Conference room at NISC bears his name
Laboratory Fellow G. Robert Keepin, honored many times over the years for his groundbreaking efforts in developing nuclear safeguards at Los Alamos, passed away at Los Alamos Medical Center on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2007.
The “Father of Los Alamos Safeguards,” Keepin founded the Laboratory’s Nuclear Safeguards Research and Development Program in 1966 and became a leader in international safeguards. The main conference room on the first floor of the Nonproliferation and International Security Center (NISC) was named for him in late 2006, marking the 40th anniversary of nuclear safeguards and nonproliferation at the Laboratory.
“Bob Keepin not only was the father of nuclear safeguards at Los Alamos, his intelligence and leadership inspired generations of Los Alamos staff in N Division and elsewhere,” said Nancy Jo Nicholas, Nuclear Nonproliferation (N) Division leader. “We will miss him, and we will dedicate ourselves to continuing his vision of a safer world.”
Born in 1923, the son of a minister in the upper Midwest, Keepin received his undergraduate education as a V-12 Naval Cadet and a doctoral degree at Northwestern University. He then served as a post-doc at the University of Minnesota and an Atomic Energy Agency Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1952, Keepin joined Los Alamos in the Critical Assemblies Group at Pajarito Site, often jokingly identified as “Pajarito University,” or PU, where he did pioneering work on delayed neutron yields and half-lives culminating in the publication of his much used textbook, Physics of Nuclear Kinetics.
“One of the principal goals of Los Alamos was ‘to be certain that nuclear weapons were never again used in anger.’ Over the forty intervening years, the Los Alamos Safeguards and Nuclear Nonproliferation Program has contributed to that goal. It has remained an important part of the Laboratory's mission and has become the largest such program in the world. Bob Keepin was the inspiration and driving force behind that program,” said former Laboratory Director Sig Hecker.
Keepin was a U.S. delegate to the First United Nations Atoms for Peace Conference in Geneva in 1955 and headed the Physics Department at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna from 1963-1965. In 1966, he founded the Nuclear Analysis Research and Development Group, N-6, to develop methods and instruments to measure nuclear materials in whatever form they are found throughout the world. He named this technology nondestructive assay or NDA. This technology is now in active use at every nuclear facility in the world and by every nuclear regulatory agency. Keepin was instrumental in the formation of the nuclear safeguards program at the United States Atomic Energy Commission and is recognized worldwide for his tireless leadership in developing nuclear safeguards and nonproliferation.
Keepin returned to the IAEA in 1983-85 as a special adviser to the deputy director general for Safeguards. He was appointed a Laboratory Fellow in 1985. In addition to his work at Los Alamos, Keepin was a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Nuclear Society, and the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM). He was a past chairman of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM).
Said Olli J. Heinonen, deputy director general and head of the Department of Safeguards at the International Atomic Energy Agency, “The recognition of the agency’s contributions to world peace by the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 was due in no small part to its technical verification capabilities. We are well aware that many of our instruments and methods for detection and measurement of plutonium and uranium are the result of the pioneering efforts of Dr. Keepin and the program he established at Los Alamos.
“Dr. Keepin pioneered a nuclear safeguards research program that resulted in the nondestructive assay, or NDA, method for the measurement of nuclear materials (uranium and plutonium) in whatever form they are found. NDA technology is now in active use at every nuclear facility in the world and by every nuclear regulatory agency,” said Heinonen.
“In addition to being a visionary technical leader, Dr. Keepin also was a first-class scientist in his own right, and a major contributor to the progress of the field of delayed neutron kinetics.”
Keepin retired from Los Alamos in 1990. He is survived by his wife, Madge; children G. Robert Keepin III, William, Mavis, Ardis, and Denise; several grandchildren; and a brother William.
A public viewing is scheduled for 1 to 3 p.m., Monday (January 7) at Berardinelli Funeral Home of Santa Fe. A memorial service is at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday (January 8) at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 2390 North Road in Los Alamos, with a lunch reception immediately following.
For more information, call 984-8600, or go to http://www.berardinellifuneralhome.com/ online.
