nuclear weapons

22 Results

Transforming environmental testing one shake at a time

July 25, 2024 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Testing weapons and components in a lab-controlled environment has always been at the center of Sandia National Laboratories’ mission. Since the U.S. stopped underground explosives tests on weapons in the early 1990s, Sandia has developed other methods to conduct experiments that mimic the range of environments a...

Categories: Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons

Topics: engineers, nuclear deterrence, nuclear weapons

Major milestone for B61-12 life extension program

February 2, 2022 • 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...

Categories: Nuclear Weapons

Topics: B61-12, first production unit, nuclear deterrence, nuclear weapon modernization, nuclear weapons

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

July 20, 2021 • 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 co…

Categories: Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: centrifuge, combined-environments testing, nuclear weapons, systems engineering, weapons systems

An experimental test system is mounted on the centrifuge arm prior to combined environments testing at the Sandia National Laboratories Superfuge/Centrifuge Complex in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Three Sandia engineers recognized for contributions to advancing women in STEM

October 24, 2017 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Three Sandia National Laboratories engineers have been recognized by the Society of Women Engineers as part of its annual awards program for their support in the enrichment and advancement of women in engineering. Janet Williams won the Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes members who have made significant...

Categories: Awards, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: APS, ASME, diversity, fusion, inertial confinement fuison program, inertial confinement fusion, LDRD, MESA, microscale, Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications, nuclear weapons, Sandia, Society of Women Engineers, STEM, SWAN, SWE, women in STEM, z machine

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

‘Cold War Warriors:’ Sandia’s decades in nuclear weapons

May 9, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories video producer Myra Buteau swept a hand toward the top shelf of a bookcase stuffed with black cases of high-definition tapes. The biggest challenge in telling the story of Sandia’s years of above-ground and underground nuc…

Categories: History, Nuclear Weapons

Topics: documentary, field testing, history, nuclear weapons

Sandia National Laboratories video producer Myra Buteau interviewed more than 40 people who spent their careers in above-ground and underground nuclear weapons testing. The result is a documentary, "Cold War Warriors."

W80-4: Sandia California works on nuclear weapon Life Extension Program

October 15, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is doing what it hasn’t done in decades: extending the life of a nuclear warhead at the same time the U.S. Air Force develops a replacement cruise missile that will carry the weapon.The goal of the W80-4 Life Extension Pro…

Categories: Nuclear Weapons

Topics: Life Extension Program, nuclear weapons, W80-4

Hardware from old nuclear weapons systems becomes valuable teaching resource

July 30, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is preserving the history of nuclear weapons in hardware developed since the start of the nuclear era as a way to connect new generations of weapons engineers to the engineering work of past generations.“Tremendous amounts…

Categories: Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: legacy hardware, nuclear weapons, stockpile, Weapon Intern Program

Whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on

July 22, 2015 • Sandia’s new vibration table promises different ways of testingALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It took decades for technology to catch up with the math David Smallwood worked out to control vibration table shakers.Smallwood, a retired Sandia National Laboratories researcher who cons…

Categories: Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: nuclear weapons, tests, vibration table

Always/Never: Sandia documentary tells story of nuclear weapons safety, security

June 15, 2015, Media Advisory • [caption id="" align="alignright" width="250"] Six active and retired Sandia National Laboratories employees gathered in 2011 at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, New Mexico, around two B28 gravity bombs recovered from a 1966 nuclear accide…

Categories: Media advisories, Nuclear Weapons

Topics: deterrent, Global Zero, James Schlesinger, nuclear weapons, Robert McNamara, Scott Sagan

Studies look at long-term aging of electronics in nuclear weapons

December 4, 2014 • 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 c…

Categories: Nuclear Weapons

Topics: electronics, nuclear weapons, stockpile, stockpile stewardship, W76

W88 warhead program performs successful tests

October 28, 2014 • 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…

Categories: Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: Kansas City Plant, los alamos, nuclear, nuclear weapons, Pantex, w88

Survivor: Sandia ensures US nuclear weapons deterrent can remain effective, credible

July 22, 2014 • 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…

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

Topics: modeling, neutron damage, nuclear weapons, QASPR, Sandia National Laboratories, Sandia Pulsed Reactor

Wind tunnel tests support improved aerodynamic design of B61-12 bomb

April 14, 2014 • 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 d…

Categories: Nuclear Weapons

Topics: Air Force, B61, nuclear, nuclear weapons, Sandia National Laboratories, stockpile, wind tunnel test

Sandia conducts first impact test in years of B61 nonnuclear components

January 14, 2014 • 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 componen…

Categories: Nuclear Weapons, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: B61, bomb, large-scale testing, nuclear, nuclear weapons