News Archive

Kris Hyatt, Chapter President

Together again! The Rio Grande Chapter of the Health Physics Society (RGCHPS) held its technical meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 17–18 March 2024—the first since the pandemic in 2020. The RGCHPS, founded in 1962 in New Mexico, represents professionals working in government, national laboratories, universities, and medical facilities or as consultants, among others.

Some of the participants of the RGCHPS technical meeting.
Photo courtesy of Kris Hyatt

Groves' and Oppenheimer's snow-covered statues on the morning of 17 March Los Alamos.
Photo courtesy of Dave Fuehne

On a rather cold Sunday, with Groves' and Oppenheimer's statues covered with snow, the meeting kicked off with a presentation from Bob May, ES&H director at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility for over 30 years and the main speaker of the 2024 RGCHPS Technical Meeting. May presented the invited lecture "Accelerators and Electron Accelerator Radiation Safety."

The first day of the meeting also included presentations from Ken Groves, who delivered "Duck & Cover, It's Back Again"; Steven Rademacher, who discussed the "Palomares Dose Reconstruction – Part 1"; a talk from our sponsor, Mirion Technologies; and the concluding presentation from Glen McDuff, "Underground Nuclear Testing."

Over 23 attendants joined the meeting, most representing Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories. The meeting program focused on accelerators and included presentations from experts from the field!

The second day started with a talk from John Bliss, titled "Response to the Harborview Research and Training Building (Seattle) Contamination," followed by a presentation on "The NCRP: Who, What, and Why?" by Jeff Whicker. Several talks from our sponsors, Ludlum Measurements and Berthold Technologies, were also delivered, followed by a presentation from Mike Duran on "Interactions between Accelerator Safety Order 420.2D and 10CFR835 Occupational Radiation Protection."

Some of the meeting speakers, left to right, Steven Rademacher, Marius Stein, John LeJune, John Bliss, RGCHPS President Kris Hyatt, Ken Groves, John Klumpp, Jeff Wicker, and Mike Duran.
Photo courtesy of Sara Dumit

The program concluded with additional discussions on the "Palomares Dose Reconstruction – Part 2" by Steven Rademacher, a student presentation from Nick Wehmann on "Evaluation of the Domino Micro-Structured Semiconductor Neutron Detector for Applications in Nuclear Material Measurements," a talk from Kirk Rector on "Modern Day Alchemy at LANL," and the last presentation, delivered by John Klumpp, on "The Use of the QUIC-DEPDOSE Application in a Radiological Emergency."

Top row, left to right, Steven Rademacher, Nick Wehmann, John Bliss, and Glen McDuff. Bottom row, left to right, Mike Duran, Kris Hyatt, Kirk Rector, and John Klumpp.
Photo courtesy of Sara Dumit

The RGCHPS Technical Meeting concluded with a chapter business meeting round table, where new chapter officers were elected: President-elect Esteban Gonzalez, President Kris Hyatt, Secretary Matthew Hill, Treasurer Steven Rademacher, and Directors Jonathan Reynolds, Nicholas Wehmann, and Richard Hacker. Congratulations to new officers and thank you to all speakers and those who attended the 2024 RGCHPS Technical Meeting—you made it a fruitful meeting, filled with questions and relevant discussions!

Kris Hyatt and John LeJune leading a discussion with the audience.
Photo courtesy of Sara Dumit