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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2005. Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11200.
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Appendix B
Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

Milton Levenson, Chairman (NAE), is nationally recognized for his ability to apply creative new insights to major engineering challenges in the nuclear industry and for his organizational and leadership skills. Currently an independent consultant, Mr. Levenson is a chemical engineer with more than 50 years of experience in nuclear energy and related fields. His technical experience includes work related to nuclear safety, fuel cycle, water reactors, advanced reactors, and remote control. His professional experience includes research and operations positions at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Argonne National Laboratory, EPRI (formerly the Electric Power Research Institute), and Bechtel. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1976. Mr. Levenson is a fellow and past president of the American Nuclear Society, a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and recipient of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Robert E. Wilson Award in Nuclear Chemical Engineering. He is the author of more than 150 publications and presentations and holds three U.S. patents. Mr. Levenson is a member of the National Academies’ Board on Radioactive Waste Management (BRWM). He served as chairman or committee member in several recent studies by the BRWM and the Board on Radiation Effects Research. He received his B.Ch.E. from the University of Minnesota.

Cynthia Atkins-Duffin is an authority on the physical and chemical behavior of actinide and fission product elements. She is program leader in applied energy technologies at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2005. Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11200.
×

She was deputy materials program leader in the Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate from 1999 to 2002, and deputy director of the Glenn T. Seaborg Institute for Transactinium Science from 1996 to 1999. Earlier she was principal investigator in the hydrology and radionuclide migration program within the nuclear weapons program. Dr. Atkins-Duffin’s honors include the Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate Award, 2001; the Energy Directorate Award, 2000; and the American Institute of Chemists Award for Outstanding Undergraduate in Chemistry. She has authored or coauthored more than 40 refereed publications and given about 80 presentations. Dr. Atkins-Duffin received her Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Purdue University and her B.S. in chemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Patricia Culligan is an authority on applying geoengineering principles to understand and control the migration of contaminants from waste disposal sites. She is associate professor of civil engineering and engineering mechanics at Columbia University. Her research centers around understanding the behavior of miscible contaminants and nonaqueous phase liquids in soil and fractured rock, and determining the effectiveness of in situ remediation strategies for the cleanup of waste sites. In addition, she has interest and experience in the design of land-based disposal sites for waste materials. Dr. Culligan has received numerous awards including the Arthur C. Smith Award for Undergraduate Service (1999) and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (1999). She is also the author or coauthor of more than 50 journal articles, book chapters, and refereed conference papers. Dr. Culligan received her B.Sc. from the University of Leeds, England, and her M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Cambridge University, England.

Robin Dillon-Merrill specializes in risk and decision analysis. The focus of her research is using programmatic risk analysis to improve project and operational management in complex, resource-constrained environments, which are typical of the Department of Energy (DOE) projects. She is assistant professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Dr. Dillon-Merrill has applied her work in the selection of a new tritium supply facility for DOE and assessing options for unmanned space missions for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has coauthored papers with the nation’s leading risk and decision analysts. Dr. Dillon-Merrill received her Ph.D. in engineering risk analysis from Stanford University, and her M.S. and B.S. degrees (with highest distinction) from the University of Virginia.

Lloyd A. Duscha (NAE) is a nationally recognized authority on managing large engineering projects. He has more than 40 years of experience, in-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2005. Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11200.
×

cluding 25 years in executive management positions with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mr. Duscha was elected to the NAE in 1987. He is a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Society of American Military Engineers. He has served on numerous committees at the National Academies including the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment, the Committee to Assess the Policies and Practices of the DOE to Design, Manage, and Procure Environmental Restoration, Waste Management, and Other Construction Projects; he was principal investigator for the Project on Assessing the Need for Independent Review of DOE Projects; and he chaired the Committee on Long-Term Research Needs for Managing Transuranic and Mixed Wastes at DOE Sites. Currently Mr. Duscha is serving on the Committee to Review and Assess DOE Project Management. Mr. Duscha earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, with distinction, from the University of Minnesota, where he was awarded the Board of Regent’s Outstanding Achievement Award.

Thomas Gesell is an authority in health physics and environmental radiation monitoring, both of which must be considered in assessing waste characterization and treatment options. He is professor of health physics, director of the Technical Safety Office, and director of the Environmental Monitoring Program at Idaho State University. Previously, he worked for the DOE Idaho Operations Office as deputy assistant manager for nuclear programs and director of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) Radiological and Environmental Sciences Laboratory. Dr. Gesell was a faculty member of the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston for ten years. He is a fellow of the Health Physics Society and a member of its Board of Directors. He is a vice president and member of the Board of Directors of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). Following a six-year term as a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board’s Radiation Advisory Committee, he now serves as consultant to that committee. Dr. Gesell has served on two committees of the National Academies Board on Radiation Effects Research. He was a consultant to the President’s Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island. Dr. Gesell received his B.S. in physics from San Diego State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics with specialization in health physics from the University of Tennessee.

Carolyn L. Huntoon is recognized for improving management practices and technical approaches to DOE site cleanup problems as the former DOE assistant secretary for Environmental Management. She held this Senate-confirmed position from July 1999 until July 2001. She is currently an independent consultant in the fields of energy and aerospace. Before mov-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2005. Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11200.
×

ing to DOE, Dr. Huntoon served in various scientific and management positions at the National Aeronautics and Space Adminsitration (NASA), including Director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and special assistant to the administrator of NASA in Washington, D.C. In addition, she served as an executive in residence in the George Washington University Project Management Program and spent two years at the White House in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. She is a fellow of the American Astronautical Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Aerospace Medical Association. Dr. Huntoon has been awarded the Secretary of Energy’s Gold Medal, and the Outstanding Leadership, Exceptional Service, Scientific Achievement, and Distinguished Service Medals from NASA. Dr. Huntoon received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern State College, Natchitoches, Louisiana, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

Barry Scheetz is recognized for his expertise in the chemistry of cementitious systems for waste forms and environmental remediation. He is professor of materials, civil, and nuclear engineering at Pennsylvania State University. His work includes environmental waste management programs such as remediation of mine lands by the use of industrial by-products, focusing on large-volume usage of fly-ash-based cementitious grouts. Other programs include developments of radioactive waste forms based on vitrifiable hydroceramics and sodium zirconium phosphate structures. Dr. Scheetz received a national internship from the Argonne National Laboratory in 1972, and he was a National Academy of Sciences visiting scholar to China in 1989. He served as a member of the BRWM Committees on Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory High-Level Waste Alternative Treatments, and Cesium Processing Alternatives for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Dr. Scheetz is the author of more than 160 scientific publications and holds 46 U.S. and foreign patents. He received a B.S. in chemical education from Bloomsburg State College, and an M.S. in geochemistry, and Ph.D. in geochemistry and mineralogy from Pennsylvania State University.

Laura Toran is recognized for her expertise in hydrologic flow and transport in fractured and porous media as applied to problems of groundwater contamination. She is associate professor at Temple University where she was appointed to the Weeks Chair in Environmental Geology in 1997. She began her career as a Wigner fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Later, Dr. Toran worked in the Environmental Sciences Division at ORNL on characterizing and modeling radioactive waste and mixed waste, including an investigation on waste remobilization and nuclear criticality for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC). She serves as

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2005. Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11200.
×

a consultant to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the cleanup of a uranium-contaminated site near Philadelphia. Dr. Toran has been a National Science Foundation panelist and served on the editorial board of the journal Water Resources Research. She is on the editorial boards of the journal of Ground Water and Hydrogeology. Dr. Toran received her Ph.D. in geology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her B.A. in geology, magna cum laude, from Macalester College, Minnesota.

Raymond G. Wymer is a specialist in radiochemical characterization and treatment technology for radioactive waste management and nuclear fuel reprocessing. He retired as director of the Chemical Technology Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and continued his career as a consultant for ORNL, the U.S. Department of State, and the DOE. Currently he is a member of the BRWM Committee on Optimizing the Characterization and Transportation of Transuranic Waste Destined for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. He has served on several other BRWM committees and chaired the Committee on Prioritization and Decision-Making in the Department of Energy. Dr. Wymer also served on the USNRC’s Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste from 1997 to 2003. He is a fellow of the American Nuclear Society and the American Institute of Chemists, and has received the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Robert E. Wilson Award in Nuclear Chemical Engineering and the American Nuclear Society’s Special Award for Outstanding Work on the Nuclear Fuel Cycle. Dr. Wymer received a B.A. from Memphis State University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2005. Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11200.
×
Page 65
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2005. Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11200.
×
Page 66
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2005. Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11200.
×
Page 67
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2005. Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11200.
×
Page 68
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2005. Improving the Characterization and Treatment of Radioactive Wastes for the Department of Energy's Accelerated Site Cleanup Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11200.
×
Page 69
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The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) directs the massive cleanup of more than 100 sites that were involved in the production of nuclear weapons materials during the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. This report offers suggestions for more effectively characterizing and treating the orphan and special-case wastes that are part of EM’s accelerated cleanup program. It identifies technical opportunities for EM to improve the program that will save time and money without compromising health and safety. The opportunities identified include: making more effective use of existing facilities and capabilities for waste characterization, treatment, or disposal; eliminating self-imposed requirements that have no clear technical or safety basis; and investing in new technologies to improve existing treatment and characterization capabilities. For example, the report suggests that EM work with DOE classification officers to declassify, to the extent possible, classified materials declared as wastes. The report also suggests a new approach for treating the wastes that EM will leave in place after cleanup.

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