LIVERMORE, Calif. — Fuel cells are used in the space shuttle as one component of the electrical power system, so perhaps it was appropriate that a hydrogen fuel cell-powered mobile lighting system could be seen on the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center as the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched into space last week, the 135th […]
Author Archives: Sandia National Labs
Sandia wins four R&D 100 Awards
June 22, 2011 – 11:59 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers — competing in an international pool of universities, corporations and government labs — captured three prestigious R&D 100 Awards in this year’s contest, and were cowinners of a fourth. R&D Magazine presents the awards each year to researchers whom its editors and independent judging panels determine have developed […]
Dust-size dragonflies and microvalves make mark at annual MEMS student design contest
June 17, 2011 – 10:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A dragonfly as small as a dust mote, its four tiny wings beating like it had momentarily alit on a lily pad, and a highly sensitive microvalve were the big winners in this year’s student design contest for extraordinarily tiny devices at Sandia National Laboratories. The winners — Texas Tech University for […]
Sandia and Cray Inc. to tackle “big data” in new supercomputing institute
May 27, 2011 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories and supercomputer manufacturer Cray Inc. are forming an institute focused on data-intensive supercomputers. The Supercomputing Institute for Learning and Knowledge Systems (SILKS), to be located at Sandia in Albuquerque, will take advantage of the strengths of Sandia and Cray by making software and hardware resources available to researchers who […]
Z researcher Dan Sinars awarded $2.5 million DOE Early Career grant
May 25, 2011 – 3:32 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Pursuing a fruitful line of inquiry, Sandia National Laboratories researcher Dan Sinars has been awarded a $2.5 million, five-year “Early Career Research Program” award for measuring fundamental instabilities in magnetically driven Z-pinch explosions. Sinars’ team was the first to capture, in a series of 3-D images separated by nanoseconds, the undesirable but […]
Second Z plutonium “shot” safely tests materials for NNSA
May 11, 2011 – 7:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today announced that researchers from Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories have completed their second experiment in the past six months at Sandia’s Z machine to explore the properties of plutonium materials under extreme pressures and temperatures. The information is used to keep the U.S. nuclear […]
Japanese collaboration promises to put Sandia hydrogen program on global track
May 5, 2011 – 4:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — A new hydrogen research initiative based in Japan will leverage Department of Energy (DOE)-funded hydrogen research at Sandia National Laboratories’ California site and will likely become the first research effort to be rolled into a broader laboratory research umbrella aimed at increasing the laboratories’ hydrogen partnerships domestically and abroad. Sandia’s Brian Somerday is […]
World’s smallest atomic clock on sale
May 2, 2011 – 4:00 am
Sandia researchers develop tiny laser that reduced power consumption 1,000-fold ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A matchbook-sized atomic clock 100 times smaller than its commercial predecessors has been created by a team of researchers at Symmetricom Inc. Draper Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. The portable Chip Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) — only about 1.5 inches on a […]
Recipe for radioactive compounds aids nuclear waste and fuel storage pools studies
April 14, 2011 – 4:11 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Easy-to-follow recipes for radioactive compounds like those found in nuclear fuel storage pools, liquid waste containment areas and other contaminated aqueous environments have been developed by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories. “The need to understand the chemistry of these compounds has never been more urgent, and these recipes facilitate their study,” principal […]
Local college receives a piece of Sandia/California history
March 23, 2011 – 9:29 am
LENS machine to assist future generations of welders LIVERMORE, Calif. — Las Positas College, located just a few short miles away from the Sandia/California campus, might be a close partner of Sandia’s in the near future as the lab continues to pursue academic and industry collaborators on its new open campus. But even with an […]
Sandia seeds culture of nuclear energy safety and security
March 7, 2011 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The growing interest among Middle Eastern nations in establishing nuclear power programs prompted a Sandia National Laboratories team to conceive and lead development of a new institute that will seed and cultivate a regional culture of responsible nuclear energy management. The Gulf Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Institute (GNEII), the product of three years […]
Supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton Cycle turbines promise giant leap in thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency
March 4, 2011 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers are moving into the demonstration phase of a novel gas turbine system for power generation, with the promise that thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency will be increased to as much as 50 percent — an improvement of 50 percent for nuclear power stations equipped with steam turbines, or a 40 […]
LAMMPS supercomputer code developer earns special recognition
March 3, 2011 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researcher Steve Plimpton, who led development of a widely used computer code that models how materials behave, has been invited to present a keynote lecture at the Feb. 27-March 3 Minerals, Materials & Materials Society (TMS) meeting in San Diego. Plimpton developed the LAMMPS molecular-dynamics software code. The acronym […]
Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories to showcase hydrogen vehicles
February 17, 2011 – 8:16 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories will showcase two buses powered by hydrogen, now operating at both Livermore sites. The collaborative effort is part of a strategy for an energy sustainable future and cleaner environment. The vehicles will be on display in downtown Livermore. The public is welcome to stop by and […]
Energy technology, policy tools to be explored at summer institute for top grad students
February 9, 2011 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Graduate students pursuing careers in energy, policy, science and environmental matters are being encouraged to submit applications for Technology and Policy Tools for Energy in an Uncertain World, a week-long summer institute at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif. The program will take place Aug. 7–12 and is open to U.S. citizens […]