Homeland security

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Common ‘Core’: Using molecular fragments to detect deadly opioids
December 15, 2021 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a method to detect trace amounts of synthetic opioids. They plan to combine their approach with miniaturized sensors to create a hand-portable instrument easily used by law enforcement agents for efficient detection in the field. Fentanyl is a fast-acting, opioid-based...
Categories: Bioscience / Medical Research, Homeland security
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A U.S. Penny on a black background next to a few small white grains.

Remote high-voltage sensor unveiled at Sandia gamma ray lab
November 10, 2021 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Ever since the first human placed a bare hand on an uninsulated electric line, people have refrained from personally testing energetic materials. Even meters made of metal can melt at high voltages. Now, using a crystal smaller than a dime and a laser smaller than a shoebox,...
Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Homeland security, Materials Science, Physics
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Sandia National Laboratories researcher Israel Owens holds the optical sensor used to house the crystal that proved central to his team’s successful attempts to measure very high voltages. The two red spots on each side of the crystal are due to laser light reflecting off the side mirrors used to direct light through the middle of the crystal. The actual experiments used green laser light.

Equipped for crises
September 22, 2021 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Shovels symbolically speared the ground today at the site of Sandia National Laboratories new $42.5 million Emergency Operations Center.The 25,000-square-foot complex located on Kirtland Air Force Base is expected to be operational by spring 2023. The c…
Categories: Community / Education, Homeland security, Operations / Budget
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Redesigning radiation monitors at U.S. ports
September 9, 2021 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — Every day at ports of entry, hundreds of thousands of vehicles and containers cross into the country. Since 9/11, all incoming vehicles and containers at land crossings, rail crossings, mail facilities and shipping terminals are scanned by Customs and Border Protection officers to detect potential threats, including...
Categories: Homeland security, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Sandia National Laboratories physicist Will Johnson demonstrates the potential capabilities of the new radiation portal monitor design.

Imaging tool under development exposes concealed detonators — and their charge
July 22, 2021 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Behold the neutron, the middle child of subatomic particles. At times overshadowed by its electrically charged siblings the proton and the electron, neutrons quietly play important roles in national security. They start nuclear reactions for weapons and power plants. They bombard materials for nuclear safety tests. And...
Categories: Homeland security, Military / Defense, Technology transfer / Economic Impact
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Yuan-Yu_Jau

Students of nuclear security have a problem. Here’s how to help them.
November 12, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Radioactive materials are attractive targets to thieves and other bad actors. These are rare finds, valuable on the black market and relatively easy to weaponize. New security professionals rarely learn practical skills for protecting these targets until they are on the job at nuclear power plants, research...
Categories: Homeland security, Science / Technology / Engineering
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nuclear security education

Successful crash test meets major milestone for nuclear deterrence program
October 8, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A full-scale crash test involving a semitruck impacting the side of the first prototype of a new weapons transporter successfully took place at Sandia National Laboratories this summer. Using the labs’ sled track, rockets propelled the semitractor-trailer at highway speeds into the prototype, an over-the-road Mobile Guardian...
Categories: Coronavirus, Homeland security, Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering, Transportation
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Picture of mobile guardian transport

Sandia to receive Fujitsu ‘green’ processor
May 26, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — This spring, Sandia National Laboratories anticipates being one of the first Department of Energy laboratories to receive the newest A64FX Fujitsu processor, a Japanese Arm-based processor optimized for high-performance computing. Arm-based processors are used widely in small electronic devices like cell phones. More recently, Arm-based processors were...
Categories: Computing, Homeland security, Military / Defense, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Radiation-detecting plastic gets ingredient to stay in the clear
April 30, 2020 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have identified a straightforward change to the formula for radiation-detecting plastic. The change prevents “fogging,” which reduces the lifetime of the plastics used to detect nuclear material transiting through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s radiation detectors. The change also fits well...
Categories: Homeland security, Materials Science, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Nick Myllenbeck, a materials scientist at Sandia National Laboratories, examines glowing plastic used to detect radioactive material. (Photo by Lloyd Wilson) Click on the thumbnail for a high-resolution image.

Sandia initiatives to protect US energy grid and nuclear weapons systems
March 23, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — To deter attempts to disable U.S. electrical utilities and to defend U.S. nuclear weapon systems from evolving technological threats, Sandia National Laboratories has begun two multiyear initiatives to strengthen U.S. responses. One is focused on defending large U.S. electrical utility systems from potential attacks by hostile nations,...
Categories: Climate Change, Cybersecurity, Energy / Environment / Water, Homeland security, Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Power Grid

Can the US make bioweapons obsolete?
March 9, 2020 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — As the threats posed by bioterrorism and naturally occurring infectious disease grow and evolve in the modern era, there is a rising potential for broad negative impacts on human health, economic stability and global security. To protect the nation from these dangers, Sandia National Laboratories has partnered...
Categories: Bioscience / Medical Research, Homeland security, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Making Bioweapons Obsolete: A Summary of Workshop Discussions, released by Sandia National Laboratories and the Council on Strategic Risks addresses recommendations for significantly reducing and ultimately eliminating biothreats.

Identify, track, capture
February 25, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories robotics experts are working on a way to intercept enemy unmanned aircraft systems midflight. They successfully tested their concept indoors with a swarm of four unmanned aircraft systems that flew in unison, each carrying one corner of a net. Acting as a team, they...
Categories: Homeland security, Science / Technology / Engineering
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AI center to combine hardware, software for practical gains
October 31, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, and the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta are launching a research center that combines hardware design and software development to improve artificial intelligence technologies that will ultimately benefit the public. AI is an emerging field with...
Categories: Chemistry, Computing, Cybersecurity, Homeland security, Materials Science, Military / Defense, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering, Transportation
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Graphic for ARIAA

Quantum computing steps further ahead with new projects at Sandia
January 7, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Quantum computing is a term that periodically flashes across the media sky like heat lightning in the desert: brilliant, attention-getting and then vanishing from the public’s mind with no apparent aftereffects. Yet a multimillion dollar international effort to build quantum computers is hardly going away. And now,...
Categories: Computing, Homeland security, Military / Defense, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Peter Maunz and Ojas Parekh

Sandia microneedles technique may mean quicker diagnoses of major illnesses
January 2, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When people are in the early stages of an undiagnosed disease, immediate tests that lead to treatment are the best first steps. But a blood draw — usually performed by a medical professional armed with an uncomfortably large needle — might not be quickest, least painful or...
Categories: Biology, Bioscience / Medical Research, Chemistry, Homeland security, Military / Defense, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Philip Miller

Friendly electromagnetic pulse improves survival for electronics
December 6, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, emitted by a nuclear weapon exploded high above the United States could disable the electronic circuits of many devices vital to military defense and modern living. These could include complicated weapon systems as well as phones, laptops, credit cards and car computers....
Categories: Homeland security, Materials Science, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Leonard Martinez

Responders provide technical expertise in case of nuclear weapons accidents
November 28, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Decades ago, technical experts from the national labs responded in an ad hoc manner to accidents involving nuclear weapons, called “broken arrows.” Thirty-two such accidents have occurred since the 1950s, so the Accident Response Group was created about five decades ago to provide technical expertise in assessing...
Categories: Homeland security, Nuclear Weapons
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Photo of Ryan Kristensen, a member of the Accident Response Group.

Large supercrystals promise superior sensors
August 1, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Using an artful combination of nanotechnology and basic chemistry, Sandia National Laboratories researchers have encouraged gold nanoparticles to self-assemble into unusually large supercrystals that could significantly improve the detection sensitivity for chemicals in explosives or drugs. “Our supercrystals have more sensing capability than regular spectroscopy instruments currently...
Categories: Chemistry, Homeland security, Materials Science, Military / Defense, Nanotechnology, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Hongyou Fan

Exploring Arctic clues to secure future with new Sandia, university partnership
April 23, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Arctic is undergoing rapid change, with sea ice melting and temperatures rising at a faster pace than anywhere else in the world. Its changing environment affects global security, politics, the economy and the climate. Understanding these changes is crucial for shaping and safeguarding U.S. security in...
Categories: Climate Change, Energy / Environment / Water, Homeland security, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Sandia’s international peer mentorship program improves biorisk management
October 24, 2017 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The world is becoming increasingly interconnected. While this has definite advantages, it also makes it easier to spread disease. Many diseases don’t produce symptoms for days or weeks, far longer than international flight times. For example, Ebola has an incubation period of two to 21 days. Improving...
Categories: Conferences / Symposia, Homeland security
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Emad Zaki pf Egypt explains his twinning project poster at the 2017 American Biological Safety Association conference.

Cleaning up subways: Sandia’s 20-year mission to stop anthrax in its tracks
September 18, 2017 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If you’re like most people, you don’t spend much time thinking about what would happen if anthrax was released into your local subway system. Luckily, Sandia National Laboratories engineer Mark Tucker has spent much of the past 20 years thinking about incidents involving chemical or biological warfare...
Categories: Homeland security
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Sandia engineer Mark Tucker with a foam-covered plastic pane.

Scintillating discovery at Sandia Labs
June 29, 2017 • Bright thinking leads to breakthrough in nuclear threat detection science LIVERMORE, Calif. — Taking inspiration from an unusual source, a Sandia National Laboratories team has dramatically improved the science of scintillators — objects that detect nuclear threats. According to the team, using organic glass scintillators could soon make it even...
Categories: Homeland security, Materials Science, Nonproliferation, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Side-by-side comparison of scintillators made from trans-stilbene and organic glass.

Overcoming the trust barrier in nuclear weapons verification measurements
June 6, 2017 • Sandia method supports real-time warhead verification without revealing design data LIVERMORE, Calif. — Trust but verify. The catchphrase for arms control popularized by President Ronald Reagan sounds simple. However, verification involving sensitive data is a very complex endeavor. Verifying that a nuclear warhead actually is a warhead may include confirming...
Categories: Homeland security, Nuclear Weapons
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Results 1–25 of 94