Volume 7, Number 1
September 2009

Student Corner

From Washington State to Washington D.C. via LANL

By Rosalyn Leitch
Los Alamos National Laboratory Student Intern Summer 2009

As the summer months near an end, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Nuclear Safeguards Intern Rosalyn Leitch is making preparations for an impending internship with the Nonproliferation Program of the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF), a nonprofit organization that promotes international scientific and technical collaboration through grants, technical resources, and training.  After researching nonproliferation policy and human capital development initiatives under the auspices of LANL mentor Brian Boyer, Leitch looks forward to pursuing the field in greater depth.  A recent graduate from Seattle Pacific University, Leitch has a BA in International Relations and a minor in French.  After her internship with CRDF, she hopes to pursue a Master’s Degree in International Security Studies.

While working at LANL this summer, I researched how each of the five nuclear weapon states plan to implement their Additional Protocols to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty along with fellow students Eva Uribe, Analisa Sandoval, and Marisa Sandoval.  From this research, we wrote a paper that Eva Uribe presented at the International Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) Meeting in July of 2009.  In doing this research, we gained valuable knowledge about the numerous elements of the Additional Protocol, some of which include Environmental Sampling and Complementary Access. 

I had the opportunity to take a two-week Nuclear Safeguards Course conducted by LANL in June.  The course consisted of a week of technical and policy lectures pertaining to safeguards followed by a week of laboratory practicum exercises in which students were taught the basics of nuclear material detection.  We used various methods including gamma-ray spectroscopy and neutron detection to analyze actual samples of nuclear material.  LANL students also had the chance to tour the Waste Isolation Processing Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico and the Nevada Test Site near Las Vegas, Nevada.  Both tours provided excellent insight into the practical application of safeguards technology.

At the annual INMM meeting in July, myself and other students had the privilege of hearing technical and policy experts share their expertise on safeguards.  My experience at INMM gave me a deeper interest in pursuing International Security and Nonproliferation because I saw how the work myself and other safeguards employees have done is contributing to the global nonproliferation regime.Among other proceedings, students were given a private audience with IAEA Director General Hans Blix.  This and other efforts to educate students in the field of safeguards demonstrate the commitment of the current safeguards regime to develop expertise and interest in the next generation of safeguards experts. 

In my final weeks at LANL, I worked with LANL mentor James Doyle and fellow student Elizabeth Meek to organize a Nuclear Safeguards Curriculum Development Workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The intent of the workshop was to facilitate greater collaboration between safeguards educators from universities all over the country and the national laboratories.

“Because Rosalyn’s academic training is in international relations and political science, the technical training she received as a NGSI summer intern at Los Alamos National Laboratory is all the more powerful. She now has skills that allow her to contribute to both the technical and policy sides of the nuclear safeguards/nonproliferation challenge.  This flexibility will help open doors throughout her career.”
James Doyle, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Concluding my time at LANL, I look forward to working with Camille deWalder of CRDF.  Among other things, I will work on a project to facilitate educational collaboration between United States universities and safeguards students from Gulf and Middle East states such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.  For more information about CRDF, please visit the website: www.crdf.org. 

Above is a photo of LANL students at the Waste Isolation Processing Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
Students from right to left: Rosalyn Leitch, Eva Uribe, M. Analisa Sandoval, William Koehler, Ben Dabbs, and Hannah Kesler.