History

Over the years, a number of important projects have been done at the facility; most famously, the analysis of the John F. Kennedy assassination bullet fragments by V. P. Guinn in the early 1970s.

The facility specializes in neutron activation analysis (NAA) using thermal and epi-thermal neutrons. Past work has included measurements on the JFK assassination bullet lead (1), mercury levels in ancient specimens of swordfish and tuna (2), sculptures in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles (3), ancient bones (4), samples of mosaics (5), and tracing manganese pollutants (6,8).  Work has also been done to test systems and detectors for homeland security screening applications (7,9). The facility has provided short-lived radioactive isotopes on occasion for tracer studies in industry and medicine.

  1. Guinn, V.P. “JFK Assassination Bullet Analyses”. Analytical Chemistry, 1979, 51, 484A-493A.
  2. Miller, G. E.; Grant, P. M.; Kishore, R.; Steinkruger, F. J.; Rowland, F. S.; Guinn, V. P., Mercury Levels in Museum Specimens of Tuna and Swordfish, Science, 1972, 175, 1121.
  3. Miller, G. E.; Sangermano, L.; Bunker, D. L., Chemical Analysis of Marble Sculptures: Crouching Aphrodite and the Westmacott Jupiter in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Museum Journal, 1977, 5, 149.
  4. Manea-Krichten, M. C.; Patterson, C.E.; Miller, G.E.; Settle, D.; Erel, Y., Comparative Increases of Lead and Barium with Age in Human Tooth Enamel, Rib, and Ulna, The Science of the Total Environment, 1991, 107, pages 179-203.
  5. Stulik, D.; Miller; G. E., Miller; D. A., Investigating the Mysteries of the Last Judgment Mosaic in Prague, Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, 2003, 89, page 755.
  6. Miller, G.E.; Ericson, J. E.; Rindernecht, A.; and Kleinman, M. T.; Tracking Manganese Exposure Using INAA, Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, 2003, 89, page 760.
  7. Maglich, Bogdan C.; Chuang, Tsuey-Fen;  Lee, Mu Young; Druey, Christian; Kamin, George;  Miller, George E.,  ‘MiniSenzor’ for Humanitarian Noninvasive Chemical Identification of UXO Fillers, presented at “International Conference on Requirements and Technologies for the Detection, Removal and Neutralization of Landmines and UXO”, Brussels Sept. 15–18, 2003.
  8. Ericson, J. E.; Rinderknecht, A.; Chan, T. J.; Kleinman, M. T.; Miller, G. E., Enamel biomarker for assessing and tracing heavy metal exposure, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta Supplement, Vol. 69, Issue 10, Supplement 1, Goldschmidt Conference Abstracts 2005., p.A203.
  9. Beyerle, Albert G.; Walker, David M.; Miller, George E.;  Evaluation of HPXe-Based Nuclear Explosion Monitor Applications, presented to National Nuclear Security Administration, September 2006.

Please take a look through the articles and photos below that have been assembled to get a better idea of our nearly 50 year history, from the beginning of our sole Reactor Supervisor through the planning, construction, and operating phases of our existence. If you have any photos of the facility and would like to add them to our collection, please contact John Keffer <jkeffer@uci.edu>.

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