Research Staff, Oak Ridge National Lab
Biography
Current Employment: NSS - Oak Ridge National Laboratory Technical Staff
Research
Dissertation Title: Alternative Method for Determining Plutonium-240 Content
Mentors: John Mihalczo (ORNL), Jason Hayward (UTK)
Dissertation Description: With the increase in nuclear power facilities worldwide, emphasis has been placed on the need to ensure proper nuclear material management and accountability. In addition, as part of possible future treaty verification process, methods need to be developed to verify the accuracy of declared nuclear weapons/components. Through research conducted in the Nuclear Materials Detection and Characterization (NMDC) group at ORNL a method was developed to nondestructively detect the presence of weapons-grade plutonium by determining the plutonium-240 content in bare and shielded/reflected plutonium samples. This research advances analytical techniques and instrumentation used in determining inventory and characterization of nuclear materials, and has potential applications in counterterrorism where the goal is to detect plutonium that might be heavily shielded.
Education
PhD in Energy Science and Engineering - University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering-Texas A&M University
Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Physics-Randolph College
