WASHINGTON — The science and engineering capabilities that underpin the nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship and nonproliferation missions at the nation's three national security laboratories are "healthy and vibrant," says a new report from the National Research Council. The committee that wrote the report found no problems with the quality of science and engineering that would prevent certification of the stockpile. However, the report identifies several issues that, if not addressed, have the potential to erode the ability to perform high-quality work at the laboratories.
Congress asked the Research Council to review the quality of scientific research and engineering at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), which are part of the National Nuclear Security Administration. This report is the second of the two-phase study; the first report, released in February 2012, examined management of the laboratories.
The new report examines the laboratories' capabilities in four areas of fundamental importance to their primary missions: (1) weapons design; (2) system engineering and understanding of the effects of aging on system performance; (3) weapons science base; and (4) modeling and simulation. In many areas, science and engineering at the laboratories is of very high quality. But the report identifies several stresses that could contribute to the deterioration of the work environment for scientists and engineers and limit the quality of their work in the future – and thus the nation's ability to benefit fully from the laboratories' potential.
The United States declared a unilateral moratorium on nuclear weapons testing in 1992. In the absence of new test data, the science-based stockpile stewardship program relies on pre-moratorium test data, computer models and simulations, surveillance, and other experiments . The laboratories are building enhanced computational models that account for changes in weapon properties as they age, and this requires state-of-the-art S&E capabilities in a number of areas, the report says. NNSA should conduct a detailed assessment of simulation and modeling needs over the next decade and implement an adequately funded plan to meet those needs.
Experimental work is essential to the laboratories' missions. While the safety risks inherent in some experimentation must be controlled, the report says that the current system for managing these risks is contributing to escalating costs and schedule delays, and in some cases may limit experimentation. The U.S. Department of Energy and NNSA should work with laboratory managers to review the system for assessing and mitigating these risks to improve efficiency while maintaining a safe working environment.
The laboratories maintain and operate world-class experimental facilities, but smaller experimental facilities are also essential for the laboratories to conduct their work and to attract and retain staff, the report says. For example, these smaller facilities are important for producing weapons components such as neutron generators or for processing plutonium and evaluating how it ages. The laboratory directors should ensure a proper balance between these small scientific facilities and the larger signature facilities.
The study was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are private, independent nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter granted to NAS in 1863. The Research Council is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. For more information, visit http://national-academies.org. A committee roster follows.
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NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences Laboratory Assessments Board
Committee to Review the Quality of the Management and of the Science and Engineering Research at the Department of Energy National Security Laboratories – Phase 2
C. Kumar Patel1,2 (co-chair)
President and CEO
Pranalytica Inc.
Santa Monica, California
Charles Shank1,2 (co-chair)
Senior Fellow
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Janelia Farm Research Campus
Ashburn, Virginia
John Ahearne2
Executive Director Emeritus
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
Christina Back
Advanced Nuclear Materials Leader
General Atomics
San Diego, California
Phillip Colella1
Senior Mathematician and Group Leader
Applied Numerical Algorithms Group
E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley, California
Jill Dahlburg
Superintendent
Space Sciences Division
Naval Research Laboratory
Washington, District of Columbia
Roger Falcone
Professor of Physics
Department of Physics
University of California
Berkeley, California
Yogendra Gupta
Director, Institute of Shock Physics
and
Regents, Professor
Department of Physics
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington
Wick Haxton1
Professor of Physics
Department of Physics
University of California
Berkeley, California
Michael Hopkins
Professor
Department of Chemistry
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Raymond Jeanloz1
Professor of Earth and Planetary Science and Astronomy
University of California
Berkeley, California
John Kammerdiener
Independent Consultant
Marble Falls, Texas
William Martin
Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences
Department of Nuclear Engineering
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Margaret Murnane1
Professor of Physics and Fellow
Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics
University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Robert Nickell2
President
Applied Science and Technology
San Diego, California
Kenneth Peddicord
Professor of Nuclear Engineering, and
Director, Nuclear Power Institute
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
Paul Peercy2
Dean Emeritus
College of Engineering
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Anthony Rollett
Professor and Head
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Robert Rosner
William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Professor
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Robert Selden
Independent Consultant
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Kenneth Shea
Professor
Chemistry Department
University of California
Irvine, California
Francis Sullivan
Director
Super Computing Center
Center for Computing Sciences
Institute for Defense Analyses
Bowie, Maryland
Gary Was
Professor
Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Katherine Yelick
Associate Laboratory Director of Computer Sciences Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and
Professor, Electrical Engineering and
Computer Sciences
Computer Science Division
University of California
Berkeley, California
STAFF
Alan Shaw
Study Director
Scott Weidman
Responsible Staff Officer
1 Member, National Academy of Sciences
2 Member, National Academy of Engineering
3 Member, Institute of Medicine