PNNL Announces Next Seminar as part of its Community Science and Technology Seminar Series

The next seminar in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Community Science and Technology Seminar Series, “The Science Behind Turning Waste into Glass,” presented by Charmayne Lonergan, Glass Scientist at PNNL, will take place on Tuesday, November 12, 2019, at 7:00 p.m., at the Mid-Columbia Library (1620 S. Union St., Kennewick). 

Over 50 million gallons of legacy nuclear waste from WWII need to be contained in a stable form. The preferred approach to prevent contamination of the environment and local communities is turning the waste into glass, or vitrification. Glass is an interesting material with properties (such as color, how it flows, density, and others) that are controlled by its chemistry and processing. Work is on-going at PNNL and around the world to understand how we can optimize glass chemistry to solve real world problems! This presentation will describe why glass is an ideal approach for trapping nuclear waste.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Community Science and Technology Seminar Series was launched to help the general public better understand and explore how science transforms our world. 

​For more information about this seminar and upcoming seminars, call (509) 375-6871.