Seaborg Summer Seminar Series

“Our GTSI Seminars aims to foster a community of actinide scientists from around the nation,” said ORNL GTSI Director Sam Schrell, who has invited speakers making important scientific contributions to the field of actinide science.

Speakers will present 45-50 minutes, followed by a short period for discussion and questions/answers. While at the Lab, they will engage in smaller discussions with students, postdocs and scientists, Schrell said.

The series kicks off June 5, when Kathryn Peruski Lawson will present “The Curious Case of Neptunium” from 2-3 p.m. in L204 in Building 5700, and on Zoom.

Lawson, an R&D staff radiochemist in the Lab’s Fuel Cycle Chemical Technology Group, will discuss how the chemical understanding of neptunium and its 22 isotopes is underdeveloped, compared to other light actinides. The chemical behavior of Np is often quite different from that of its nearest neighbors, uranium and plutonium, both of which have been significantly researched because of their applications in commercial nuclear fuel and their potential environmental impact. Lawson will provide specific examples of Np’s rich and unique chemistry.

Lawson has more than a decade of experience in actinide chemistry and radiochemistry, and has been involved in projects in environmental chemistry, inorganic synthesis, nanomaterials and separations chemistry. Her research interests center around applying actinide materials chemistry to a variety of mission spaces, including nuclear fuel cycle chemical processing, isotope production and nuclear nonproliferation science. She has specialized in the application of advanced solid-state analysis, particularly microscopy techniques, to f-element materials. She holds a doctorate in Nuclear Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences from Clemson University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Notre Dame.