Department of Energy FY 2012 Congressional ... - The FIRE Place

Engineering Campaign
As a design agency for the stockpile, LANL is focused on engineering-based development in support of
the enduring stockpile. Also LANL provides the nuclear security enterprise with modern tools and
capabilities in engineering sciences and technologies to ensure the safety, security, reliability, and
performance of the current and future U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and a sustained basis for stockpile
certification. Moreover, LANL supports all four of the Engineering Campaign subprogram activities,
and they are as follows:
• Enhanced Surety: The enhanced surety subprogram continues to provide R&D in Multi-Point Safety
options specifically with regards to material compatibility, high explosive (HE) response, and other
tests and evaluations. The LANL also supports the Enhanced Collaboration with the United
Kingdom.
• Weapon Systems Engineering Assessment Technology (WSEAT): The WSEAT will continue to
characterize the as-built stress state of a high-fidelity HE system to support current LEPs and the
development of modern baselines for all weapon systems.
• Nuclear Survivability: For the nuclear survivability subprogram, the primary focus will be the
acceleration of the development and modernization of nuclear survivability assessment tools and
technologies required to support upcoming LEPs, alterations, and modifications per the Production
and Planning Directive. Modernization of survivability assessment tools will enable the laboratory
to take full advantage of advances in materials science and other areas in order to improve reliability
and performance at reduced costs while ensuring survivability in radiation environments. The
research and development will also exercise the nuclear survivability assessment capabilities and
help to develop the next generation of analysts.
• Enhanced Surveillance: The enhanced surveillance subprogram performs selected studies in support
of the annual assessment process for the nuclear weapons designed by LANL in the current active
stockpile. In addition, LANL conducts new materials evaluations and material aging studies for
certain weapon systems in the active stockpile. There are additional efforts ongoing in support of
the lifetime evaluation of selected nuclear explosive packages (NEPs) including specific components
of interest to the weapons community.
Inertial Confinement Fusion Ignition and High Yield (ICF) Campaign
The ICF Campaign provides quantitative experimental data (in the High Energy Density (HED) regime)
and the physical underpinning needed for validation of advanced modeling required in nuclear weapons
certification. It participates in the pursuit of laboratory ignition through utilizing unique Los Alamos
scientific and technological capabilities. Also, LANL is a key contributor to the design, construction,
and implementation of diagnostics for the NIF.
Los Alamos’ major emphasis is to support the National Ignition Campaign developing theoretical target
designs and advanced ignition diagnostics for the experiments at the NIF, Z and other HED facilities
across the Weapons Enterprise.
Los Alamos National Laboratory Page 505
FY 2012 Congressional Budget