Paul Lisowski of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center is the new deputy director of the Department of Energy’s Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems program.
Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis Spurgeon made the announcement this week. As deputy director, Lisowski will lead the day-to-day operations of DOE's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a key element of the President’s Advanced Energy Initiative.
“I am excited that Paul will be joining our team,” Spurgeon said. “He brings a wealth of technical knowledge and expertise, which will be vital as we move forward with building new nuclear power plants under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.”
As Deputy Director of Nuclear Energy, Lisowski will take the lead on planning and integration of advanced nuclear reactors, fuel processing, and research and development in support of the Global Energy Nuclear Partnership. Lisowski will also use his expertise and leadership to expand the use of nuclear power, minimize nuclear waste, demonstrate more proliferation-resistant recycling, develop advanced burner reactors, and establish reliable fuel services.
“Paul has served Los Alamos well,” said Terry Wallace, principal associate director for Science Technology and Engineering (PADSTE), “most recently as the leader of LANSCE, one of the Laboratory’s flagship facilities. Paul’s ability to get the job done, even in the most of difficult of circumstances, is just what GNEP needs.”
Kurt Schoenberg will succeed Lisowski as acting director of LANSCE, located at Technical Area 53. Schoenberg has been the LANSCE deputy division leader.
Lisowski had served as LANSCE director for the past five years, where he was responsible for science and technology development, safety, maintenance and operation of the three national user facilities and the isotope production facility. Prior to that, Lisowski was the national director for the Accelerator Production of Tritium Project, where he led a team that received the 2000 DOE Award for Excellence in Program and Project Management.
“I am pleased to be part of this exciting GNEP initiative,” Lisowski said. “I am confident that my past experience with large multi-laboratory and industry teams will greatly contribute to the success of GNEP.”
Lisowski received his doctorate in nuclear physics from Duke University, a master’s degree in physics from the University of Mississippi, and a bachelor’s degree, also in physics, from the University of Virginia. He is the author of numerous articles in technical journals and received a DOE Award for Excellence for his work in the applications of nuclear science. He also holds a patent in superconductor technology.
The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) seeks to develop expanded use of economical, environmentally clean nuclear energy to meet growing worldwide electricity demand, while virtually eliminating the risk of nuclear proliferation. It would achieve its goal by having nations with secure, advanced nuclear capabilities provide fuel services — fresh fuel and recovery of used fuel — to other nations who agree to employ nuclear energy for power generation purposes only. The model envisioned by this partnership requires development and deployment of new and innovative technologies and a partnership among governments and businesses around the world.
At Los Alamos, the Civilian Nuclear Programs Office and an extensive crosscutting array of scientific line organizations and technical staff are an integral part of the national GNEP program. Because of the Laboratory’s broad scientific expertise, experimental base, and modeling and simulation capabilities, Los Alamos is playing an important role in defining programmatic needs and strategic directions for the program.
For the 2007 fiscal year, areas of significant Laboratory leadership and scientific contributions will include fuels, materials, nonproliferation, and modeling and simulation; as well as key contributions in the areas of separations technologies, geosciences, systems analysis and integration, reactor design, and safety analysis and assessment. These will all be important to GNEP's success. The Laboratory also is planning to start construction of the Materials Test Station, which, when coupled with the LANSCE-Refurbishment project. will provide a unique national capability for testing GNEP fuels and materials.
