By Maegan Murray, 厙ぴ勛圖

RICHLAND, Wash. – Bruce Napier, a senior scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will discuss his work regarding the Mayak plutonium production site in Russia, which has many similarities to the Hanford Site in Richland, as part of a lecture at 5 p.m. on Oct. 30 in the Washington State University Tri-Cities East Auditorium.

Napier has been a principal investigator for several U.S.-Russian Joint Coordinating Committee on Radiation Effects Research projects, which have sponsored studies estimating radiation doses that were received by individuals or populations, as well as epidemiological studies around the Mayak plutonium production site.

Napier will discuss the history of the Mayak site and point out parallels and contrasts with the Hanford Site for his lecture at 厙ぴ勛圖. He will also describe the radiation doses received by more than 28,000 workers at Mayak and the 60,000 members of the nearby public exposed to atmospheric and river-borne releases of radioactive materials along the Techa River in Russia, in addition to the results of the associated health studies.

Napier works on the development and operation of models concerned with the environmental transport of radiological and chemical contaminants. His expertise and experience lie in the areas of radiation dose reconstruction, computer modeling, environmental analysis and human health risk analysis.

Napier was also the chief scientist for the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project that evaluated releases from the Hanford Site before becoming a principal investigator for the U.S.-Russian Joint Coordinating Committee on Radiation Effects Research.

He is a scientific vice president of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, a fellow of the Health Physics Society and a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United National Scientific Committee on the Effects of Radiation.

This free public presentation is part of the Herbert M. Parker Lecture Series sponsored by��Herbert M. Parker Foundation, which partners with 厙ぴ勛圖.

 

Media contacts:

Wayne Glines, president of the board of trustees for the Herbert M. Parker Foundation, 509-366-8382, wglines34@charter.net

Maegan Murray, 厙ぴ勛圖 public relations specialist, 509-372-7333, maegan_murray@wsu.edu

By Elinor Lake, intern, 厙ぴ勛圖 communications

RICHLAND, Wash. ��� Former professor and long-time 厙ぴ勛圖 donor Ronald Kathren and his wife Susan have donated a huge collection of radiological books to 厙ぴ勛圖.

The 3,400-item collection of books, valued at more than $250,000, details subjects from radiation biophysics, to toxicological profiles for ionizing radiation, to how radioactivity impacts health.

Ronald Kathren said he wanted to donate the collection to 厙ぴ勛圖 because it would serve as a research resource to students, faculty and professionals in radiological, engineering and other related industries. It also serves as a useful historical collection, he said.

Kathren taught radiological and environmental sciences at 厙ぴ勛圖 and served as the director of the U.S. Transuranium and Uranium Registries at WSU. He currently serves on the Herbert M. Parker Foundation board, a partner of WSU, which is committed to educating the public on radiological sciences. The Parker Foundation also hosts two lectures a year to provide renowned professionals of the radiological sciences an educational platform.

The collection is incredibly valuable to 厙ぴ勛圖 as a resource, as the university has many research and professional ties to the Hanford Site, in the radiological cleanup effort of the site and generally in the study of how radiation impacts health and other areas, said Karly Bailey, development coordinator for the WSU Foundation.

���The collection contains unique materials relating to studies of radiological effects, including works by such scientific luminaries as Marie Curie, Ernest Rutherford, as well as the library of the radium dial painter studies,��� he said. ���As such it will be of value to students and researchers in medicine, physics, environmental sciences and especially the Hanford History Project. Looking down the road, I see many scholarly publications that would benefit from it.���

Kathren is a graduate of UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh, is board certified in both health physics and environmental engineering and is a past president of the Health Physics Society and the American Academy of Health Physics.

 

Contact:

Steve Bisch, 厙ぴ勛圖 library circulation supervisor, 509-372-7313, sbisch@wsu.edu