U.S. Lab to Conduct Nuclear Explosion Simulation

The U.S. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California plans next summer to conduct a three-dimensional simulated explosion of an aging nuclear weapon, according to Reuters (see GSN, Nov. 12).

The simulation will be performed by the BlueGene/L supercomputer, which is set to be fully operational by April, according to Reuters. At its peak performance of 360 trillion calculations per second, the simulation will take two to four months, laboratory officials said. The same simulation conducted 10 years ago would have taken 60,000 years, Reuters reported.

With the United States agreeing under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty not to test live atomic weapons, the simulation is meant to help determine whether decades-old nuclear missiles would operate correctly today, according to Reuters.

“My job ... is to ensure that the nuclear weapons in the stockpile are safe and reliable,” said Bruce Goodwin, associate laboratory director for defense and nuclear technologies. “Safe means no matter what you do to them they don’t go off when they are not supposed to. Reliable means that should the president ever have to use one, it will work exactly as it is supposed to” (Reuters/New York Times, Dec. 22).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.