SwRI^® corrosion expert named Fellow of NACE

San Antonio, Texas -- March 20, 2001 -- Dr. Gustavo A. Cragnolino, a staff scientist in the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission facility located at and operated by Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI), has been named a Fellow of NACE International, formerly the National Association of Corrosion Engineers.

Cragnolino, a NACE International member for more than 24 years, was selected for his "outstanding and sustained contribution to corrosion research areas related to nuclear power generation and radioactive waste disposal systems."

A specialist in the electrochemical corrosion of metals in high-temperature, high-pressure aqueous systems, Cragnolino came to SwRI in 1990 following employment at the Comisiún Nacional de Energúa Atúmica, Argentina. While at the Fontana Corrosion Center at the Ohio State University and Brookhaven National Laboratory, he applied and developed experimental techniques for the study of stress corrosion cracking of austenitic stainless steels and nickel-based alloys in aqueous solutions and nodular corrosion of zirconium alloys in superheated steam.

For the last 10 years, his work has concentrated on localized corrosion, galvanic corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, and thermal stability of metallic container materials for high-level radioactive waste disposal, combined with the modeling of long-term degradation of waste packages caused by environmental effects.

Cragnolino is the author of more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings and is a co-author of chapters in handbooks published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and ASM International. He has been an invited lecturer and advisor on nuclear power plant corrosion on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency and is a past chairman of the NACE International technical committee on Stress Corrosion Cracking and Corrosion Fatigue.

Cragnolino holds a doctorate in chemical sciences from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a member of The Electrochemical Society, American Society for Testing and Materials, and American Nuclear Society.

For more information Deborah Deffenbaugh, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510, Phone (210) 522-2046, Fax (210) 522-3547.

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