Annual Sandia simulation strengthens emergency response
Scores of Labs employees in Albuquerque, joined by outside emergency response personnel, were immersed in a simulated crisis April 17 as part of the annual emergency management full-scale exercise.
New lab offers mobile testing for devices that turn ocean waves into electricity
A new Labs facility — the Sandia Wave Energy Power Take-Off (SWEPT) Lab — offers mobile, specialized testing for systems that produce power from wave energy. Marine and hydrokinetic technologies convert the energy of waves, tides and river and ocean currents into electricity, creating the potential to provide millions with locally sourced, renewable and reliable energy.
W80-4 Life Extension Program achieves major milestone
The W80-4 Life Extension Program achieved a major milestone last month when the joint DOE and Department of Defense Nuclear Weapons Council approved the program to enter Phase 6.3, development engineering. The approval follows multiple briefings by the W80-4 leadership team to program stakeholders at NNSA headquarters and the Pentagon.
Process modernization
Modernizing the nuclear deterrent also means modernizing the weapon development process. To this end, Sandia and the Kansas City National Security Campus have established the New Product Introduction initiative. By integrating lessons learned from past weapons programs and industry best practices into the existing process, NPI can help enhance the security, reliability and performance of the nation’s nuclear deterrent.
CALLING GAMERS: Future nuclear security experts train with Sandia-designed game
The next generation of nuclear security experts is being trained in an exciting new way — by playing a first-of-its-kind war game Sandia helped design. The game, Signal, which goes online this spring after its launch as a board game last year, offers players a chance to make strategic decisions using modern political, economic and military tools.
Hear ye, hear ye: open call for algae
To make algae biofuels more competitive with petroleum, growers must increase productivity and keep their ponds from crashing. That’s why Sandia and partners are inviting participants to help in the search for the toughest algae strains and most innovative farming techniques.
EXERCISE: Drone attack, pipe bomb put Sandia to the test
Sandia/California’s medical staff and Protective Force were put to the test last month during a simulated attack involving a drone and a pipe bomb. The exercise also tested the emergency alert system used to notify members of the workforce.
Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe visits Sandia
Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe, director of Strategic Systems Programs for the Navy, visited Sandia last week and formally recognized Sandia and its staff for their key role in the development and production of the W76-1/Mk4A Life Extension Program.
Creating the Future
Experts inside and outside the Labs have spent the last 15 months examining complex questions in an effort to develop Sandia's new Creating the Future strategic direction document, and Labs-level strategic priorities.
Heat it and read it
Thanks to the addition of a heating element, Sandia's SpinDx can now perform both protein and nucleic acid tests to identify nearly any cause of illness, including viruses, bacteria, toxins or immune system markers of chemical agent exposure.