Event
MSE Seminar: Dr. Robert Margevicius, LANL
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
3:30 p.m.
Room 2108 Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Building
Sherri Tatum
301-405-5240
statum12@umd.edu
Actinide Materials Processing and Power (AMPP) Division Overview
Abstract: Los Alamos National Laboratory is home to the country’s only remaining plutonium processing facility, Plutonium Facility 4, or PF-4. Plutonium is a vital component in our nuclear deterrent; however, it plays a number of other roles in national security. In this talk, I will describe in broad terms the plutonium processing capabilities resident in PF-4, to include pit manufacturing, but also other important missions as in Pu-238 heat-source radio-isotope thermal generators (RTGs) that power some of NASAs deep-space missions. I will also give a summary of the results of “reverse-engineering” of a critical assembly reactor core, or how actinide metal/alloy metallurgy plays a role in neutron reactivity.
Bio: Robert (Bob) Margevicius is the Division Leader for the Actinide Material Processing & Power Division (AMPP) for Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
As Division Leader, Bob is responsible for oversight and management of over 300 staff members within four groups and an annual budget of $120M. Bob has direct line management responsibility for the Pu-238 Defense and NASA, Materials Recovery and Recycle, Americium Production and ARIES Production Programs occurring at the Los Alamos’s Plutonium Facility. This division provides world class services in nuclear material research, process, and technology development and manufacturing capabilities that support the nation’s defense, energy, and NASA space missions.
Bob has more than 32 years of technical and management experience working in program and line management roles, including two Change of Station Appointments. Bob has extensive experience working within the DOE/NNSA complex, with 22 of those years in LANL management where he has advanced through multiple national security management positions to his present position as Division Leader for the Actinide Material Processing & Power Division. Bob has strong, comprehensive knowledge of what it takes to manage nuclear operations in a production control facility. He applies his broad knowledge and management skills to support the workforce in ensuring the AMPP Division mission is met.
Bob earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University as well as a doctorate from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University.
Bob and his wife, Kristen, live in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
