FSU gets Radioactive Waste grant

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2016/07/18/fsu-gets-10-million-grant-cold-war-cleaup/87251810/

"Florida State University is getting $10 million to help clean up radioactive waste left over from the Cold War.
The university announced Monday it will use the grant money to create a new Energy Frontier Research Center led by Thomas Albrecht-Schmitt, whose work focuses on the farthest reaches of the periodic table at a one-of-a-kind university lab.
The grant, from the U.S. Department of Energy, will support seven post-doctoral researchers and 10 graduate students.
“We are thrilled that the Department of Energy has chosen Professor Albrecht-Schmitt and FSU to be the home of a new Energy Frontier Research Center,” said Gary Ostrander, vice president of research. “The award reflects not only on his groundbreaking research thus far but his ability to move the field of chemistry forward in the years to come, providing solutions to some of the world’s most complex energy problems.”
Albrecht-Schmitt, FSU’s Gregory R. Choppin professor of chemistry, researches some of the least understood elements. His lab is the only one in a university setting equipped to handle californium and berkelium, both obscure but highly radioactive man-made elements.
“I’m ecstatic that they have chosen FSU for a new center,” he said. “When I came here, my goal was to make us a force in radiochemistry, and I think with this award, it shows we have accomplished that goal.”
Several other institutions also have been chosen to host research centers: Ohio State University, the University of South Carolina and the federal agency’s own Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
“These new Energy Frontier Research Centers will provide a foundation of basic science for a top priority of DOE — tackling environmental cleanup of hazardous waste from nuclear weapons research and production, said Cherry Murray, director of DOE’s Office of Science. “These projects bring together talent and leadership from top scientists to solve problems through scientific discovery.”
Albrecht-Schmitt came to FSU in 2012 after teaching at the University of Notre Dame and Auburn University and earning his doctorate from Northwestern University. He holds an endowed professorship named for Choppin, who co-discovered the element mendelevium."