About v12n4 Global Nuclear Legacy; Elements Website, Facebook, Twitter; 2015 Impact Factor

This Issue: Global Nuclear Legacy

For over 70 years, in the local community where the Elements editorial office is located, the residents have been living in the shadow of the Hanford nuclear production complex (eastern Washington, USA). During its heyday (1943–1987), this US government facility was responsible for producing 67.4 metric tons of plutonium for nuclear weapons from its 9 nuclear reactors and 5 processing plants. This was an inefficient process that generated ~53 million gallons of solid and liquid radioactive waste, which is stored in 177 large underground tanks, and ~450 billion gallons of liquids from the nuclear reactors which was discharged to soil disposal sites. This nuclear legacy remains today at the Hanford site. For the past 35 years, the US government has spent billions of dollars to monitor, characterize, contain, and clean up the waste at Hanford. Not only is this a complex and difficult process, but exactly where that waste will be permanently stored has yet to be decided as pointed out in this issue of Elements. Moreover, since 1984, the region has also been home to a commercial nuclear energy facility (Columbia Generating Station) that generates about 10% of all the electricity in the state of Washington–enough to power the city of Seattle. The spent nuclear fuel from this facility also needs a final, permanent resting place. While federal and regional governments tussle with the how and where to store hazardous nuclear waste, the local residents live with a nuclear legacy. We are all fortunate to have scientists, such as those who contributed to this issue of Elements, helping to advance the waste removal and repository processes.

Elements has now published three issues related to our shared global nuclear legacy. The December 2006 (v2n6) issue is a primer on the environmental aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, and our June 2012 (v8n3) issue focuses on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident following the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011. With the addition of this third issue on geological repositories for nuclear waste, Elements readers now have an excellent set of resources on nuclear waste at their disposal (no pun intended!). We encourage you to read all three of these issues to increase your awareness of this global nuclear legacy. Also, use them in your classrooms to educate your students about this important subject … it is one that will have an impact on future generations. Members can access all three of these issues at the Elements website.

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle -- December 2006

Fukushima Daiichi -- June 2012

Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste -- August 2016

Elements Website, Facebook, Twitter

The new Elements website will be launched the first week of August 2016. Be sure to add a bookmark in your web browser to our homepage (www.elementsmagazine.org) to access the latest content, find past issues, read about our 17 member societies, learn about Elements and how to publish in the magazine, see our new meetings calendar, submit job postings, and so much more. Check it out!

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Impact Factor 2015

Elements continues to be a widely read and cited magazine according to the recent 2016 Journal Citation Reports® that were released in June by Thomas Reuters. In 2015, Elements content received almost 2,100 citations and had an impact factor of 4.585, which is our highest ranking yet. Elements now ranks 2nd among all mineralogy journals and 5th among geochemistry and geophysics journals. Thank you to our participating societies, editorial team, guest editors, authors, and advertisers for making Elements such a well-respected magazine.

Gordon Brown, Bernard Wood, Friedhelm von Blanckenburg, and Jodi Rosso