Los Alamos Press Highlights

This bomb-simulating US supercomputer broke a world record

Brad Settlemyer had a supercomputing solution in search of a problem. Los Alamos National Lab, where Settlemyer works as a research scientist, hosts the Trinity supercomputer—a machine that regularly makes the internet’s (ever-evolving) Top 10 Fastest lists. As large as a Midwestern McMansion, Trinity’s main job is to ensure that the cache of US nuclear weapons works when it’s supposed to, and doesn’t when it’s not.

The supercomputer doesn’t dedicate all its digital resources to stockpile stewardship, though. During its nuclear downtime, it also does fundamental research. (Full Story)
 

Inside a nuclear inspector school: How I went on the hunt for uranium

Nuclear inspectors learn to identify radioactive samples, LANL photo.

It was a blisteringly hot morning when I reported to Los Alamos National Laboratory for nuclear inspector school. The lab is the old home of the Manhattan Project, the secret effort to develop the first nuclear weapons. It sits atop a mesa north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, isolated by geography and security checkpoints.

Credentials checked, I was driven down “Plutonium Corridor,” a main road that passes a building encased in five layers of barbed fencing. It is where they design and maintain nuclear bombs. Elsewhere, LANL trains nuclear inspectors detect plutonium and enriched uranium – the hallmarks of nuclear weapon-building programmes. (Full Story)

NASA Glenn develops mini nuclear reactor to power space missions

NASA engineers test the Kilopower unit, NASA photo.

While nuclear power in Ohio heads into the sunset, NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland has developed a portable nuclear energy system for outer space.

The KRUSTy experiment, or “Kilowatt Reactor Using Stirling Technology,” is a tongue-in-cheek reference to The Simpson’s chain-smoking Krusty the Clown.

An earlier experiment called the Duff test – a nod Homer’s favorite beer – paved the way for KRUSTy, according to Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Patrick McClure.

"Duff actually convinced NASA and gave them enough confidence that we could do the more expensive Krusty experiment and we actually had a chance of success,” McClure says. (Full Story)

Feeding plants to this algae could fuel your car

Algae is examined under UV light, LANL photo.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and partner institutions recently provided the first published report of algae using raw plants as a carbon energy source. The research shows that a freshwater production strain of microalgae, Auxenochlorella protothecoides, is capable of directly degrading and utilizing non-food plant substrates, such as switchgrass, for improved cell growth and lipid productivity, useful for boosting the algae’s potential value as a biofuel. (Full Story)

Promising LANL innovations take spotlight

From left, Antonio Redondo, Feynman Center for Innovation; Nancy Jo Nicholas, PADGS; Bette Korber; Lee Finewood of DOE NNSA, and Daniel Lockney, NASA technology transfer.  LANL photo.

Los Alamos scientist Bette Korber was recently honored with the 2018 Richard P. Feynman Innovation Prize for her ground-breaking HIV vaccine designs. Korber was recognized at a ceremony that celebrates the “Next Big Idea” – scientific breakthroughs that achieved exceptional innovation.

Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers Laura Lilley and Yuxiang Chen also were recognized for outstanding presentations at DisrupTech — an annual event hosted by Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation at Los Alamos and New Mexico Angels — that offers scientists a platform to present their work to businesses and the community. (Full Story)

Also from the Los Alamos Monitor

Another from the Daily Post this week:

Jaqueline Kiplinger elected Fellow of American Chemical Society

Jaqueline Kiplinger, LANL photo

Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow Jaqueline Kiplinger has been announced as a fellow of the American Chemical Society. She is among 51 new fellows for the nation’s key chemistry organization and is one of only seven from Los Alamos in the laboratory’s 75-year history.

“I am very honored and humbled to be distinguished as an ACS Fellow and to join many great scientists who already hold this lifetime recognition for outstanding achievements in and contributions to science, the profession, and ACS,” Kiplinger said. (Full Story)


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