Carbon-iron-cobalt fuel cell catalyst tested
Metal aggregates encapsulated in graphite, onion-like carbon shells. LANL illustration.In a paper published in the journal Science, researchers Gang Wu, Christina Johnston, and Piotr Zelenay of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, together with Karren More of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, described the use of platinum-free catalysts in a hydrogen fuel cell.
The new carbon-iron-cobalt catalysts described yielded high power output, good efficiency, and promising longevity, said Piotr Zelenay, the research team leader, on the basis of several hundred hours of fuel cell operation. (Full Story)
NNSA, U.S. Air Force partner on flight test of W78 JTA
Test launch of Minuteman III missile.The National Nuclear Security Administration, working with the U.S. Air Force, has conducted a W78 Joint Test Assembly (JTA) flight test from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The JTA includes a telemetry system, which collects and transmits data on the warhead. Data is fed into a reliability model developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories to evaluate warhead reliability. (Full story)
Rock of ages
White Rock's "White Rock" displaying a decidedly lavender birthday greeting. ABQ Journal photo.Richard "Mouser" Williams, a Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist specializing in nuclear materials safeguards, and Robb Hermes, who is retired from the lab, decided two months ago to find out how deep the "White Rock" White Rock paint layers go. They sledgehammered a metal pipe into the face of the rock until it couldn’t move any farther. (Subscription or viewing an ad required to see full story)
A new normal in drought, fire
Nate McDowell testifying before a Congressional committee. LANL photo.Up Front Column: Nate McDowell, a brilliant Los Alamos National Laboratory forest ecologist ... usually spends his time quietly tending to patches of woods, carefully measuring moisture stress to try to understand how drought kills trees. But these days, nature is getting out ahead of the questions McDowell and the forest scientists he works with are able to ask. "It’s hotter now. It is drier now. There’s less humidity," McDowell told me. (Subscription or viewing an ad required to see full story)
LANL completes critical flood and erosion control work
Heavy equipment removes sediment from Los Alamos Canyon, behind a structure called a weir. LANL photo.Los Alamos National Laboratory work crews over the weekend installed 600 feet of water diversion barriers and removed more than 1,200 cubic yards of sediment in anticipation of flash flooding because of damage from the Las Conchas Fire.
It’s the first phase of additional work to help stabilize canyons that run through LANL property and minimize the ability of floodwaters to stir up trace levels of Cold War-era contaminants in canyon bottoms. (Subscription required to see full story)
Salazar recommends Manhattan Project national park
LANL’s V-Site Restoration Project won the 2008 National Trust/Advisory Council on Historical Preservation's Award for Federal Partnerships in Historic Preservation.LOS ALAMOS, N.M. -- U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is recommending that Congress establish a national historical park to commemorate the top-secret World War II Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. (Full story)
Lab director thanks community
See the full ad here! See many other Las Conchas Fire images on LANL’s Flickr page
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