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Sandia Labs News Releases

Category Archives: Nuclear Weapons

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Engineer taps into Sandia’s deep knowledge base to design high-reliability component

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Robert Petterborg saw an opportunity to improve a critical part used to test a weapons system. Using his spare time at work and with the help of his Sandia National Laboratories colleagues, he designed a new cable connector that eliminates misalignments that could interfere with testing and potentially damage hardware. “I wasn’t […]

Bruised and bleeding: New materials show where they’re hurt

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Every over-the-counter medication bottle sports a protective seal, usually a plastic wrap or foam layer, or both. These seals offer signs of tampering attempts. In a parallel concern, the International Atomic Energy Agency relies on tamper-indicating devices to make sure it knows if containers of nuclear material have been opened or tampered […]

Sandia and UNM collaborate to build more efficient rocket

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sal Rodriguez, a nuclear engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, is forging a rocket revolution with the help of the University of New Mexico and student Graham Monroe. Their cutting-edge research is propelling the future of aerospace by infusing rocket science with a touch of golf ball magic. They incorporated dimples similar to […]

Preventing collateral damage in cancer treatment

LIVERMORE, Calif. — Using a simple concept and a patented Sandia sensor that detects radioactive materials, a team at Sandia National Laboratories has developed a patch to stop damage to healthy tissue during proton radiotherapy, one of the best tools to target certain cancerous tumors. “This is an important need, especially among pediatric patients,” said […]

Sandia, AMD collaborate to improve stockpile mission

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories, in partnership with Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national labs, has awarded a contract to AMD that funds research and development of advanced memory technologies expected to accelerate high-performance simulation and computing applications in support of the nation’s stockpile stewardship mission. The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Advanced Simulation and […]

Sandia, Intel seek novel memory tech to support stockpile mission

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In pursuit of novel advanced memory technologies that would accelerate simulation and computing applications in support of the nation’s stockpile stewardship mission, Sandia National Laboratories, in partnership with Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national labs, has announced a research and development contract awarded to Intel Federal LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of […]

Investigating stockpile stewardship applications for world’s largest computer chip

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories and its partners announced a new project today to investigate the application of Cerebras Systems‘ Wafer-Scale Engine technology to accelerate advanced simulation and computing applications in support of the nation’s stockpile stewardship mission. The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Advanced Simulation and Computing program is sponsoring the work and Sandia, […]

Propelling wind energy innovation

LIVERMORE, Calif. — Motivated by the need to eliminate expensive rare-earth magnets in utility-scale direct-drive wind turbines, Sandia National Laboratories researchers developed a fundamentally new type of rotary electrical contact. Sandia is now ready to partner with the renewable energy industry to develop the next generation of direct-drive wind turbines. Sandia’s Twistact technology takes a […]

Sandia researchers receive two EO Lawrence Awards

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories pulsed-power physicist Daniel Sinars and quantum information scientist Andrew Landahl have each received 2021 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Awards, the U.S. Department of Energy’s highest scientific mid-career honor. Sinars won in the category “National Security and Nonproliferation;” Landahl in “Computer, Information and Knowledge Sciences.” Susan Seestrom, associate laboratories director for […]

Sandia weapons systems engineering director honored by NNSA, Air Force and Navy

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Jim Handrock, Sandia National Laboratories’ director of New Mexico weapons systems engineering, received a series of awards and commendations from the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Air Force and Navy recognizing his leadership, expertise and service to the nation during a celebration at Sandia on May 4. The celebration, held on Kirtland […]

Guangping Xu employs a digital optical microscope

Seashell-inspired Sandia shield protects materials in hostile environments

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Word of an extraordinarily inexpensive material, lightweight enough to protect satellites against debris in the cold of outer space, cohesive enough to strengthen the walls of pressurized vessels experiencing average conditions on Earth and yet heat-resistant enough at 1,500 degrees Celsius or 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit to shield instruments against flying debris, raises […]

Major milestone for B61-12 life extension program

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories marked a major milestone when the Nuclear Security Enterprise successfully produced the first completely refurbished bomb for the B61-12 life extension program in November 2021. “This is the first complete unit built with nuclear and non-nuclear components that has been fully qualified from the ground up,” said David Wiegandt, […]

Launch Photo

Major upgrade to HOT Shot rocket program culminates in successful launch

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories announced that a major upgrade to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s HOT Shot sounding rocket program culminated in a successful launch on Saturday at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. HOT Shot, short for High Operational Tempo Shot, collects scientific data that benefits aerospace research and informs future […]

Drop test for W88 Alt 370

With redesigned ‘brains,’ W88 nuclear warhead reaches milestone

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories and its nuclear security enterprise partners recently completed the first production unit of a weapon assembly responsible for key operations of the W88 nuclear warhead. “The arming, fuzing and firing assembly is the brains of the warhead,” said Dolores Sanchez,  senior manager of the W88 Alteration 370 for Sandia. […]

Nuclear weapons testing photo.

New weapons testing capability produces richer data, saves time, cost

LIVERMORE, Calif. — A team of Sandia National Laboratories engineers developed a new testing capability in support of its nuclear weapons mission. The team completed their first combined-environments test on a full-scale weapons system at the Sandia Superfuge/Centrifuge complex in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In a successful test, weapons engineers simulated three environments — acceleration, vibration […]

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