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AIKEN – The Savannah River site was designated a National Historic Landmark by the American Chemical Society on Thursday night in recognition of the role played by the site in research and production of plutonium 238.
This is the first SCA monument in South Carolina and the second in the two-state region.
The designation recognizes the role of the site in the production, separation and supply of plutonium 238, a material used to propel NASA's far-flung space exploration craft for more than four decades. SRS was the first site where an industrial – scale separation of plutonium 238 took place via treatment campaigns from 1960 to 1988.
"Some people have spent their entire career here working on plutonium 238, which has allowed many people to complete missions that are considered possible," said Mike Budney, SRS Site Manager. "For years, they did this job, they did not tell anyone what they were doing, and now we get that recognition and they can now say," Hey, I did that. . "It's great to be able to get that recognition for those people."
"It's an incredible honor," said Dr. Vahid Majidi, director of the Savannah River National Laboratory. "We have been working on plutonioum-238 for several years, the first of the laboratories to work on it, it has helped all the space missions and is an incredible product and we are very proud to be recognized for our work."
Budney received a bronze plaque from ACS President Peter K. Dorhout commemorating this designation.
"This is a huge deal for this national asset we have on the Savannah River site," said Dorhout, vice president of research and professor of chemistry at Kansas State. "The American Chemical Society likes to highlight some of the great achievements of the history of chemistry, especially that of discoveries that have had a direct impact on people." This year marks the 60th anniversary of the launch of the Savannah River Site started producing 238 plutonium, with the specific purpose of creating the heat sources that would be used to power the deep space probes that the scientific programs were very interested in launching. "
The Thursday designation, which took place at the SRS Heritage Museum in Aiken, took place as part of the 70th Southeast Regional Meeting of ACS, which began Wednesday and will run until the end of the day. at Saturday at the Augusta Convention Center.
According to a SRS press release, plutonium 238 production began at SRS in 1960, using a process developed only at the site. The Zone H facilities were used to separate neptunium-237 from irradiated enriched uranium and, finally, to separate and purify the plutonium-238 from the irradiated target material of neptunium-237.
In particular, plutonium 238 has been used as a heat source for radioisotope thermoelectric generators, the "nuclear batteries" that fed the early satellites, NASA's Apollo lunar ship, and deep space probes such as as Pioneer, Voyager, Galileo, Ulysses, Cassini and New. Horizons, says the release.
"The universities and industry present in South Carolina have a highly developed scientific and chemical business, which is a very nice recognition," said Dorhout. "According to our policies, this science was to have occurred more than 20 years ago.It is time that we recognize the contributions of Savannah River Site for this particular chemistry that changed our vision of the solar system and ultimately changed our vision of the universe. "
According to the press release, ACS approved the nomination on the basis of an application submitted by the Savannah River section of the company. The nomination team was made up of Elise Fox, Charles Crawford, Major Thompson, Chris Bannochie and Kim Crapse. The nomination cited the innovative contributions of Thompson, Don Orth, Mal McKibben and David Karraker to research, all of which took place at the Savannah River National Laboratory.
According to the Directory of States on the ACS website, Charles Herty and the Savannah Pulp and Paper Lab (now the Herty Advanced Materials Development Center) in Savannah, Georgia, are the only other historic monument in the two-state region.
The program was created by the ACS in 1992. As part of this program, "the ACS grants a historical status to the major achievements of the history of chemical sciences and records their contributions to the chemistry and society to the States. "According to the ACS website. .
The ACS was founded in 1876 and approved by the United States Congress. It is the "largest scientific society in the world" and "one of the world's leading sources of authoritative scientific information," says its website.
Its mission is to "advance the chemistry enterprise in the broad sense and its practitioners in the interest of the Earth and its inhabitants", with the aim "to improve people's lives through the transformative power of chemistry" .
The ACS, which presents itself as the "first home of chemistry professionals", has more than 150,000 members in more than 140 countries.
He values "passion for chemistry, focus on members, professionalism, safety and ethics, and diversity and inclusion" and allows members to "advance chemistry, elevate their professional potential, develop their networks, inspire future generations, scientific solutions ", according to its website.
He advocates "innovation through research and technology, science education and manpower, sustainability and the environment, and science in public policy".
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