Pantex Blog
Weapon interns return as tomorrow’s leaders
Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) once again has two employees participating in the Sandia National Laboratories Weapon Intern Program (WIP): Tyler McClary, Mission Engineering, and Brandon Pehrson, Y‑12 Operations. This highly sought-after internship teaches the technical details of weapon systems and provides site interactions that provide a comprehensive picture of the Nuclear Security Enterprise. Following that education, the interns work on a project with enterprise and personal value.
Both are looking forward to being a member of the WIP Class of 2017. “I hope to use the knowledge I gain to better serve the needs of Pantex,” said McClary, who has been a Pantexan for almost five years and is a lead design engineer in Tooling & Tester Design.
Pehrson, a production specialist and Y‑12 employee for 11 years, said, “I want to learn more about the weapons parts and material function so I can understand impacts of changes. I also want to become an expert in the weapons field.”
Colby Yeary and Eva Irwin of Program Integration, the CNS contacts for the program, realize there are many advantages for having Pantex and Y‑12 representatives participate.
Yeary said, “Our representatives provide a perspective from two key production agencies in the Nuclear Security Enterprise. Tyler and Brandon’s perspectives, and those of past participants, offer production agency considerations that can be overlooked in important nuclear weapon product realization activities.”
Tyler McClary (left) shares with Colby Yeary about participating in the WIP.
There are many benefits to the rigorous program. The first six months includes classroom work with site visits and research assignments. During the final five months, participants are embedded in various organizations across Sandia to work on specific projects.
“The interns are considered high potential and are able to develop and learn about the enterprise in an accelerated manner,” Yeary said. “It took me the better part of a decade to get the exposure and knowledge they will receive in less than a year.”
HaliAnne Crawford and Aaron Lee, the CNS representatives in the WIP Class of 2016B, offered advice to McClary and Pehrson. (During 2016, WIP had two classes.)
“No matter how daunting the next 11 months seem,” Lee said, “just jump in with both feet first as soon as possible. You have a limited time to learn as much as you can about a topic that is truly vast. Don’t waste a moment of the next 11 months because it will fly by.”
Crawford echoed Lee’s sentiment. “My advice is to get involved with the program, both inside and outside the classroom. Don’t be a passive participant. You will be learning from some of the greatest minds in our industry; ask questions and don’t be afraid to think outside the box.
“You will find that your classmates are some of the most brilliant individuals you will ever have the pleasure of working with,” Crawford said. “Get to know them, learn from their experiences and leverage their knowledge and abilities whenever possible. This year will be one of the best of your life. Enjoy every single second of it.”
Lee agreed: “Listen to your classmates. They will have just as much to teach you as the instructors do. Members of my class represented almost every other site within the NSE as well as NNSA and the military. They had knowledge and perspectives on certain topics that were completely different from my own due to their own different experiences. Everyone brought unique experiences to the program and had a lot of knowledge to share with the class.”
After the internship, WIP participants return to their respective sites to continue their leadership journeys. Yeary said, “The WIP prepares today’s workforce as tomorrow’s leaders by rapidly providing a holistic, yet reasonably detailed view of the nuclear weapons business. The program helps candidates connect dots to see the ‘big picture’ — an important attribute of senior leadership.”
Wild Pantex - Thinking Milkweed
Article by Jim Ray, Pantex Wildlife Biologist/Scientist
This August and September time frame has long been thought of as a special time by Pantex Agronomist, Monty Schoenhals, and myself. The reason is two-fold; these months are the peak time period when monarch butterflies are drifting through the region and when an abundance of milkweeds are in bloom and hosting an impressive number of monarch caterpillars. We have our own interest in the monarch’s use of this 18,000-acre federal facility and the Texas Panhandle as a whole, but we also now have justification to study and protect the monarch and the habitats that it and other pollinators so desperately need for survival. The White House Pollinator Initiative was announced in early 2014, and we have busied ourselves with mapping colonies of milkweed, documenting caterpillars, proposing research, and, although unsuccessful so far, we are applying for grants.
Migrating monarch butterflies cluster on elm trees after resting through the night at Pantex.
Our current philosophies are to manage for and protect wildflowers through sound range management and adjusted mowing practices, have a strong focus on milkweeds, and monitor monarch production on the site. We are excited that we find an abundance of milkweeds including six species, 1) antelope-horns (Asclepias asperula), 2) broad-leaf (A. latafolia), 3) Engelmann’s (A. engelmanniana), 4) horsetail (A. subverticillata), 5) plains (A. pumila), and 6) whorled (A. verticillata) milkweed! Go out and locate a colony of horsetail, plains or whorled milkweed right now, and you will see monarchs visiting for nectar and possibly laying eggs.
Time will only tell if the monarch butterfly can rebound from historically low populations, but we can certainly do our part here at Pantex and even in backyards across this nation. Study up on native plants that are important to our native pollinators. Protect the ones in our landscapes and plant them on your properties. Now is a particularly good time to protect and plant milkweeds. See which ones should be in your area and search for seed for those species. At a minimum, migrating monarchs will need nectar sources, and many will lay eggs on milkweeds in order to produce that next generation that has a better chance of reaching points south on their journey to their wintering sites in Mexico. We here at Pantex hope that we are able to contribute to that great cause.
A monarch caterpillar feeding on horsetail milkweed at the Pantex Plant in 2015
CNS hosts summer interns
This summer, 26 college students worked at Consolidated Nuclear Security and participated in professional development, science and engineering lectures, networking events, and social activities with mentors and peers. The 2016 interns represented 16 universities from across the country and are pursuing degrees in mechanical, electrical, nuclear, and chemical engineering, as well as physics, optics, information technology, and math.
Pantex hosts summer interns (from left): Jeff Kaczmarek, Mikayla Sims, Colton Mooney, Daniel Hutton, Caitlin Bubel, and Jake Dreiling.
Ashley Stowe of Mission Engineering said the interns “are bright, hardworking and fun to interact with. They have accomplished a lot this summer. I am excited that we were able to host six interns at Pantex this summer and look forward to growing the CNS intern program further next summer.” (The six Pantex interns don’t include the two West Point cadets who also spent time at Pantex.)
CNS Student Interns Program Manager Rachel Winningham agreed. “Going forward, I would like to expand the program by providing co-op opportunities and having interns across more organizations.”
Whether they were a Pantexan or a Y-12er, one thing was certain: The interns return to college with a unique experience and the employees with whom they interacted take away something too.
Winningham said, “When you’re around the interns (even for a short timeframe), their energy rubs off on you. I want them to walk away from the internship with newly acquired skillsets, meaningful work assignments to put on their resume, and the opportunity to have networked with other interns and employees.”
Pantex, Tulane scientists test plastic polymers
Everyone loves that new car smell, as the saying goes, but do you know what causes it? The polymer materials used to build the car’s interior release volatile organic compounds, and the sun’s heat through the windshield is a stressor that increases this release.
Pantex uses polymers to render explosives stable and shapeable during the plastic bonded explosives (PBX) weapons assembly process. When weapons are returned from the stockpile, scientists evaluate the integrity of the explosives and research to determine the stressors (heat, moisture, acid, and radioactivity) that cause polymers in explosives to degrade or fail.
A two year collaboration between Pantex scientists and polymer experts from Tulane University produced a new and unique method of testing some of the polymers Pantex uses.
Pantex scientist Stephanie Steelman, the principal investigator on the project, approached researchers from the Tulane Center for Polymer Reaction Monitoring and Characterization (PolyRMC) after a course that introduced her to Simultaneous Multiple Sample Light Scattering (SMSLS) analysis.
Pantex scientist Stephanie Steelman works with the SMSLS analysis instrument. Collaboration between Pantex and Tulane University developed a new method of analyzing polymers.
Steelman directs Pantex’s Gel Permeation Chromatography Lab (GPC). “GPC is used to monitor the molecular weight of the polymers in PBXs,” she said. “SMSLS allows us to determine which stressors cause polymers to degrade or fail on the molecular level when in solution, as well as determine when the polymers are in equilibrium for GPC testing.”
Steelman offered another car analogy to help explain the concept.
“The seats in a car eventually wear out. Wouldn’t it be nice to know when they’re going to wear out ahead of time? What would cause them to wear out? Then we’d know when to replace them,” she said.
When Steelman first learned about SMSLS, it was being used only in pharmaceutical and university settings. She thought it could be used at Pantex as well. The researchers at PolyRMC enthusiastically agreed and collaboration began in 2013, with funding from Plant Directed Research, Development, and Demonstration.
The SMSLS instrument takes light-scattering measurements at a rate of up to 10 data points per second to identify degradation of polymers in solution. The SMSLS data identified unique signatures for polymer degradation under temperature stressors. This information can be particularly useful in assessing performance of these polymers over time under different conditions and also build predictions about their stability over time at different temperatures.
“What I’m trying to do is build more quality into the process. SMSLS enhanced my ability to do my job, molecular weight analysis, in a much better fashion,” Steelman said. “If you don’t have the polymer in there doing its job, the explosive won’t do its job.”
After the collaboration project concluded in September 2015, the first commercial SMSLS instrument was located in the GPC Lab at Pantex. The device that scientists nicknamed “smi sls” (rhymes with missiles) bears serial no. 0001.
Alex W. Reed, associate director for Operations and Strategy at PolyRMC, said the roadmap for SMSLS initially did not include this type of polymer application.
“The collaboration with Pantex directly contributed to advancing the development and commercialization of the SMSLS technology,” Reed said. “The first SMSLS at Pantex also means that Pantex may provide some of the earliest new applications of value in the area of polymer stability and non-equilibrium processes.”
West Point cadets collaborate with Pantex
West Point. To hear or see the name, most people automatically think of honor and strength. It also makes sense that students of the U.S. Military Academy in New York would want to intern for a CNS site. This year, two West Point interns gained work experience at Pantex.
Michael Grieb (left) and Frederick Albion were Pantexans for a few months this summer as part of a Military Academy Collaboration.
“The West Point cadets we hosted, Michael Grieb and Frederick Albion, were part of a Military Academy Collaboration,” said Nate Davis of Pantex’s Engineering and Science. “Pantex typically hosts cadets as they have a nuclear engineering option in their program.”
While Davis is a first-time host to cadets, he came away with a sense of respect. “The ability of the cadets to go through military and engineering training concurrently gave me a renewed and strengthened appreciation for those who serve,” he said.
The Military Academy Collaboration’s purpose is to provide cadets “a first‑rate experience working cutting-edge research and development opportunities in disciplines and technologies of mutual interest to the Military/Service Academies, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation, and to the NNSA [National Nuclear Security Administration].”
Ashley Stowe is Mission Engineering’s Intern Program lead. “It is always a privilege and honor to host West Point cadets. They bring a unique perspective to our work, and this internship allows cadets to see the manufacturing side of the nuclear arsenal.”
Davis said, “Having interns provides a great opportunity. It allows Pantex to show our customers how we work, and it’s also a potential recruitment tool.”
“This program gives us a great opportunity for collaborating with our customers in the DoD, and better allows them the chance to see firsthand the challenges Pantex faces in producing our product, as well as the chance to see our successes and technology advances,” Davis said.
Stowe said, “They are tomorrow’s leaders, and we provide a survey of our processes, procedures and overall role in the supply chain, so they are better equipped to make good decisions.”
The cadets were glad to be Pantexans for four weeks. Grieb said, “I think Pantex was a great experience. It certainly gave me an eye-opening to what future job opportunities could be in the nuclear enterprise.”
Albion was a fan too. “I’ve had a great time these past four weeks. It’s a great place to come to learn a whole lot.” More information about Military Academic Collaborations is available on the NNSA website.