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Strategic Deterrence

LLNL releases newly declassified test videos

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) released 62 newly declassified videos today of atmospheric nuclear tests films that have never before been seen by the public. The videos are the second batch of scientific test films to be published on the LLNL YouTube channel this year, and the team plans to publish the remaining videos of tests conducted by…

Lawrence Livermore to honor the architect of science-based stockpile stewardship

Victor Reis faced an audacious challenge when he accepted the appointment as assistant secretary of Defense Programs in the Department of Energy in 1993. One year prior, President George H.W. Bush agreed to end nuclear testing. Gone were the days of Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories competing to stockpile the next new warhead design, and gone was the…

25 years after the last U.S. nuclear test

A blend of beautiful blue and green hues jump off the computer screen of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist Todd Hoover. The visualization is a simulation of an underground nuclear test that took place 25 years ago this day. Hoover was a test coordinator on the experiment, code-named Hunters (sic) Trophy. As nuclear tests go, this was a relatively small…

Plutonium research to advance stockpile safely

Conducting an experiment that combines high explosives with plutonium -- a special nuclear material used in nuclear weapons -- is no trivial matter. Not only do researchers need to ensure the plutonium remains "subcritical" to avoid a nuclear explosion, they must be absolutely certain that these materials are confined in a worst-case scenario. On top of that, they have to…

LLNL supports ICBM flight tests

As an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) rocketed into the night sky, a team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers listened intently to radio chatter and watched flight data stream in from a control room at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site. It was the first of two flight tests conducted recently to…

Physicist declassifies rescued nuclear test films

The U.S. conducted 210 atmospheric nuclear tests between 1945 and 1962, with multiple cameras capturing each event at around 2,400 frames per second. But in the decades since, around 10,000 of these films sat idle, scattered across the country in high-security vaults. Not only were they gathering dust, the film material itself was slowly decomposing, bringing the data they…

It's a blast: Imaging high explosive detonators

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and collaborators at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for the first time have taken 3D snapshots of operating high explosive detonators. Scientists from LLNL, Los Alamos and National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTech) combined state-of-the-art imaging capabilities with computed tomographic reconstruction (X-ray…

How this Martian moon became the 'Death Star'

Mars’ largest moon, Phobos, has captured public imagination and been shrouded in mystery for decades. But numerical simulations recently conducted at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have shed some light on the enigmatic satellite. The dominant feature on the surface of Phobos (22-kilomters across) is Stickney crater (9-km across), a mega crater that spans…

Gen. Larry Welch honored for outstanding contributions to national security

LIVERMORE, California – For the past 65 years, retired Air Force Gen. Larry D. Welch has dedicated himself to the security of the nation, earning a reputation as an inspirational leader, team builder and innovator. Invited members of the national security community will gather Sept. 26 at the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. to…

Lab physicist receives DoD award

Lab employee Craig Wuest has received one of the top civilian awards from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). A citation accompanying the award - the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service – highlights Wuest’s work to strengthen DoD’s nuclear survivability posture and his role as executive secretary for the Defense Science Board Task…

Purpose and sacrifice mark offsite assignment

When Daryl Boyer was asked to lend his technical expertise to help shape the future of the U.S. nuclear deterrent, he knew it meant relocating to Omaha, Nebraska, without his parents and children. But the challenge called him and the timing was right. He acted decisively. Boyer is an LLNL engineer on assignment to the Global Strike Capabilities Division of the U.S…

The art of shaping experimental design

A team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers was honored with the Neill Griffiths Award this month, recognizing the most significant contribution to shaped charge technology. The award was presented at the annual International Symposium on Ballistics.The research helped solve a challenge Shell International Exploration and Production faced: how to…

These space rocks could save the planet

The box was inconspicuous, but Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) postdoctoral researcher Megan Bruck Syal immediately knew its contents: two meteorites around the size of walnuts. They formed about 4.6 billion years ago and survived a history of violent collisions in the asteroid belt before being bumped into a near-Earth-object orbit by gravitational…

Event honors 20 years of Stockpile Stewardship

The proven success of the Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) – which pushed the limits of modern science and engineering by requiring the transition from explosive nuclear weapons testing to what is effectively virtual nuclear testing – was celebrated Wednesday at a half-day public event hosted by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)…

Labs tap Silicon Valley to bolster computing

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory today announced the awarding of a subcontract to Penguin Computing — a leading developer of high-performance Linux cluster computing systems based in Silicon Valley — to bolster computing for stockpile stewardship at its three national security laboratories. Under the terms of…

From grassland to 21st century science

Sixty years ago, the UC Radiation Laboratory began testing high explosives at what would become one of the nation’s most sophisticated non-nuclear weapons testing sites, an 11 square-mile plot of rural grassland tucked away in the steep ravines and tawny rolling hills near the Alameda-San Joaquin County line.On Thursday, Site 300 celebrated its 60th anniversary, with a…

Laboratory's role in underground explosives tests will help nation's detection capabilities

A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) team played a leading role in fielding the recent Source Physics Experiment (SPE-4 Prime) detonated at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The SPE tests, including the most recent one on May 21, consist of a series of seven underground, high-explosive field tests in hard rock that are designed to improve the United…

Lara Leininger named director of Laboratory's Energetic Materials Center

Lara Leininger has been selected to lead Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Energetic Materials Center (EMC).Created 25 years ago, the EMC’s mission is to integrate state-of-the-art capabilities in high explosives, propellants, thermites and pyrotechnics for the benefit of the Stockpile Stewardship Program and other National Nuclear Security Administration…

Lawrence Livermore scientist develops uncrackable code for nuclear weapons

Mark Hart, a scientist and engineer in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Defense Technologies Division, has been awarded the 2015 Surety Transformation Initiative (STI) Award from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Enhanced Surety Program.The STI award aims to stimulate and encourage the development of potentially transformational nuclear…