Abstract

The Savannah River Site in Aiken, SC has been operational for more than 50 years providing state of the art research, products and services primarily, for national defense needs. In 2004, the laboratory was designated the 12th National Laboratory in the Department of Energy (DOE) complex and later that year, an important Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the leadership of the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) to “… foster collaboration… in areas of life sciences, engineering and related technologies….. leverage resources and expertise from the two organizations… and explore opportunities that benefit both organizations”. The presentation will overview some of the new and exciting collaborations that are currently in progress between these two important organizations. At the cornerstone of the efforts are multi-use technologies, i.e., those that have been born, breed and developed in the nuclear complex and over many years, applied to a multitude of uses within the DOE complex. These multi-use technologies are now being examined by scientists and engineers from SNRL, teaming with medical researchers and clinicians from MCG, to tailor and examine their potential for providing new tools for doctors to improve patient care, in areas involving diagnostics, repair and replacement, and treatment and therapy techniques. Examples of joint projects will be discussed in the areas of digital radiography, microbiology, sensors/ robotics, advanced materials, and ceramics/ glass science.

Biography

George Wicks received his MS in Applied Physics and Engineering from Harvard University in 1971, and PhD in Metallurgy and Materials Science from MIT in 1974. He got his SM and BS from Florida State University, Tallahassee. Dr. Wicks has been involved for almost 40 years in many areas of materials science, including vitrification and management of high level radioactive wastes, environmental remediation, sensor development, corrosion of materials, hydrogen storage systems, and nuclear disarmament activities. He developed the first ‘Slurry Feeding System’ for vitrification of the 34 million gallons of high-level waste at SRS in the more than billion dollar Defense Waste Processing Facility, now in production. He is also co-developer of the SRS Kinetic Leachability Model. He is also co-inventor of Sol-Gel Indicators, Sol-Gel Metal Hydrides and Porous-Walled Hollow Glass Microspheres, and Hybrid Microwave Technology. He has published over 200 publications and 14 patents issued. He also authored or co-authored 4 books and 8 invited chapters in textbooks and encyclopedias, and served as co-chairman for 9 international meetings on various technical topics in France, Belgium, Germany as well as the U.S.