Big projects could threaten weapons labs` research base
Every few seconds, a mushroom cloud explodes on Paul Cunningham`s Computer screen. The unsettling image is a screen saver in the office of the chief of nuclear materials and stockpile management at Los Alamos National Laboratory - and a wry reminder of the radical changes underway at the three US weapons labs. Now that the US has renounced underground nuclear testing, simulations are becoming the weapons designers chief tool for ensuring that the nuclear arsenal is reliable. The new approach to testing, stockpile stewardship, has triggered a fierce debate within the defense community. At issue is how to keep a balance between financing such new and costly stewardship projects as the $1.1 billion National Ignition Facility, which will simulate the conditions of nuclear detonation, and maintaining a critical mass of experienced weapons designers. This artical describes the debate and funding and political problems which go with it.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 377230
- Journal Information:
- Science, Vol. 272, Issue 5265; Other Information: PBD: 24 May 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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