Los Alamos Science 2000 №26

Challenges in Plutonium Science. Published by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2000, 510 p.
Popular science magazine about new achievements in physics, experimental techniques and computer simulation.
Plutonium is arguably the strangest element in the periodic table and the most difficult to handle in the laboratory. While its nuclear fission properties were correctly predicted well before it was first produced at the Berkeley cyclotron, its chemical and condensed matter properties still defy understanding, largely due to the anomalous behavior of the 5f electrons. Nevertheless, it plays a prominent role in nuclear weapons and nuclear energy production. Former Director Sig Hecker opens the volume with the history of plutonium on planet Earth, its use in nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, the challenge of safeguarding weapons-grade plutonium, and efforts to mitigate health and environmental problems resulting from production during the Cold War. The volume goes on to summarize plutonium's condensed matter properties and evidence for its classification as a correlated-electron material. Other topics cover the role of the 5f electrons in producing plutonium's many phases, plutonium aging, plutonium metallurgy, plutonium chemistry, environmentally-conscious plutonium processing, and long-term deposition of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.An Update: Plutonium and Quantum Criticality – (George Chapline and James L. Smith)
The Taming of "49" - Big Science in Little Time - (Recollections of Edward F. Hammel).
Reflections on the Legacy of a Legend - Glenn T. Seaborg (1912-1999) - (David L. Clark and David E. Hobart).
From Alchemy to Atoms - The Making of Plutonium - (Andre F. Michaudon).
Plutonium and Health - How Great Is the Risk? – (George L. Voelz as told to Lleana G. Buican).Plutonium Condensed Matter Physics.
Plutonium Condensed-Matter Physics - A Survey of Theory and Experiment - (A. Michael Boring and James L. Smith).
Actinide Ground-State Properties - Theoretical Predictions - (John M. Wills and Olle Eriksson).
Electronic Structure of a- and 8-Plutonium - Theory vs Experiment - (Aloysius J. Arko, John J. Joyce, and John M. Wills).
A Possible Model for 8-Plutonium - Self-Induced Anderson Localization, 8-Phase Stability, and the Melting Temperature of Plutonium - (Bernard R. Cooper).
Photoelectron Spectroscopy of a- and 8-Plutonium – (Aloysius J. Arko, John J. Joyce, Luis A. Morales, Jeffrey H. Terry, and Roland K. Schulze).
Laser-Plasma Light Source - Design and Operation - (John J. Joyce, Aloysius J. Arko, and Luis A. Morales).
Actinide Photoemission Measurements at the Advanced Light Source – (Roland K. Schulze and Jeffrey H. Terry).
Atomic Vibrations and Melting in Plutonium - (Andrew C. Lawson, Barbara Martinez, Joyce A. Roberts, James W. Richardson, Jr., and Bard I. Bennett).
Equations of State - Theoretical Formalism - (Bard I. Bennett).
Microstrain in 8'-Plutonium - (Andrew C. Lawson).
Vibrational Softening in a-Uranium - (Michael E. Manley).
Elasticity, Entropy, and the Phase Stability of Plutonium - (Albert Migliori, Joseph P. Baiardo, and Timothy W. Darling).
Preparing Single Crystals of Gallium-Stabilized Plutonium - (Jason C. Lashley, Michael S. Blau, and Roger L. Moment).
A Single-Crystal Saga - (Roger L. Moment).Plutonium Aging
Aging of Plutonium and Its Alloys – (Siegfried S. Hecker and Joseph C. Martz).
A Tale of Two Diagrams - (Siegfried S. Hecker and Lidia F. Timofeeva).
Surface and Corrosion Chemistry of Plutonium - (John M. Haschke, Thomas H. Allen, and Luis A. Morales).
Catalyzed Corrosion of Plutonium: Hazards and Applications - (John M. Haschke and Joseph C. Martz).
Radiation Effects in Plutonium - What Is Known? Where Should We Go From Here? – (Wilhelm G. Wolfer).
Transmission Electron Microscopy of Plutonium Alloys - (Thomas G. Zocco).Volume II - Plutonium Metallurgy, Actinide Chemistry and the Environment, and the Yucca Mountain Project.Plutonium Metallurgy.
Plutonium and Its Alloys - From Atoms to Microstructure - (Siegfried S. Hecker).
Mechanical Behavior of Plutonium and Its Alloys - (Siegfried S. Hecker and Michael F. Stevens).
Where Is the Gallium? - Searching the Plutonium Lattice with XAFS - (Steven D. Conradson).Actinide Chemistry and the Environment.
The Chemical Complexities of Plutonium - (David L. Clark).
Computational Studies of Actinide Chemistry - (P. Jeffrey Hay and Richard L. Martin).
The Chemical Interactions of Actinides in the Environment - (Wolfgang H. Runde).
Spectroscopies for Environmental Studies of Actinide Species - (Wolfgang H. Runde).
Siderophore-Mediated Chemistry and Microbial Uptake of Plutonium - (Mary P. Neu).
Characterizing the Plutonium Aquo Ions by XAFS Spectroscopy – (Steven D. Conradson, David L. Clark, Mary P. Neu, Wolfgang H. Runde, and C Drew Tait).
XAFS - A Technique to Probe Local Structure - (Steven D. Conradson as told to Jay A. Schecker).
A Vision for Environmentally Conscious Plutonium Processing - (Larry R. Avens and P. Gary Eller).
Salt Distillation - (Eduardo Garcia, Vonda R. Dole, James A. McNeese, and Walter J. Griego).
Hydrothermal Processing - (Laura A. Worl, Steven J. Buelow, and Dennis D. Padilla).
Enhanced Pyrolysis for Converting Polystyrene or Cellulose Polymers - (Daniel J. Kathios).
Treatment of Liquid Wastes - (Gordon D. Jarvinen, Geraldine M. Purdy, Barbara F. Smith, and Thomas C Robinson).
Electrochemical Decontamination of Metallic Wastes - (Douglas E. Wedman and Jerry L. Lugo).
Molecularly Engineered Resins for Plutonium Recovery - (S. Fredric Marsh, D. Kirk Veirs, Gordon D. Jarvinen, Mary E. Barr, and Eddie W. Moody).The Yucca Mountain Project.
Yucca Mountain - Looking Ten Thousand Years into the Future - (by Roger C Eckhardt for David L. Bish, Gilles Y. Bussod, June T. Fabryka-Martin, Schon Levy, Paul W. Reimus, Bruce A. Robinson, Wolfgang H. Runde, Lnes Triay, and David T. Vaniman).
Mesh Generation for Yucca Mountain – (Carl W. Gable).
Analyzing Volcanic Hazards at Yucca Mountain – (Frank V. Perry, Bruce M. Crowe, and Greg A. Valentine).