Enhanced Surveillance Campaign Manager, Nuclear Weapons Engineering Program

Dr. McLean is the Enhanced Surveillance Campaign Manager for the Nuclear Weapons Engineering Program at LLNL. In this role, he is responsible for managing a staff of up to 60 people and an annual budget of up to $30 million in a campaign to characterize aging of all materials in nuclear weapons, which includes managing and executing computational and experimental efforts to characterize hydrogen corrosion with actinide metals. He also represents LLNL Weapons Program activities at the national and international level. Previously, as Program Element Leader for Weapon Materials Compatibility and Aging, Dr. McLean directed a multidisciplinary team of 20 experimental and computational scientists and engineers characterizing the aging mechanisms affecting the long-term stability of organic and inorganic materials used in the construction of nuclear weapons. He possesses over 25 years’ experience leading multidisciplinary scientific and engineering teams.

Dr. McLean joined the Laboratory in 1978 as a postdoctoral research associate investigating the catalytic properties of the actinide metals and conducting fundamental studies on the oxidation of thorium and uranium. He subsequently worked for 18 years on the Uranium Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (U-AVLIS) Program, first as a staff scientist and later as a Group Leader for Materials Technology. As a staff scientist, he directed the chemical analysis of large-scale laser isotope separation experiments for advanced uranium enrichment technology. He designed and equipped a fully automated laboratory for robotic sample preparation and analysis, and also proposed, established, and equipped the Uranium Surface Physics Laboratory for the investigation of the fundamental physical properties of liquid uranium and uranium alloys. As Group Leader, Dr. McLean led a team seeking to develop and manufacture materials that resist corrosion by liquid uranium. He proposed and established several laboratories, including a suite to characterize the corrosion resistance of materials to static and flowing liquid metals, and for high-rate pulsed laser deposition of thin films that capitalized on the unique properties of copper vapor lasers. He also oversaw experimental programs to manufacture and test diamond-like carbon and negative electron affinity materials for cold cathode emitters.

Prior to joining LLNL, Dr. McLean was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of North Carolina. He also served six years in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

Dr. McLean received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He has been awarded eight patents and 12 records of invention, and has authored or co-authored more than three-dozen technical articles. He has received three DOE Defense Programs Awards of Excellence for Significant Contributions to the Stockpile Stewardship Programs.