling U.S. interest in nuclear power research, Argonne National Lab has turned to Japan to save its reactor research program. In July the lab reached an agreement with the Japanese electric industry that will see $20 million over five years poured into a lab program on “pyrometallurgical” fuel reprocessing. The technique separates radioactive elements from used fuel for recasting into new fuel, thereby allowing the reactor to bum its own waste. But the process is at least a decade away from commercial application, says Argonne project manager Yoon Chang, and the listless U.S. nuclear industry is “not looking at long-term energy policy.” The Japanese involvement comes as Congress threatens to cut funding for Argonne’s entire Integral Fast Reactor program to as little as a third of the $30 million the Department of Energy requested in its 1990 budget. “Without the Japanese [investment] we would have had problems supporting the program,” says Chang. Although no new reactors have been commissioned in the U.S. for more than a decade, Japanese interest remains strong. The agreement opens the door for Japanese scientists to visit the project, see certain research reports, and attend selected meetings. U.S.. Canada Plan Joint Neutrino Lab A $40 million lab in an abandoned mine near Sudbury, Ontario, may be the next major collaboration between Canadian scientists and the U.S. The facility would use 1,000 tons of borrowed heavy water and sensitive detectors to measure subatomic particles called neutrinos. Although several such facilities exist around the world, the Canadian lab, known as the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, will be the only one to use heavy water in which to trap the particles. The feature will give it unprecedented sensitivity to a wide range of neutrino energies, says Queens University physicist George Ewan, a project spokesman. While such a vast quantity of heavy water would have cost about $300 million, the Canadian government has found itself “with a temporary excess,” and has agreed to loan it to the project. Full funding has proved to be a more elusive quarry, however. Despite $11 million from the Canadian government, the project needs another $20 million from the same source by next month to attract an $8 million contribution over four years from DOE. In the meantime, according to DOE medium energy physics project manager Clarence Richardson, his department is moving to include the $8 million into its 1991 budget request. High-Powered Tech Transfer Technology transfer, at least at Argonne National Lab, has taken off with a roar. Research relating to ceramic automobile engine valves developed at Argonne has helped a Chicago-area startup and its Chevrolet Camaro stock car to three wins and one all-time track speed record in four outings. The company, American Ceramic Engine Co., is the part-time venture of Robert Larson and Raj Sekar, two engineers in Argonne’s Center for Transportation Research. Aided by a $25,000 Illinois state grant obtained through the lab’s Technology Commercialization Center, the researchers have developed ceramic engine components that can increase engine power by up to 7%. In the racing world, says Larson, such improvement is not taken lightly. “People struggle all year long to get 1% or 2% he says. “We picked the stock car racing [for the initial trials] because it is in greatest need for these kind of materials.” Ceramic valves and other engine parts are lighter and more durable than the titanium components they usually replace, Larson explains.

National Lab Briefs

The Scientist Staff

Argonne Reactor Program Turns To The East

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