Skip to main content

The Quality of Science and Engineering at the NNSA National Security Laboratories (2013) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

2 Nuclear Weapons Design
Pages 13-18

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 13...
... The design codes used by the weapons design community in the past -- largely developed and deployed at LANL and LLNL -- have been extensively validated by a variety of physics experiments and by comparison with data obtained from actual weapons tests (both above and below ground)
Read the entire page →
From page 14...
... In addition to weapon designers, the SSP requires systems engineers, the development of understanding of the effects of aging on existing weapons, a vibrant science base to provide the needed data, and the development of higher-fidelity design codes. The fundamental idea of the SSP was to systematically upgrade phenomenological models that required calibration from full nuclear tests, moving to higher-fidelity models based to an increasingly greater degree on improved understanding of the fundamental physics and which, therefore, do not depend as much (ideally, not at all)
Read the entire page →
From page 15...
... Under test conditions the behavior of solid materials is similar to liquids, hence the term ‘hydrodynamic.' These large scale hydrodynamic experiments utilize test assemblies that are representative of nuclear weapons but with the fissile material in an actual weapon altered or replaced with surrogates." The NNSA Quarterly SSP Experiment Summary-FY12-2Q (Final) further defines: "Subcritical Experiments: High explosive driven experiments to obtain information critical to certifying weapons performance in the absence of underground testing while still employing nuclear materials.
Read the entire page →
From page 16...
... HUMAN RESOURCES AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS DESIGN CAPABILITIES Current Design Capabilities Nuclear weapon design capabilities at the NNSA national security laboratories extend beyond the expensive facilities and extensive S&E research base to include the people who maintain the ability to apply these impressive tools to national defense issues. This critical laboratory resource consists of trained, qualified, and experienced personnel.
Read the entire page →
From page 17...
... The perpetual maintenance of a cadre of experienced nuclear weapon designers is no easy task, but is the central responsibility of nuclear weapons laboratory management. One suggested approach to preserving high capability and competence for weapons design is to consider operational exercises to test nuclear weapon design capabilities in a process that mimics the phase 1 and phase 2 process used to develop the current stockpile.
Read the entire page →
From page 18...
... Because such global nuclear security issues are of increasing importance, the laboratories are challenged to maintain or re-establish design capabilities from the past that may not be relevant to the modern U.S. nuclear stockpile.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • design capabilities
  • design codes
  • nuclear weapon
  • experimental work
  • phenomenological models

  • weapon designers
  • stockpile stewardship
  • field office
  • weapon design
  • design community

  • hazardous materials
  • nuclear security
  • nuclear stockpile
  • design physics
  • weapons designs

  • nuclear devices
  • nuclear tests
  • weapons designers
  • design code
  • nnsa national

  • security laboratories
  • armed services
  • driven experiments
  • siegfried hecker
  • safety risks

  • house armed
  • underground testing
  • implosion experiments
  • services committee
  • stewardship program


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.