For the first time, Y-12's chief scientist is a woman. She forged her own path to the top
Jenn Charlton is the latest in a long line of chemists to hold the title of chief scientist at Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, but she's the first woman.
If it sounds surprising that chemists have long led the science behind a key Department of Energy nuclear weapons facility, Charlton describes Y-12 as a "chemical processing facility that processes nuclear material." Y-12 is the leading U.S. facility for processing uranium and lithium for nuclear weapons parts. It is also a key player in global nuclear security.
If it sounds notable that Charlton's the first woman to become chief scientist, it is.
During the Manhattan Project, around 10,000 women worked at the Y-12 electromagnetic separation plant, but none of them called the shots. Most were not let in on the secret of why they were overseeing giant machines enriching uranium, or even what those machines did. They would find out after a bomb fueled by uranium from Y-12 detonated over Hiroshima.
Today, technical leadership positions are still dominated by men, both within the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration and outside it, Charlton said. She became chief scientist in 2022 after more than 10 years at Y-12.
As the mother of two teenagers, Charlton gets the rare pleasure of having her teens admit that she's pretty cool. As the mother of two daughters, she gets to set an example of how hard work can lead to breakthroughs at the highest levels of national science.
"I don't think being female is what got me here. I think it's the hard work that I put in," Charlton told Knox News. "But being able to be a role model for other women to see that there are women in high-level technical positions within the Department of Energy is very important to me. We're very much outnumbered."
Charlton is not only Y-12's chief scientist. She's also the national leader of the Uranium Verification Team, a group of Department of Energy experts who go into uranium facilities around the world to run tests of their capabilities once the U.S. government has negotiated their entrance.
Before Charlton became its lead scientist, the team deployed to Libya in 2004 to oversee the end of that nation's nuclear program and to North Korea in 2008 to monitor disablement of several nuclear sites. Charlton said the team is not currently involved in a mission, but stands ready with global partners.
Charlton carved a nontraditional path to the top
Charlton, a Florida native, did not take a traditional path to her role. She attended Stanton College Preparatory School in Jacksonville, Florida, for high school, a magnet school in a low-income area, where she fell in love with science in advanced classes.
"Most highly ranked public schools are in areas that are very affluent and this one was in an area that was not," Charlton said. "It was a way to help with desegregating the city."
After high school, Charlton didn't have the money to go to college. She took a different route – a job, a marriage and two kids. After becoming a single parent, she decided to go back to school to make sure her children had better opportunities than she had.
She attended the University of North Florida, where an adviser steered her toward chemistry. She knew she loved research and she decided to pursue doctoral studies at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where her mother had gotten a doctorate later in life.
Her graduate adviser in the chemistry department, Michael Sepaniak, now retired, allowed her the flexibility she needed as a single mother. She had to use student loans to pay for day care.
As soon as she got to UT, she took a unique opportunity to work at a neighboring nuclear security site. Y-12 had entered a partnership with UT to research uranium dispersal accidents, like at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011. They were looking for a graduate student assistant to help with the nuclear forensics project.
While she waited for her security clearance, Charlton worked in an offsite environmental lab.
"I always tell people, before I started doing this work, I didn't know what a Y-12 was," Charlton said. "If you're not from this area, there's not a big understanding of what that is. Through the work that I was doing, I learned that what a Y-12 was and started to become more and more invested in the mission."
Charlton and Y-12's analytical chemists put together a platform that used robotics and a new chemical process to dramatically increase how fast first responders can analyze radioactive samples after a power plant accident or, theoretically, the detonation of a nuclear "dirty bomb." Y-12 paid for her research all four years of her doctoral studies.
During graduate school, she developed methods for detecting very trace amounts of uranium on a surface – down to the level of a single molecule – using the same technology used to make tiny computer chips.
That is to say, she got to know uranium very well, which was helpful for a facility that stores and purifies the nation's stock of bomb-grade uranium. After graduation, she took on the first of many roles at Y-12, both in research and development and in global nuclear security.
What does the chief scientist at Y-12 do?
Charlton loves her job, she said, because it's highly challenging and because it supports the critical mission of nuclear deterrence. Y-12's primary work is to modernize parts of the U.S. stockpile of nuclear bombs and missiles. It also promotes global nuclear nonproliferation and stewards uranium for the U.S. Navy.
At a time when the U.S. is facing two nuclear superpowers in Russia and China, Y-12 is growing its workforce and building new facilities like the multibillion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility, one of the largest construction projects in Tennessee history. It is not as focused on weapons reduction as when Charlton first started there.
"We have a lot of problems," Charlton said with a small laugh. "When I say that, I'm not saying it in a funny way, but it's very challenging work. It's very challenging and technical work and it's very important work. I get to do work that is meaningful and impactful every single day."
What does her work as chief scientist actually look like? Charlton said it has four main parts.
First, she is on call for all Y-12 production engineers who need help. She also must put together a single scientific vision for Y-12's future as a modern nuclear facility working to shed its reputation as a past-its-prime Manhattan Project site with buildings on life support.
She also must ensure that "scientific integrity" is integrated into everything that Y-12 does. Finally, she oversees Y-12's scientific collaborations with national labs and industrial partners.
No big deal, right?
"I like being boots on the ground. I like being close to production. It's where I need to be," Charlton said. "The scientists that are here have to have a very practical approach to problems."
When she isn't working on all this, Charlton takes some time to mentor early-career scientists and engineers, especially young women. Among the women she has hired is chemical engineer Lela Fine, who participated in Y-12's annual "Introduce a Girl to Engineering" program.
Charlton wants to show others like herself that they can be nontraditional students, women and mothers while holding leadership roles in a highly complex technical space.
"If you aren't a traditional student, a lot of people think the doors are closed," Charlton said. "You can still go back and work your way through and create impact at the national level."
Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Y-12 chief scientist is a woman for first time in Oak Ridge history
