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Global Security
Lab’s technology on board James Webb Space Telescope
Last month, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, revealed unprecedented and detailed views of the universe, with the release of its first full-color images and spectroscopic data. The cosmic objects that Webb targeted for these first observations were released July 12 and are available on the…
An open-source, data-science toolkit for energy GridDS
As of 2020, 102.9 million smart meters — devices that record and communicate electric consumption, voltage and current to consumers and grid operators — have been installed in the United States. As the number of smart meters and the demand for energy is expected to increase by 50 percent by 2050, so will the amount of data those smart meters produce. While energy standards…
Breaking down the barriers in all solid-state batteries
Solid electrolytes may overcome key technological hurdles associated with the narrow electrochemical and thermal stability of conventional lithium (Li)-ion and sodium (Na)-ion batteries. However, many solid electrolytes — ceramics in particular — also suffer from poor cycling issues and limitations in their ability to efficiently transport ions. These limitations often…
Lab researchers and collaborators to develop new vaccine against three biothreat pathogens
Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and three other institutions are seeking to develop a multi-pathogen vaccine that will protect against three bacterial biothreat pathogens. Led by LLNL, the team includes disease experts from the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNMHSC), the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med)…
Lab’s ACT-UP awards focus on collaborative university research
With a focus on increasing joint research efforts between Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and universities, the Lab’s Weapon Physics and Design (WPD) Academic Collaboration Team University Program (ACT-UP) has presented this year’s ACT-UP awards. Now in its third year, the ACT-UP awards were created to encourage and advance strategic partnerships among universities…
International delegation of military women, CGSR exchange knowledge on emerging security issues
An all-female group of senior military officers from 12 nations recently visited the Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to share information and expertise regarding current perspectives, research and technology in areas affecting global security. The visit was part of the 2021 Halifax Peace with Women fellowship, a…
Playing it safe: LLNL scientist creates energetic compounds with isotopic labels
Ana Racoveanu is able to do something most others throughout the nuclear security enterprise cannot do — something challenging and extremely valuable throughout the complex. Racoveanu, a staff scientist in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Materials Science Division, is able to synthesize energetic compounds with isotopic labels. The primary goal of this work is to…
LLNL researchers garner three awards among top 100 industrial inventions
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers have collected three awards among the top 100 industrial inventions worldwide. The trade journal R&D World Magazine announced the winners of the awards, often called the “Oscars of invention,” during a three-day virtual ceremony — Oct. 19-21 — and on the magazine’s website. With this year’s results,…
Nuclear weapons technology for a new generation of policymakers
Policymaking for nuclear security requires a strong grasp of the associated technical matters. That grasp came naturally in the early decades of the nuclear era, when scientists and engineers were deeply engaged in policymaking. Yet in the last few decades, the scientists and engineers who conceived, built and executed the programs that created the existing U.S. nuclear…
Making it count: Rebuilding infrastructure at the Nuclear Counting Facility
When Daniel Martin put the finishing touches on an autonomous vehicle robot, complete with an ultrasonic sensor to detect and evade obstacles, he knew he wanted to become an engineer. A high school student at the time, he was fascinated by the design and functionality of robots. Fast forward several years, and Martin is now a second-year electrical engineering Ph.D…
Just how big was the 2020 Beirut explosion?
On Aug. 4, 2020, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history pulverized a Beirut port and damaged more than half the city. The explosion resulted from the detonation of tons of ammonium nitrate, a combustible chemical compound commonly used in agriculture as a high-nitrate fertilizer, but which can also be used to manufacture explosives. Since that time, the…
Late-time small-body disruptions can protect the Earth
If an asteroid is determined to be on an Earth-impacting trajectory, scientists typically want to stage a deflection, where the asteroid is gently nudged by a relatively small change in velocity, while keeping the bulk of the asteroid together. A kinetic impactor or a standoff nuclear explosion can achieve a deflection. However, if the warning time is too short to stage a…
Lab garners five technology commercialization grants
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers have posted another banner year securing major grants through the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). “I think the Laboratory did very well again, reflecting a variety of types and approaches to our research and development projects,” said Rich Rankin, the director of…
R-cubed: Revolutionizing the present, anticipating the future
The Post-Detonation Rapid Response Research Venture — also known as R-cubed or R3 — is combining basic research and development of emergent technologies, predictive capabilities and systems assessment to revolutionize the speed and flexibility of technical nuclear forensic (TNF) response to nuclear events. The venture is a multi-laboratory collaboration led by Lawrence…
Lawrence Livermore develops promising antidote for nerve agent exposure
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a new, versatile antidote to counteract exposure to nerve agent poisoning. The work, appearing in the journal Scientific Reports, was the result of a highly iterative process built in collaboration between LLNL’s Global Security Directorate, its Forensic Science Center and the U.S. Army Medical…
The institutional response to 9/11 – with 'our track shoes on'
Editor's note: The following is part of a series of articles looking back at the Lab's response immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks and our contributions since that day 20 years ago. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) “response” to the tragic events on Sept. 11, 2001, actually began in July 1992 with the formation of the Nonproliferation, Arms Control…
NARAC at forefront in a post-9/11 world
Editor’s note: The following is part of a series of articles looking back at the Lab's response immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks and our contributions since that day 20 years ago. From keeping Americans safe at national events to assisting with international disasters, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center …
How BASIS grew into the BioWatch system
Editor's note: The following is part of a series of articles looking back at the Lab's response immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks and our contributions since that day 20 years ago. Less than a month after 9/11, 14 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) employees received calls at their homes at 1 a.m. on a Saturday morning (Oct. 6, 2001) and were asked to…
Diagnostic capability allows scientists to create X-ray movies
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are working on a new diagnostic capability that will provide, for the first time, the ability to make X-ray radiographic movies. The first experiment testing the principle, dubbed the Bipolar Reset Experiment (BIRX), was conducted at LLNL’s Flash X-Ray (FXR) deep-penetration radiographic facility at Site 300. The…
Lawrence Livermore team captures data from unarmed Minuteman III test launch
A team from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) successfully collected data from the recent operational test of an Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The purpose of the ICBM test launch program is to validate and verify the safety, security, effectiveness and…
