Brookhaven Lab Engineer Joseph A. Curtiss Receives Award from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration
April 4, 2005
UPTON, NY - Joseph A. Curtiss, an engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, has received an award from DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for his outstanding work for that organization.
Gregory Slovik, Director of DOE's Office of Weapons Material Protection in the NNSA, came to Brookhaven Lab to present Curtiss with an inscribed plaque that reads: "In recognition of the dedication and outstanding service to the Material Protection Control and Accounting Program (MPC&A) through the Office of Weapons Material Protection. You are commended for all your tireless efforts, travel, and personal sacrifice to further the mission of the MPC&A Cooperation in Russia."
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Gregory Slovik, Director of the U.S. Department of Energys Office of Weapons Material Protection in the National Nuclear Security Administration (left), presents an outstanding service award to Brookhaven National Laboratory engineer Joseph A. Curtiss.
Since 2001, Curtiss has been traveling to Zheleznogorsk, Siberia, several times per year to help install safeguards to protect plutonium at the Russian nuclear facility known as K-26. The facility was constructed within a granite mountain during the Cold War, and contains three nuclear reactors. Two of the reactors have been shut down but the third reactor, which continues to produce plutonium, is currently used to generate heat for the homes of approximately 100,000 people in Zheleznogorsk, located in a remote area where the winter temperature dips to minus 40 degrees.
"K-26 has one of three plutonium-producing reactors remaining in the world," Curtiss said. "The DOE program is helping to safeguard the nuclear material by supporting construction of a $9-million plutonium storage facility, a $4-million central alarm station, and other nuclear MPC&A upgrades. This cost-effective support assures the material is not subject to theft or diversion, winding up in the hands of terrorists."
From 1996 to 1999, Curtiss was the project team leader in an MPC&A program to develop and implement safeguard upgrades to Luch, a uranium processing plant in Podolsk, Russia. Six DOE laboratories were involved in that project, which included upgrading their nuclear material storage facility and renovating an existing building to become their new central alarm station.
Joseph Curtiss earned a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1963 and 1970, respectively, and is a registered professional engineer. Curtiss joined Brookhaven Lab in 1963 as a development engineer in the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron Department. He left the Laboratory in 1980 to become an engineering specialist with Burns and Roe, Inc., but returned to Brookhaven in 1985 as a project engineer in the then Nuclear Energy Department. In 2000, he became the Laboratory's electrical safety officer, interpreting electrical standards and reviewing and approving electrical equipment and installations for the entire Laboratory. In 2001, DOE requested he resume supporting their Russian program. He then joined the team working on upgrades in Zheleznogorsk, while continuing half-time as electrical safety officer.
NOTE TO LOCAL EDITORS: Joseph A. Curtiss is a resident of Miller Place, NY
2005-10296 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
