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Nuclear deterrence
Modernizing high-explosives manufacturing
For decades, manufacturing plastic-bonded high explosives, or PBXs, has relied on legacy processes like slurry coating. In this method, explosive crystals are mixed with a binder, a polymer that helps hold the material together, to form small granules called prills. Those prills are then pressed into dense explosive parts. This process is difficult to control, inefficient…
NNSA, LLNL officials celebrate completion of critical Lab digital infrastructure upgrade
Officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) celebrated the completion of the Digital Infrastructure Capability Expansion (DICE) facility on June 9, marking a major milestone in a decade-long effort to modernize one of the Lab’s most critical infrastructure systems. The 13,000-square-foot facility,…
LLNL helps advance AI-driven design and simulation for NNSA Aires Tide collaboration
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is contributing AI-enabled payload optimization and advanced modeling and simulation expertise to Aires Tide, a collaborative National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) demonstration exploring new ways to design flight test vehicles. Developed in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National…
Research sheds new light on laser polarization effects in NIF experiments
Experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) require breathtaking precision. Each of the 192 lasers is focused to a width of a few millimeters to enter a 3-millimeter hole at the top or bottom of a 2-centimeter gold canister known as a hohlraum. As they enter, the beams intersect in plasma and transfer power, a process known as…
Meet the machines that matter: the Flash X-Ray
At your dentist's office, an X-ray machine fires a brief pulse of radiation, enough to find a cavity. Now imagine scaling that concept up by billions, producing a flash powerful enough to see through more than a foot of solid steel and capture a stop-motion image of an explosive experiment in progress. That's the Flash X-Ray machine, or FXR, at Lawrence Livermore National…
Meet the machines that matter: How El Capitan keeps its cool
LLNL tackles the nation’s toughest security challenges through bold, multidisciplinary science powered by advanced facilities and instruments. In this four-part series, meet the machines that work behind the scenes at the Laboratory to drive discovery, push boundaries and enable excellence. From inspecting optics and trapping ions to cooling supercomputers and detecting…
Site 300 marks 70 years with employee appreciation event, open house
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) marked Site 300’s 70th anniversary in May with two events celebrating the Experimental Test Site’s history, mission and people: an Employee Appreciation Day and a family-focused open house. Although Site 300 reached its 70-year milestone last fall, celebrations were delayed due to a lapse in federal government funding. The…
Meet the machines that matter: the Electron Beam Ion Trap
Imagine listening to an orchestra: overlapping notes, blended timbres and complex harmonies coming together into a cohesive symphony. Now try to isolate a single instrument and the sounds it produces. Nearly impossible, right? The same is true for collections of ions, charged particles that have gained or lost electrons. Each ion — from hydrogen to lithium to lead and…
Roll the tape: LLNL captures inception of hydrogen-uranium reaction for the first time
When hydrogen gas interacts with uranium metal, the combination creates a chemically reactive powder and a runaway reaction that is difficult to stop. The result can impact the safety and lifespan of technology critical for fusion energy, hydrogen storage and nuclear fuels. In a recent study published in npj Materials Degradation, researchers from Lawrence Livermore…
Michael May, visionary LLNL director and arms control leader, dies at 100
Michael M. May, the fifth director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and a pioneering physicist who shaped the nation’s nuclear deterrence strategy and arms control policy for more than half a century, died on May 17. He was 100. A World War II veteran, theoretical physicist, and trusted scientific adviser to multiple U.S. administrations, May’s influence…
Meet the machines that matter: the Optics Inspector
LLNL tackles the nation’s toughest security challenges through bold, multidisciplinary science powered by advanced facilities and instruments. In this new series, meet the machines that work behind the scenes at the Laboratory to drive discovery, push boundaries and enable excellence. From inspecting optics and trapping ions to cooling supercomputers and detecting…
Big Ideas Lab explores how the Genesis Mission aims to accelerate scientific discovery
Scientific discovery has always moved through a familiar cycle: question, hypothesis, experiment and a result. In the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab podcast, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) explores how the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Genesis Mission aims to accelerate that process by uniting AI, high-performance computing (HPC), experiments and the…
LLNL showcases AI-enabled science, national security and energy innovation at AI+ Expo
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) leaders, scientists and engineers joined national voices at the Special Competitive Studies Project’s (SCSP) AI+ Expo May 7-9 in Washington, D.C., highlighting how AI is reshaping science, security and energy innovation. The public Expo brought together government, industry, academic and Department of Energy (DOE) national…
LLNL experts help advance inertial fusion energy at U.S. IFE conference
Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) joined their counterparts from national laboratories, universities, industry and government in a conference last month to discuss the progress, challenges and priorities for moving toward an inertial fusion energy (IFE) future in the United States. The U.S. IFE conference brought together the growing IFE…
Looking into the void to cancel out material instabilities
Picture two materials sandwiched together. The boundary between them may appear flat, but, in reality, it is full of tiny bumps and dents. Suddenly, the materials are hit with a shockwave. If that wave hits a bump in the material interface, it slows down. If it hits a dent, it accelerates forward. This imbalance creates fast, narrow jets of material — called the Richtmyer…
Weapons Physics & Design ACT awards drive university partnerships and research
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has announced five research teams selected for awards through the Lab’s FY26 Academic Collaboration Team (ACT) annual call for proposals. Awards support university research partners for up to three years to perform research in collaboration with Lab scientists and offer an important way to build long-term connections with…
All 50 episodes of the Big Ideas Lab now available on LLNL podcast page
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Big Ideas Lab podcast marks a new milestone with the release of its 50th episode. The latest episode, delving into high-performance computing for energy innovation, can be found alongside the entire series on the new LLNL podcast page. Since its debut in September 2024, the Big Ideas Lab has aimed to rethink how science…
LLNL partners with Inertia to develop fusion energy technology
Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are partnering with San Francisco Bay Area fusion energy startup Inertia Enterprises Inc. to advance fusion laser technology, as well as inertial fusion target manufacturing and designs. This collaboration is an expansive and integrated private sector-led partnership, unique in the history of LLNL and the DOE…
NNSA and LLNL advance laser upgrade for nuclear stockpile mission ahead of schedule
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have approved a path forward for a project that will increase the laser energy available to the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This advancement was expedited by key regulatory changes made in March 2025 by U.S. Secretary of Energy…
Cryogenic micro-calorimetry offers a novel material-dating method for nuclear forensics and safeguards
The moment nuclear material is produced, processed or purified, it sets off a hidden countdown, marked by the half-life of its radioactive atoms as they begin to decay. For scientists tracking the origins of these substances, decoding this natural clock is crucial for verifying material histories in support of global security efforts. In a new study published in the…
