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News Briefs: April 11, 2008

Visit by British Ministry of Defence

The Weapons and Complex Integration Principal Directorate hosted a senior delegation of scientists and government officials from the United Kingdom April 2 and 3. Nicholas Bennett of the British Ministry of Defence led the British delegation. Dimitri Kusnezov, head of the Office of Research, Development and Simulation for the National Nuclear Security Administration, also participated.

This visit falls under the auspices of the US-UK 1958 Mutual Defense Agreement on Atomic Weapons. This year marks the 50th anniversary of close collaboration between the United States and the United Kingdom on nuclear deterrence. The US-UK collaboration meeting addressed each country's approach to assessing and certifying the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons. The uses of the National Ignition Facility for stockpile confidence also were discussed.

Robert Clough, Dan Patterson and Leon Keller, LLNL retirees, participated in a roundtable discussion of their experiences in designing and developing much of the U.S. stockpile.

Aerogel and NIF featured on KQED's "Quest "

It looks like frozen smoke. And it's the lightest solid material on the planet.

Aerogel insulates space suits, makes tennis rackets stronger and could be used one day to clean up oil spills.

LLNL scientist Alex Gash demonstrates some remarkable properties of this unique substance on "Quest," KQED-TV's locally produced science, nature and environment program.

The show aired earlier this week. To watch the show, click here. It also is posted on the Quest Website.

Quest is a TV, radio, Web and education series that explores science, environment and nature in Northern California. QUEST includes a half-hour weekly HD television program, weekly radio segments, an innovative Website and unique education guides.

On Tuesday, April 15, "Quest" will air a segment on NIF. The show airs at 7:30 p.m., Channel 9.

Scott McAllister new leader of emergency duty team

Scott McAllister has been appointed leader of LLNL's team of Laboratory Emergency Duty Officers (LEDOs). He fills the position vacated by Mark Strauch. The Laboratory's LEDOs are trained to take action during an emergency or unusual situation to protect the health and safety of employees, the public and the environment, consistent with the authority of the Lab director. LEDOs also take action to maintain the security of the Laboratory site, prevent property damage and assure that appropriate notifications are made.

LEDOs are senior, experienced employees who have volunteered their services and are appointed by the Lab director. They are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Although Lab emergencies are a principal area of focus, LEDOs also could be called upon to address situations that do not rise to the level of an emergency, but require action nonetheless. For example, should a Lab employee on travel or assignment elsewhere need help with a health or safety issue, the LEDO on duty could be called upon to help manage the situation.

McAllister has been a member of the LEDO team for more than five years. He is an engineer supporting the Weapons and Complex Integration Principal Directorate, and leads the Phoenix pulsed-power experimental campaign. McAllister has been at the Laboratory more than 26 years.

Strauch is deputy director of the Laboratory's Security Organization. He led the LEDO team for three years, and was a member for nearly eight years. An electrical engineer by training, Strauch has been at the Laboratory for 29 years. Prior to joining the Security Organization, he served as deputy associate director for Electronics Engineering in the Engineering Directorate, principal deputy associate director in the Energy Directorate and assistant deputy associate director in the Fission Energy and Systems Safety Program.

Article named most accessed by ACS

A joint LLNL and UC Davis journal article, "On-Chip, Real-Time, Single-Copy Polymerase Chain Reaction in Picoliter Droplets," published in Analytical Chemistry is featured on the American Chemical Society (ACS) publications Website as one of the 20 most-accessed articles for the fourth-quarter of 2007.

As ACS explains: "ACS Publication provides listings of the most highly ranked research articles in four categories, updated on a regular basis. Most-cited articles are based on data from the Thomson Scientific Web of Science."

In their Analytical Chemistry paper, authors N. Reginald Beer, Elizabeth Wheeler and Klint Rose of Engineering; Ben Hindson of Physical Sciences, AP division; Sara Hall of Chemistry, Materials, Earth and Life Sciences, Biosciences and Biotechnology Division; Bill Colston of Global Security and Ian Kennedy of UC Davis say: "We have demonstrated a 6 order of magnitude reactor size reduction from commercial real-time PCR systems, using a method of sample partitioning into monodisperse picoliter droplets emulsified in oil on-chip, where the reactors can be further manipulated and interrogated individually in real time."

April 11, 2008