2017 Advisory Committee Meeting
Friday and Saturday, August 25-26
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The 2017 Annual Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting was held August 25-26 at the Red Lion Hanford House, Richland, WA. Each year, the SAC meeting enables valuable discussions with our advisory committee and scientific colleagues about the progress and goals of the Registries.
Meeting Summary
Day 1 (Friday):
The morning session focused on operational aspects of the Registries. Topics included administrative and financial developments at the USTUR, progress toward addressing recommendations from the 2016 SAC meeting, Registrant statistics, population of the health physics database, inventory of National Human Radiobiology Tissue Repository (NHRTR) samples, and the radiochemical analysis of tissues.
The afternoon session shifted the focus to research. The director of the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (INST), Aurora Clark, summarized the history of INST and the research conducted there. This was followed by a discussion on how the USTUR may be able to collaborate with INST. Ralph Sudowe, of Colorado State University, discussed the challenges associated with performing radiochemical separations on unusual samples matricies such as cement, steel, and molten glass. Additional topics included plutonium excretion following chelation treatment, research opportunities at the Registries, and the USTUR’s research and operational plan for FY2018.
Day 2 (Saturday):
The second day of the meeting was open only to SAC members and the USTUR staff. SAC members conducted a closed-door executive session, where they compiled a list of comments on the past year and recommendations for the coming year. These were shared with USTUR staff during the SAC debriefing. Additionally, the USTUR director conducted a tour of the USTUR’s laboratory facility.
SAC Membership
Richard Toohey finished his second term on the SAC, and he will not be renewing his participation for a third term. Possible candidates for a new health physics representative were discussed, and a decision will be reached in the coming months.