Professor Jump Starts Radiochemistry

Story Posted: Thu, Jan 22, 2009

In the 1970s, Oregon State University had four full-time professors in nuclear and radio- chemistry. By 2002, Professor Walter Loveland was the only active nuclear chemist on the OSU faculty.

A similar trend occurred nationwide. In the heyday of nuclear science, American universities were producing an average of 28 PhDs in radiochemistry every year. By 2000, that number had dropped to six. Today only 39 university faculty remain in radiochemistry and many of them are close to retirement.

Ironically, as fewer people have entered the field, the need for radiochemists has increased. The recent nuclear power renaissance has created a renewed interest in radiochemistry as a means of processing and minimizing nuclear waste. Radiochemists are also in demand for medical diagnosis, cancer treatment, and nuclear forensics.

In 2003, the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics had the foresight to begin searching for a new radiochemistry faculty member. “Our advisory board told us we should be offering radiochemistry classes for our students,” says assistant department head Kathryn Higley. “When the Western Nuclear Science Alliance (WNSA) funding came through, we were able to begin a competitive search for a radiochemist. That’s how Alena came to OSU.”

Alena Paulenova is a friendly woman with a great sense of humor. As a child growing up in the former Czechoslovakia she was always very curious. In school, says Paulenova, “I was fascinated with Volta’s first electrical experiments on frogs. Not surprisingly, she dreamed of becoming a doctor. “I knew I would not be satisfied with a position as flu doctor; I saw myself in a medical laboratory cutting muscles and sewing veins.”

In Europe students choose a career path at age fourteen or fifteen: they either go to technical school and finish at age 18 with a technical degree, or they enroll in a college prep ‘gymnasium’. Paulenova enrolled in a gymnasium and chose a science track with the goal of becoming a surgeon.

As a freshman at Comenius University in Bratislava, Paulenova was offered a prestigious fellowship to study chemistry. She decided to “flow with the stream” and not pursue a medical career. After Paulenova earned a PhD in physical chemistry, she joined the research faculty at Comenius University and soon was collaborating with the Department of Nuclear Chemistry on a project focused on the extraction of fission products -- her first real contact with radiochemistry. She was hooked immediately.

“I find the chemistry of actinides and fission products very exciting. Destiny brought me to radiochemistry,” she laughs.

Dr. Paulenova spent over 15 years teaching and doing research at Comenius University. Her speciality was environmental radiochemistry, specifically chemical separation processes for decontamination and waste recycling. She came to the United States as a visiting scholar at Clemson University and from there accepted an invitation from Washington State University to participate in a research project on the recovery of radioactive elements at the Hanford nuclear site.

In 2003, Dr. Paulenova joined NERHP. She initially focused her attention on building the infrastructure necessary to conduct radiochemistry research at OSU. With funding from WNSA and the support of the OSU Radiation Center, she built the “TRUELAB”, a state-of-the-art laboratory of transuranic elements.

Paulenova’s current research projects address spent nuclear fuel technology and waste management. In the past two years, she has secured almost $2 million of external research funding and her research group has grown to eight students. True to the interdisciplinary nature of radiochemistry, the group has a variety of backgrounds: nuclear engineering, chemistry, radiation health physics, and chemical engineering.

OSU is one of only 22 univerisities in the country offering a graduate research program in radiochemistry. The program spans applications in environment, medical, and nuclear waste research areas.