b'C H A P T E R 25M I SS I O N : F U T U R EAt INEELs fiftieth anniversary cere- It is altogether possible, even probable,monies in the summer of 1999, that in 2049, a new generation ofSecretary Richardson named the retirees will recall their careers aroundINEEL, along with Argonne National the turn of the century and tell theirLaboratory, as a DOE Nuclear Reactor grandchildren, It was exciting then. ItTechnology Lead Laboratory. DOE was all new.could see that the totality of nuclearexpertise in the nation had been shrink-ing. Nuclear experts were retiring andnot being replaced. Yet nuclear energyprovided twenty percent of the nationselectricity and larger percentages inother countries. Nuclear safety andnuclear power were not local issues, asthe Chernobyl accident made clear. TheINEEL 99-0365-1-15A nuclear safety record in the UnitedBeverly A. Cook Statesand the confidence to keepreactors running after the TMI acci-denthad depended in large part onAfter fifteen years at the Site, Cooks the experiments and computer work ofcareer took her away from Idaho to the hundreds of Site scientists. Now DOEDefense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Headquarters needed an in-house con-and then to DOEs Office of Nuclear sultant, as it were, to identify existingEnergy in Washington, D.C. When she expertise, articulate nuclear researchreturned, appointed by Secretary of needs, and otherwise help the nationEnergy Bill Richardson in 1999, she regroup and formulate energy technolo-continued to believe that science and gy strategies for the future.solid engineering techniques can andshould be behind decisions that do it INEELor rather, the people of theright the first time. Aware that the INEELhad been moving the frontiersnuclear skills like those possessed by of knowledge and engineering forwardher hot cell mentors were the kernel of for fifty years. The human potential tothe Sites present and future missions, create ingenious experiments and pickshe observed in an interview that at the edge of knowledge was still aeverything we do here at the INEEL force. The discipline of sciencetocan be tied to the historic expertise we make a prediction, design a test, carry itdeveloped. But her charter from out, observe carefully, refine the nextRichardson also expressed the ideals of predictionoffered the same promisethe Galvin task force: the talents at of discovery to a new generation as itINEEL were to be applied not only at had in the halcyon days of nuclear reac-the home lab but at other places around tor research. the DOE complex. Corporate resourceshad to solve corporate challenges. Withfifteen years of Site experience, she waswell aware of its reservoir of talent. 2525 5'