Nuclear Weapons

Results 26–50 of 100

Virtual support from Sandia enabled B61-12 flight test on F-35A jet fighter

November 9, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Overcoming COVID-19 pandemic challenges through virtual means, teams from Sandia National Laboratories and the U.S. Air Force under the guidance of the National Nuclear Security Administration performed a critical B61-12 flight test aboard the F-35A Lightning II jet fighter. The flight test at Edwards Air Force Base...

Categories: Coronavirus, Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons

Topics: B61-12, coronavirus, COVID-19, Edwards Air Force Base, F-35A, nuclear deterrence, nuclear weapons, U.S. Air Force

Record neutron numbers at Sandia Labs’ Z machine fusion experiments

October 27, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— A relatively new method to control nuclear fusion that combines a massive jolt of electricity with strong magnetic fields and a powerful laser beam has achieved its own record output of neutrons — a key standard by which fusion efforts are judged — at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z...

Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering, Space / Astronomy

Topics: ;high yield, break-even, energy, fusion, laser, magLIF, magnetic, plasma, Z

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.[caption id="" align="alignright" width="250"] Data from the Mobile …

Categories: Coronavirus, Homeland security, Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering, Transportation

Topics: coronavirus, COVID-19, crash test, MGT, mobile guardian transporter, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, Office of Secure Transportation, P1, sled track

Expanding testing capacity for Sandia weapons modernization programs

September 30, 2020 • LIVERMORE, Calif. — Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration and Department of Energy’s under secretary for nuclear security, joined Sandia National Laboratories Deputy Labs Director Dori Ellis and other Sandia leaders today f…

Categories: Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: modernization, NNSA, nuclear weapons, stockpile, systems engineering

How to multitask when nuclear nonproliferation is on the line

September 29, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New cognitive science research from Sandia National Laboratories shows that while maps can help someone identify landmarks while being escorted, using one also limits situational awareness and knowledge of surroundings not highlighted on the map. This finding is one of several coming from a three-year project that...

Categories: Nonproliferation, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: cognitive science, international nuclear safeguards, knowledge transfer, Labortory Directed Research and Development, LDRD, Nuclear energy, visual inspection, wayfinding

Sandia weapons program meets safety, design requirements

June 29, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has successfully completed another milestone in the B61-12 gravity bomb refurbishment program, demonstrating the labs is meeting important nuclear safety and use-control requirements. “The Combined Engineering Judgment is an important step toward ensuring the B61-12 Life Extension Program is on track, and Sandia is...

Categories: Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons

Topics: B61-12, Life Extension Program, nuclear weapons, Sandia National Laboratories

Flight tests show B61-12 compatible with F-15E Strike Eagle

June 8, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Dropped from above 25,000 feet, the mock B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb was in the air for approximately 55 seconds before hitting and embedding in the lakebed, splashing a 40- to 50-foot puff of desert dust from the designated impact area at Sandia Nation…

Categories: Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: B61-12, F-15E, LEP, Life Extension Program, nuclear deterrence, Sandia National Laboratories, Strike Eagle

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 Security, Cybersecurity, Energy / Environment / Water, Homeland security, Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: electromagnetic, electrons, geomagnetic, Hermes, hurricanes, lightning, neutrons, nuclear weapons, petawatt, Saturn, solar storms, transformers, utilities, X-rays, Z

Award-winning engineer helps keep US nuclear deterrent safe from radiation

December 23, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When nuclear radiation hits electronics, it cuts through semiconductors, leaving scars of charged particles that can flip computing bits and corrupt memory circuits, potentially disabling devices or causing erratic errors. Experts like engineer Alan Mar ensure components made for the U.S. nuclear stockpile pass stringent standards to...

Categories: Awards, Computing, Nuclear Weapons

Topics: computer modeling, diversity, nuclear deterrence, radiation, Xyce

National security chip plant gets an upgrade

October 3, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has completed phase one of an anticipated three-year upgrade at its plant responsible for making integrated circuits, similar to computer chips. The facility is now fully compatible with industry-standard, 8-inch silicon wafers — thin, round starting materials used for making chips. Previously, Sandia used...

Categories: Computing, Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: integrated circuits, MESA, upgrades, wafer fabrication

Earthquake or underground explosion?

August 7, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers, as part of a group of National Nuclear Security Administration scientists, have wrapped up years of field experiments to improve the United States’ ability to differentiate earthquakes from underground explosi…

Categories: Nonproliferation, Nuclear Weapons, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: checmical explosions, field experiments, NNSA, Source Physics Experiments, underground explosions, underground testing

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

Topics: broken arrows; nuclear safety; emergency response;

Photo of Ryan Kristensen, a member of the Accident Response Group.

Blast tube tests at Sandia simulate shock wave conditions nuclear weapons could face

September 10, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — You can learn a lot from a blast tube. You can learn more when you couple blast experiments with computer modeling. Sandia National Laboratories researchers are using a blast tube configurable to 120 feet to demonstrate how well nuclear weapons could survive the shock wave of a...

Categories: Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: blast tube, nuclear weapon modernization, nuclear weapons, schlieren

Sandia National Laboratories researchers are using a blast tube to demonstrate how well nuclear weapons could survive the shock wave of a blast from an enemy weapon and to help validate the computer modeling.

Supercomputing under a new lens: A Sandia-developed benchmark re-ranks top computers

February 27, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Sandia National Laboratories software program now installed as an additional test for the widely observed TOP500 supercomputer challenge has become increasingly prominent. The program’s full name — High Performance Conjugate Gradients, or HPCG —…

Categories: Computing, Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons

Topics: high performance computing gradient, HPCG, iterative, LINPACK, mesh, sparse matrix

New radiation detectors developed at Sandia used for New START inspections

February 1, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories designed, tested and delivered new radiation detection equipment for monitoring under the New START Treaty. Defense Threat Reduction Agency inspectors recently used this equipment for the first time in Russia for a New START inspection. New START, or the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty,...

Categories: Nonproliferation, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: arms control, neutron detection, New START, radiation detection

Sandia computer modeling aids solder reliability in nuclear weapons

December 19, 2017 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Solder isn’t the first thing that comes to mind as essential to a nuclear weapon. But since weapons contain hundreds of thousands of solder joints, each potentially a point of failure, Sandia National Laboratories has developed and refined computer mo…

Categories: Computing, Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: computer modeling and simulation, nuclear weapons, solder failure, solder joint reliability

Scintillating discovery at Sandia Labs

June 29, 2017 • Bright thinking leads to breakthrough in nuclear threat detection scienceLIVERMORE, Calif. — Taking inspiration from an unusual source, a Sandia National Laboratories team has dramatically improved the science of scintillators — objects that detect nuclear threats. Accor…

Categories: Homeland security, Materials Science, Nonproliferation, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: glass scintillators, nuclear threat reduction, scintillator

Side-by-side comparison of scintillators made from trans-stilbene and organic glass.

Upgrades at Sandia’s Tonopah Test Range help weapons testing

June 21, 2017 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A former test director at Sandia National Laboratories’ Tonopah Test Range has described its combination of old and new tracking and data-collection equipment as like a mix of horseless carriages and horses — you can’t feed oats to the horseless c…

Categories: Nuclear Weapons

Topics: telemetry, Tonopah Test Range, upgrades

Overcoming the trust barrier in nuclear weapons verification measurements

June 6, 2017 • [caption id="" align="alignright" width="250"] Sandia National Laboratories researchers, left to right, Peter Marleau, Patricia Schuster and Rebecca Krentz-Wee have developed a new method for verifying warhead attributes. (Photo by Dino Vournas) Click on the thumbnail for a …

Categories: Homeland security, Nuclear Weapons

Drop of mock B61-12 is first of new flight tests

April 13, 2017 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — From a distance, the drop of a mock nuclear weapon — containing only non-nuclear components — was a mere puff of dust rising from a dry lake bed at Nevada’s Tonopah Test Range. However, it marked the start of a new series of test flights vital to...

Categories: Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: B61-12, large-scale testing, Life Extension Program, nuclear weapons, Tonopah

Evaluating nuclear weapons: Sandia Labs taking a modern approach

March 1, 2017 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is transforming how it assesses nuclear weapons in a stockpile made up of weapons at different stages in their lifecycles — some systems that have existed for decades alongside those that have undergone life extension prog…

Categories: Nuclear Weapons

Topics: nuclear weapon modernization, nuclear weapons, stockpile stewardship

Exploring the evolution of nuclear deterrence through interviews, historical footage

February 28, 2017, Media Advisory • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories explores the evolution of nuclear deterrence in a new documentary that combines modern and historical footage with a wide range of interviews.On Deterrence features interviews with former secretaries of defense, general offi…

Categories: Nonproliferation, Nuclear Weapons

Topics: Cold War, deterrence, documentary, film, global security

Sled track simulates high-speed accident in B61-12 test

October 5, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has sent a mock B61-12 nuclear weapon speeding down the labs’ 10,000-foot rocket sled track to slam nose-first into a steel and concrete wall in a spectacular test that mimicked a high-speed accident. It allowed engineers …

Categories: Nuclear Weapons

Topics: B61-12, forward ballistics test, large-scale testing, Life Extension Program, sled track

A B61-12 test unit slams into a target at the end of Sandia National Laboratories’ 10,000-foot rocket sled track in a complex forward ballistics test. The test, which mimicked a high-speed accident, allowed engineers to examine safety features inside the weapon.

Looking from space for nuclear detonations

August 18, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories’ Jaime Gomez was too busy to celebrate the successful launch of the latest nuclear detonation detection system — he was already deep into the next generation.The Global Burst Detection (GBD) system launched Feb. 5 from C…

Categories: Military / Defense, Nonproliferation

Topics: GBD, global burst detection, GPS, nonproliferation, nuclear detonation sensing, payload, satellites

Lightning lab: Recreating nature’s big show for research

June 29, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories creates lightning in a lab to evaluate how anything from sensitive nuclear weapons components to entire buildings will hold up against the worst that nature might throw at them.

Categories: Nuclear Weapons

Topics: electromagnetic fields, lightning lab, lightning protection systems, Lightning Simulator, stockpile

Results 26–50 of 100