Dr. Walter Kirchner

Dr. Kirchner works for the Argonne National Laboratory, reporting to the Director, and is responsible for following, analyzing, and advising Laboratory leadership on science and technology policy and programmatic developments in the Administration, Department of Energy (DOE), and Congress.  Over a 35-year career, at Argonne, and previously at Los Alamos National Laboratory in division and group leader line management positions, he has led and directed government relations, project management, conventional defense and work for other Federal agencies, nuclear reactor design and safety projects, and applied energy research and development activities.

While directing Los Alamos programs for the Department of Defense (DOD), he organized two major national conferences for Congress and the Administration to address the then emerging threats from proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, biological, and chemical). These conferences helped to shape U.S. Government policy and led to legislation creating the DOD Counterproliferation Support Program in 1994, and the Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 1996 (Nunn-Lugar-Domenici legislation, the genesis of homeland defense efforts).  Programs resulting from these efforts led to the research, development, and deployment of technologies for defending our troops and allies, and for homeland security before 9/11; these programs continue today in the Department, DOD, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Technically, Dr. Kirchner has managed and contributed to programs in small modular reactor design, reactor safety, and thermal-hydraulics for DOE, DOD, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  He spent one year as a visiting scientist at the Technical University of Munich. He was a consultant to the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island (the Kemeny Commission).  He was awarded Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he studied under Professors Griffith, Rohsenow, and Todreas.  Following completion of a B.S. degree from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, he served as a Coast Guard licensed Engineering Officer and an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) licensed Reactor Operator aboard the N.S. Savannah.  He completed his military service as a Commander in the U.S. Navy (Reserve).

An avid mountain climber, fly-fisherman, and philatelist, he is also an opera aficionado and has served fifteen seasons on the Board of Directors of the Santa Fe Opera, and co-chairs the Bylaws Committee.  He is on the Board of Directors of the Vocal Arts Society (DC), and chairs the Endowment Investment Committee.  A resident of the District of Columbia, he is Secretary on the Board of the Dumbarton Place Condominium Unit Owners’ Association (22nd and O Streets, NW).