LESLIE J. JARDINE Lmvrence Livermore National LaboratOlY Livermore, CA
94551 U. S. A. The Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on Nuc1ear Materials
Safety held lune 8-10, 1998, in St. Petersburg, Russia, was attended by
27 Russian experts from 14 different Russian organizations, seven
European experts from six different organizations, and 14 V. S. experts
from seven different organizations. The ARW was conducted at the State
Education Center (SEC), a former Minatom nuc1ear training center in St.
Petersburg. Thirty-three technical presentations were made using
simultaneous translations. These presentations are reprinted in this
volume as a formal ARW Proceedings in the NATO Science Series. The
representative technical papers contained here cover nuc1ear material
safety topics on the storage and disposition of excess plutonium and
high enriched uranium (HEU) fissile materials, inc1uding vitrification,
mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication, plutonium ceramics, reprocessing,
geologic disposal, transportation, and Russian regulatory processes.
This AR W completed discussions by experts of the nuc1ear materials
safety topics that were not covered in the previous, companion ARW on
Nuc1ear Materials Safety held in Amarillo, Texas, in March 1997. These
two workshops, when viewed together as a set, have addressed most
nuc1ear material aspects of the storage and disposition operations
required for excess HEV and plutonium (see Fig. 1, Opening Remarks).