Friday, June 13, 1997
1. **AUI PICKS A DIRECTOR FOR BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL
LABORATORY.**
Trustees of Associated Universities Inc. took
action yesterday:
The trustees of AUI hereby appoint David Moncton Director of
Brookhaven National Laboratory effective on or about July 1
for the duration of the current contract.
The appointment is subject to DOE approval. Moncton, a condensed
matter physicist and Fellow of the APS, is currently Associate
Director of Argonne National Laboratory. Lyle Schwartz, President
of AUI, has been serving as interim Director (WN 2 May 97), but it was clear that the
two roles involved a conflict of interest.
2. TAX BILL: TEXAS SHARPSHOOTER HITS INNOCENT BYSTANDERS.
The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Bill Archer (R-
TX), released his tax proposals this week. Someone has to pay
for a cut in the capital gains tax. Archer, taking direct aim at
faculty who receive tuition benefits for themselves and their
dependents, called for phasing out Section 117d of the Internal
Revenue Code which exempts waived tuition. Faculty may be the
targets, but graduate teaching assistants are in the line of
fire. Since tuition waivers at some schools are valued at twice
the TA stipend, the bill could slice TA take home pay 50%. The
bill has a long way to go, but the academic community had better
get organized. So far, graduate students are taking the lead.
3. COLD FUSION: IT'S BACK! AND NOW IT NEUTRALIZES
RADIOACTIVITY.
It was a stern test of my dedication. I had
been assured that, because of its importance, the story would be
in the first hour of "Good Morning America" on ABC. Alas, it was
bumped by a story about the Loch Ness monster popping up in a
lake in Turkey, so I sat through nearly two hours of cheerful goo
to get to the big payoff: James Patterson was back with his cold
fusion cell (WN 9 Feb 96). Well,
nobody says "cold fusion" anymore; now it's "low-energy nuclear
reactions,"and it doesn't just produce heat these days, it
"neutralizes" radioactivity. Just crank it up and watch the
Geiger counter reading drop. ABC science editor Michael Guillen
says this is "attracting big-name scientists like Norm Olson." I
located Dr. Olson at Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs. He cleared
up a lot of my confusion; you see, the Patterson cell allows
hydrogen or deuterium to fuse with radioactive nuclei,
transmuting them to stable isotopes. Pretty neat, huh? He's very
optimistic about its potential for eliminating nuclear waste. So
goodbye Yucca Mountain. Michael Guillen, who is a physicist, did
not return my calls. I'm not upset, he must be very busy.
4. RICHARD GARWIN WINS THE ENRICO FERMI AWARD.
President
Clinton made the announcement Wednesday. The award honors a
lifetime of achievement in nuclear energy. Garwin is a Fellow of
the APS.
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