Monday,
October 14, 2019
6:00 - 7:30 pm
Pellissippi State Technical Community College
10915 Hardin Valley
Road, Knoxville
J.L Goins Administration Building
Faculty/Staff Dining Room
OCTOBER PRESENTATION
Liquid Nuclear Waste Disposal at
Oak Ridge, from X-10 to Yucca Mountain;
Can We Connect the Dots?
By
Dr. Steve Stow, PhD
Abstract
This discussion deals with five
historic themes related to nuclear wastes at Oak Ridge (primarily at
ORNL). An overriding theme related to the high degree of complexity
regarding nuclear waste and its management is presented. This
complexity, presented by the Oak Ridge site, is perhaps the extreme
for any other site within the United States.
A second fundamental theme represents the evolution and thought on
the part of ORNL staff in an effort to develop a permanent geologic
disposal repository for the Nation's high-level nuclear waste. This
leadership lasted for several decades from the very late 1940s into
the 1980s with a series of ORNL-directed initiatives. Other themes
dealing with the AEC and it's role in nuclear waste management are
integrated into the discussion, all in a preliminary sense and it is
emphasized that much more work is required to fully develop this
material and the ideas presented this evening.
Biography
Having grown up in Nashville, Steve graduated
from Vanderbilt with a degree in geology; he attended graduate school at Rice
University and received M.S. and PhD degrees. He spent three years with CONOCO
in Oklahoma working on the geochemistry of phosphate deposits, then joined the
Geology Department at the University of Alabama, where he advance to Full
Professor and initiated a research program on the geochemistry of
mafic-ultramafic rocks in the southern Piedmont. After 11 years, Steve joined
the staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he initially took a managerial
position as part of ORNL's role in identification of a site for disposal of
high-level nuclear waste. He then became involved with characterization and
monitoring of historic nuclear waste disposal practices at various Oak Ridge
facilities, including ORNL, Y-12, and K-25. Steve also assumed management of the
Earth and Atmospheric Science Section at ORNL, a group of over 90 earth
scientists and engineers. He later took a management role for the "environmental
restoration" activities at Oak Ridge, and, after two years, assumed the role as
Ethics Officer for ORNL (and Y-12). In 2003, he became Director for the American
Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE) in Oak Ridge, a DOE facility managed by ORNL.
Steve has been author or co-author on over 60 open literature publications and
other scientific reports.
Steve retired in 2006 and is currently active in numerous groups active in
Manhattan Project history and other aspects of educational public interaction.
He serves as a tour guide for the popular DOE-sponsored "public tour of the
Manhattan Project history and current scientific activities that have evolved
from the Manhattan Project. He serves (has served) on boards for AMSE
Foundation, Friends of ORNL, the Oak Ridge Retirees Program, the Oak Ridge
Historical Society, DOE's Site Specific Advisory Board, the Farragut Museum, the
Oak Ridge Center for Oral Histories, and others. He was an active participant in
the American Chemical Society Traveling Lecture Program for six years.
Page updated December 14, 2019 |