After nearly 60 years of service to DOE, NNSA and Sandia, a facility atop Mount Haleakalā on the island of Maui, Hawaii, has been retired. Crews completed demolition and clean-up activities at the facility in March. The site, which sits at an elevation of 10,300 feet above sea level, was used for telemetry operations that provided high-altitude tracking for tests conducted from Sandia’s Kauai Test Facility.
Chuck Loeber spent 50 years working in the nuclear weapons complex, with the last 20 as an employee and consultant at Sandia. He helped stand up neutron generator manufacturing in the 1990s and oriented a generation of new hires to Sandia and its responsibilities, teaching the popular History of the Nuclear Weapons Complex courses at the Labs and writing a well-known book on the subject. He died on May 10.
Sandia is using a phased approach to return to normal operations over the coming months, while continuing maximum telework as much as possible.
In early March at Sandia’s Tonopah Test Range, two flight tests were part of a full-weapon system demonstration to verify that the refurbished B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb is compatible with the U.S. Air Force’s F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet. The final compatibility test was a culmination of years of work that included ground testing and computer simulations as well as flight tests.
Last year, we celebrated Sandia’s 70th birthday with pride, honoring the Labs’ response to seven decades of challenges. At the time, we had no idea of the dramatic world events that would be in store for us in year 71. Labs photojournalist Randy Montoya captures Sandians at work under the restrictions imposed by COVID-19.
This spring, Labs researchers anticipate Sandia becoming one of the first DOE laboratories to receive the newest A64FX Fujitsu processor, a Japanese Arm-based processor optimized for high-performance computing.
When Sandia’s Albuquerque campus shifted predominantly to telework in consonance with the New Mexico governor’s stay-at-home order, it added a whole new level of complexity and pressure to Sandia's Mobile Guardian Transport project team. Faced with the challenge, they found new ways to work together while staying safe from COVID-19.
Crews working on the Eubank gate project have been taking advantage of light traffic to expedite the construction schedule.
Amid the challenges New Mexico is facing, 40 outstanding young professionals are bringing enormous optimism to the state — and four Sandia leaders are a part of that cohort. Jim Cleary, Emily Gaffney, Bernadette Gallegos and Johnathon Huff have joined the ranks of Albuquerque Business First’s 40 Under Forty honorees, recognized for their professional achievement, leadership and the critical roles they play in the community.
Sandia researchers have identified a straightforward change to the formula for radiation-detecting plastic. The change prevents “fogging,” which reduces the lifetime of the plastics used to detect nuclear material transiting through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s radiation detectors.