ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Three years of design, planning and preparation came down to a split second, a loud boom and an enormous splash in a successful impact test of hardware in the nose assembly of an unarmed, mock B61-12 nuclear bomb. The Sandia National Laboratories test also captured data that will allow analysts to validate […]
Category Archives: Nuclear Weapons
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Pulsed-power physicist receives IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Science award
May 5, 2015 – 1:30 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — William Stygar, manager of Sandia National Laboratories’ Advanced Accelerator Physics department, has been selected to receive the Erwin Marx Award by the Pulsed Power Science and Technology Committee of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Science Society. The award’s previous recipients “are a who’s who of the leaders in pulsed power science and […]
MESA complex starts largest production series in its history
March 25, 2015 – 11:45 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has begun making silicon wafers for three nuclear weapon modernization programs, the largest production series in the history of its Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications complex. MESA’s silicon fab in October began producing base wafers for Application-Specific Integrated Circuits for the B61-12 Life Extension Program, W88 Alteration 370 and […]
Studies look at long-term aging of electronics in nuclear weapons
December 4, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is studying how environments, including radiation that originates from a nuclear weapon itself, could affect the performance of electronics in the W76-1 warhead as they age. Sandia, which is responsible for most non-nuclear components in U.S. nuclear weapons, is helping replace W76 warheads in the nation’s stockpile with a […]
MINER shines in urban emergency response exercise
October 30, 2014 – 5:00 am
Mobile imager of fast neutrons spots radiation source at a distance and through shielding LIVERMORE, Calif. — A nuclear device has been hidden in a high-rise building in a major metropolitan area. Emergency responders have intelligence that narrows down the location to a single city block, but it isn’t safe to search door-to-door. Can they […]
W88 warhead program performs successful tests
October 28, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The first flight and drop tests for the latest variant of the W88 nuclear warhead are providing data for Sandia National Laboratories to validate designs, improve computer modeling and update component specifications. The two successful tests, which were conducted this summer, provide data for the program, the W88 ALT 370 (alteration), to […]
Survivor: Sandia ensures US nuclear weapons deterrent can remain effective, credible
July 22, 2014 – 7:47 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It may sound strange to say that nuclear weapons must survive radiation. But as part of its mission of ensuring the nation’s stockpile is safe, secure and effective as a deterrent, Sandia National Laboratories must make sure crucial parts can function if they’re hit by radiation, especially a type called fast neutrons. […]
DOE Early Career award won by Sandia researcher Stephanie Hansen
June 9, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A $2.5 million, five-year Early Career Research Program award from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science has been won by Sandia National Laboratories researcher Stephanie Hansen for her fundamental science proposal to improve existing atomic-scale models for high-energy-density matter. Thirty-five winners were chosen by peer review from about 750 proposals […]
Sandia completes major overhaul of key nuclear weapons test facilities
May 8, 2014 – 3:30 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Sandia National Laboratories recently completed the renovation of five large-scale test facilities that are crucial to ensuring the safety and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons systems. The work supports Sandia’s ongoing nuclear stockpile modernization work on the B61-12 and W88 Alt, assessments of current stockpile systems and test and analysis for […]
Wind tunnel tests support improved aerodynamic design of B61-12 bomb
April 14, 2014 – 1:30 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has finished eight days of testing a full-scale mock unit representing the aerodynamic characteristics of the B61-12 gravity bomb in a wind tunnel. The tests on the mock-up were done to establish the configuration that will deliver the necessary spin motion of the bomb during freefall and are an […]
Sandia conducts first impact test in years of B61 nonnuclear components
January 14, 2014 – 10:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A ground-penetrating bomb, minus its nuclear components, rammed through a target at the remote Coyote Canyon test range last month in Sandia National Laboratories’ first such rocket-driven impact test in seven years. Engineers said the Sandia components on the weapon performed as expected. “Really nice work,” said Engineering Sciences Director Justine Johannes, […]
3D Earth model developed at Sandia Labs more accurately pinpoints source of earthquakes, explosions
August 22, 2013 – 5:30 am
Sandia offers free, standardized GeoTess software to public ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – During the Cold War, U.S. and international monitoring agencies could spot nuclear tests and focused on measuring their sizes. Today, they’re looking around the globe to pinpoint much smaller explosives tests. Under the sponsorship of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense Nuclear […]
Radiation detection to go
August 14, 2013 – 5:30 am
Mobile radiation detectors deployed at international ports ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Sandia National Laboratories team completed acceptance testing on an enormous mobile scanner that makes smuggling radiological materials more difficult, the eighth such unit that Sandia has deployed worldwide. The Mobile Radiation Detection and Identification System (MRDIS) enables scanning of containers that are in transit from […]
Project Neptune: Specialized gas detection for nonproliferation
July 24, 2013 – 1:16 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Trying to sniff out traces of hard-to-detect gases can be like trying to hear a whisper at the other end of a very large, very crowded, very noisy room. Sandia National Laboratories’ Project Neptune aims to design a system capable of sensing, from among the loud signals of a lot of gases, […]
Sandia National Laboratories hosts NATO visitors
May 10, 2013 – 12:45 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — NATO delegates toured Sandia National Laboratories during a three-day visit highlighting the labs’ programs that support extended deterrence to U.S. allies, as well as broader national security programs ranging from homeland security to preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The visitors included more than 50 representatives from 23 European countries, […]