As a member of the Plutonium Workforce Development Initiative, or PWDI, New Mexico State University is teaching and training students in several disciplines to create a robust workforce pipeline for one of the state’s national labs.
As part of the New Mexico Consortium’s PWDI effort, NMSU is one of 10 higher education institutions in the state to receive funding through the National Nuclear Security Administration to develop workforce for the Los Alamos National Laboratory and its pit manufacturing mission. Of the $18 million appropriated so far with the assistance of New Mexico Sen. Ben Lujan, NMSU has garnered more than $4.5 million.
The objective of the initiative is to assist LANL in their pit manufacturing mission, essentially refurbishing the plutonium warheads, which have been aging since their inception in the mid-1960s. LANL’s pit manufacturing mission is to keep this arsenal as a deterrent.
“This work will require hiring a workforce that is educated in many disciplines,” said Vimal Chaitanya, NMSU mechanical engineering professor and Plutonium Workforce Development Initiative’s statewide program director. “While the educational institutions may not be able to have the students handle plutonium, they can certainly educate and train students in relevant disciplines to create a sustainable pipeline of workforce for LANL.
“Plutonium handling, processing and safety training will be left for LANL to teach in their secured facilities. The workforce need ranges from welders and machinists to radiation and nuclear scientists, materials, mechanical and nuclear engineers to supply chain and project managers, accountants, procurement agents, etc. The famous saying is ‘it will take a village to accomplish this task.’”
Los Alamos officials visited campus in April for a tour and presentations from faculty and student researchers. The university wide project at NMSU includes departments such as chemistry, physics, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering.
“The visit gave us an opportunity to showcase the faculty that are actually doing the work and hear from them and their students directly,” Chaitanya said.
In addition to NMSU, the other higher education institutions involved include the University of New Mexico, New Mexico Tech, Navajo Technical University, New Mexico Highlands University, Northern New Mexico College, Central New Mexico Community College, San Juan College, Santa Fe Community College and Luna Community College. The project has allowed the institutions to purchase equipment that they wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.
“We are building infrastructure at these universities, which will be helpful not only for Los Alamos National Lab, but it can be used for training students for other jobs, and at the same time, will make our universities more competitive in terms of federal funding,” Chaitanya said. “If we don’t have the equipment, we can’t go after a certain type of funding. This is not a program that’s only going to help one lab for its needs, it is actually something that will promote our competitiveness overall at the national level.”
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CUTLINE: Los Alamos National Laboratory officials visited New Mexico State University to tour campus and visit with faculty and students who are working on the Plutonium Workforce Development Initiative. (NMSU photo by Josh Bachman)
CUTLINE: New Mexico State University President Valerio Ferme spoke to faculty and students who are working on the Plutonium Workforce Development Initiative and Los Alamos National Laboratory officials during a campus visit. (NMSU photo by Josh Bachman)
CUTLINE: New Mexico State University interim Provost Lakshmi Reddi spoke to faculty and students who are working on the Plutonium Workforce Development Initiative and Los Alamos National Laboratory officials during a campus visit. (NMSU photo by Josh Bachman)