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ORNL's Garten to serve on committee studying cesium

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Feb. 12, 1997 — Charles T. Garten Jr. of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been appointed to a new scientific committee by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.

The Committee on Cesium in the Environment will identify, characterize and summarize information on specific sites in the United States where radiocesium is a risk to human health and environmental quality.

Radiocesium is the dominant residual radionuclide released to the environment from weapons testing and nuclear accidents.

The committee is charged with producing a reference report that will summarize information published in recent years about radiocesium sites, identify critical gaps in knowledge and support environmental cleanup activities at contaminated sites.

Garten received a bachelor's degree in biology from Washington and Lee University and a master's degree in zoology from the University of Georgia.

Garten came to ORNL in 1976 as a research associate in the Environmental Sciences Division. In 1983, he was named a research staff member.

ORNL, one of DOE's multiprogram national research and development facilities, is managed by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corp.