#: locale=en ## Action ### URL LinkBehaviour_A7F9CCDA_B030_644E_41CB_B2A0570CA01A.source = http://tours.sandia.gov/mantl_info.html LinkBehaviour_A7F9DCDA_B030_644E_41E6_A0632D09F632.source = http://tours.sandia.gov/support.html LinkBehaviour_A7F99CDA_B030_644E_41D5_A8A213F4A42A.source = http://tours.sandia.gov/tours.html LinkBehaviour_A7F9ECDA_B030_644E_41E2_A469BB81079A.source = http://tours.sandia.gov/tours.html ## Hotspot ### Tooltip HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_FE04D457_DD5D_C498_41C9_1056B6E06369.toolTip = A Distinguished Designation HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_CD962F5C_D9E6_20CF_41D1_57021ED65655.toolTip = A Gentlemen’s Agreement HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C7231AE2_FD2B_CDB8_41E2_117C3ABA489A.toolTip = A New Bird HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_FBBBB3B4_DBE2_205F_41E9_D8757738B766.toolTip = A Second Lab HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C0CD3763_FAE5_44B8_41E4_0AF5D5F18044.toolTip = A-Round the Outreach Effort HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_DE4946D3_CB4E_15FD_41CA_D9BE4F96C23A.toolTip = Alternative Energy: Solar Central Receiver Technology HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_DE3209BC_CB46_1FAB_419D_6E3591EEA630.toolTip = Alternative Energy: Solar Distributor Receiver Technology HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_D25D216F_D010_3C46_41CB_7BDD0A7F476E.toolTip = Alternative Energy: Wind HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C5CF5AF0_DD67_4D98_41E3_6C62D5FCE25C.toolTip = Assigned to Lead: Labs Directors HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_DDFDAE1E_CB42_7467_41E2_0366C94397AE.toolTip = Atmospheric Studies HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_D26503D2_D030_3C5E_41E8_7D555C48CC1E.toolTip = Blackhatting HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_DECC728A_FD67_7D88_41DD_CEFBD714D457.toolTip = Breaking Out of Traditional Roles HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_CDF5977D_D9E2_20C9_41D6_77E31F738CDD.toolTip = Bringing In Researchers HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C4C1A79B_FD2D_C388_41E9_84DE23C50BE8.toolTip = Build More HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_FB5DE2BB_DD3C_BD88_41E6_A611AF2A5E99.toolTip = Building Public Relations HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_DEDC3938_FAE4_CC88_41D6_20F362EE906A.toolTip = Can Do HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_A61E83A9_8D09_8EDC_41D1_3E7E2BAEFD04.toolTip = Commentary: Civil Defense HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_A7A20AE8_8D0A_BE5C_41D6_8CE6C25DBB59.toolTip = Commentary: Early Cold War: Grow, Grow, Grow HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_A68A10F1_8D09_8A4C_41D2_DF1629E74BB2.toolTip = Commentary: Establishing the Livermore Site HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9F2B9D1A_8990_7D9C_41DA_85C726FE5DDF.toolTip = Commentary: First Woman to Head a National Security Lab HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9D8731CA_8990_04FC_41C9_5A86DF2D9612.toolTip = Commentary: Gus Simmons HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_91FC551B_8990_0D9C_41D4_41A6AB5BEF82.toolTip = Commentary: Improving Testing: Definition and Analysis HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_91B77369_8990_05BC_41AE_54BD7A003E08.toolTip = Commentary: Operation Deep Freeze HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9F6EB68D_8990_0F74_41B5_C3D01E68A381.toolTip = Commentary: The Voice of Quality HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9EDB9A6C_8990_07B4_41D4_BADBE28AB902.toolTip = Commentary: What’s News? HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_03C96966_0A5E_A22B_41A4_49AD4A846C61.toolTip = Community Giving HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_04B466F3_0A53_AE29_419A_3854D48FE0F6.toolTip = Coronado Club HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_D26343EB_D030_FC4E_41D2_1405B56E21DC.toolTip = Counterterrorism HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_D0A647E1_D070_247A_41E1_3DEEEB984516.toolTip = Counterterrorism: Decontamination Foam HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C5A6AEE7_DD3B_C5B8_41A7_3BED84EDFB05.toolTip = Early Churn HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_ACE8F6D2_B010_E45E_41E5_DF42A30E7FF4.toolTip = Early Tech Transfer HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_205BB65B_37AB_ABFC_41C8_B13C9C48569A.toolTip = Edgewood HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_EA9A4E26_CD42_14A7_41D9_068E995E3D01.toolTip = Energy Programs HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_2D8216EC_37D4_E8D4_41BA_47BB8582B2E8.toolTip = Environmental Test Capability HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C8357C6A_FD3D_4488_41EC_602AB6063921.toolTip = Evolution of the Nuclear Weapons Complex HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_DC3C5C95_CB42_7465_41D6_BD42C4C034FC.toolTip = First Waste into WIPP HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9D5A9E20_89B0_3FAC_41E0_461F067CD66E.toolTip = From Nuclear Test Detection to Sensors for Vietnam HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_98A5E8AB_8D17_9ADC_41C4_43BBB730490D.toolTip = Fun Fact: Computer Speed HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C639B63A_FD6F_C488_41E4_A8DA81651CFF.toolTip = Fun Fact: Exceptional Service in the National Interest HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_055DD741_0A51_AE69_41B6_2465E05DC81E.toolTip = Fun Fact: How Many People Work at Sandia? HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C94885B9_FD65_C788_41EC_FCB9946F878E.toolTip = Fun Fact: Merger HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_D3DE92C4_D070_DCBA_41E1_C7436B30465D.toolTip = Fun Fact: Sultan of Salt HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_AE51FFBB_B010_64CE_41A6_EC6B9F21E122.toolTip = Geothermal Energy HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_CD0C566F_D9E2_20C9_41E7_15E4C8CEE1CB.toolTip = Getting Educated HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_CCA8F626_D9E2_207B_41E7_E75D93E2516D.toolTip = Getting Even More Educated HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9DC73574_8990_0D94_41CA_253EA8D199DC.toolTip = Getting Multidisciplinary HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_CEA32F58_D91E_20D7_41D2_11BCAB460C88.toolTip = Going Underground: Changes in Nuclear Testing HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C7522658_FD64_C488_41D1_3C62C37B189D.toolTip = Growing Pains HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_A1C20149_8D09_8A5C_41D3_8AD33E231C21.toolTip = Growth and Development HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_2E40122E_37B4_6B54_41B9_06976A5B83F2.toolTip = Guns HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C3D8DDCA_FAE5_4788_41E0_0FBD9FEDFA3C.toolTip = Hobbies, Games, and Sports HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_AE575CC6_B010_2446_41D1_B6E36C118FD0.toolTip = Improved Drilling HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9A0B5C35_8B1F_FA34_41DF_ED3B7906523F.toolTip = Keep on Testing; Keep on Testing HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9F8883D0_8990_04EC_41C6_8A5D7FE3CF45.toolTip = Leadership HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C4495DEA_FD7C_C788_41CC_C483BA339A3A.toolTip = Location, Location, Location HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_2CF7EE1C_3654_5B74_41BE_CA3BE95242B6.toolTip = Los Lunas Test Range HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_FAA81919_DD24_CC88_41E6_FC6C89AAFC22.toolTip = Managing the End of the Cold War HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_F8B4DE6F_DD3D_4488_41BC_9E0AD57D94FC.toolTip = Move to Martin Marietta HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C99C0538_FD5D_C488_41E0_FDCD3C2C81EA.toolTip = Off to the Pacific HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_DEBA390B_CB42_1C6D_41E5_E8DD318C03C6.toolTip = Oil Shale HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_D100A4C8_DD2B_4588_41C6_3B0B0B15E134.toolTip = Plowshare HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_FB430AA3_DB22_2079_41E4_EE1B96A86F9C.toolTip = Producing HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_07716D71_2875_3427_4180_5CAD9BFB46E7.toolTip = Rad Hard and the Facilities to Test It HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_279B3974_36AC_59B4_4186_AF292A0E6172.toolTip = Readiness as a Reason (continuing KTF) HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_04B9B5D5_0A51_A269_41A4_118B1B40AE9C.toolTip = Remote Living HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_2584D006_365C_6754_41C5_BEB7F9A1CA9E.toolTip = Rockets at Tonopah HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_02085B2B_2BD7_5C3B_41AF_8F4B62C42A4C.toolTip = Rockets for Dominic (Sandia starts testing on Kauai) HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C9B74D8E_FD65_4788_41A0_95A4A442E337.toolTip = Roots of a New Lab HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_2D4FB6CB_3654_68DC_41CA_AEA3E58DAFCE.toolTip = Salton Sea Test Base HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_CC2B9A46_D922_603B_41E1_904BBE9927BD.toolTip = Sandia California Location HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_FF1E69FE_DD24_CF88_41EB_35CB1EAB2422.toolTip = Sandia Fellows HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C482D2F9_FD67_7D88_41B5_F669683484DD.toolTip = Sandia Laboratory HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_96A4B54A_8B70_0DFC_41D6_331983550C2F.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: 9/11 and Beyond HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_96160940_8B70_05EC_4194_4772F79EED12.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: Cleaning up the Anthrax HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_99CAE5B6_8B70_0C94_41BD_8798E51DC105.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: Deepwater Horizon HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_96888FC1_8B70_1CEC_41DB_BE1975011CFD.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: Defusing Bombs HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_97F7997F_8B70_0594_41DC_28B813777DAC.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: Digging into Nuclear Waste HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_96086B4B_8B70_05FC_41E1_C2E64FB10B23.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: Fukushima HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_998930E3_8B70_04AC_41BD_40043A330F58.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: I Sense a Spin-Off HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_999A28F1_8B70_04AC_41B6_A411856642B0.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: Lightning Investigation HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9947F076_8B70_0394_41DD_AB5ABD4BC032.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: Playing Well with Others HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_99AD5950_8B70_05EC_41C1_054640116B09.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: Space Shuttle Investigation HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_970E9346_8B70_05F4_41C4_839B7E53AE79.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: Strategic Petroleum Reserve HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_96D69536_8B70_0D94_41D0_434413CD930D.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: TWA Flight 800 HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_97ABC809_8B70_037C_41DE_F46755210947.toolTip = Sandia Steps Up: USS Iowa Investigation HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_2D3C0F7C_37D5_D9B4_41B6_42BFF9680C7F.toolTip = Sandia and Testing HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C1DD9322_D926_207B_41E9_D0DB979A27FB.toolTip = Sandia’s Growth HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9FADCA39_8990_079C_41E0_73DC11637150.toolTip = Sandia’s Origins HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_05C0738A_0A76_A6FB_4170_8359F8BAC608.toolTip = Sharing the News HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_FCD077EC_DD2D_4388_41AE_D376DD2EB523.toolTip = Simple and Clear: The Early Contract HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_D7B71237_D926_E059_41BD_E022D5A2CA69.toolTip = Spreading the Clean HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_CC1CF77C_D9E2_20CF_41D0_1FC6D8A15409.toolTip = Standardizing the Clean HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_D2D15C06_D070_EBC6_41AD_B9BDF91B3BE1.toolTip = Stimulating Oil and Gas Well Production HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_A79AC9DC_B030_6C4A_41E3_D62D6C15CF29.toolTip = Stockpile Stewardship HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9E6E2B3E_8D0A_9E34_41DE_AD33381AB109.toolTip = Super-er Computing HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_A7491532_B030_65DE_41DD_5AC1C173647D.toolTip = Supercomputing HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C71EEBC2_DD3C_C3F8_41B6_00BE37DA5DE6.toolTip = Support for Nuclear Testing HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C1841B9D_D962_6049_41E2_B164D5679752.toolTip = Surety HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_AA2BD1AB_B031_FCCE_41D5_86E07EAEC50D.toolTip = Technology Transfer HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_9EDB1EED_8990_3CB4_41B3_E14F2A183E05.toolTip = Testing HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_2219B9C4_3675_D8D4_41C9_6C66E66BA2A6.toolTip = Testing Energy Solutions: Photovoltaics HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_18D5199D_0A71_A219_419C_00AD46334098.toolTip = The Art of Science HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_CA005C75_D9E1_E0D9_41D8_06A89269C705.toolTip = The Clean Room HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C77E73DD_DD27_4388_41D2_5C0CED42A9D8.toolTip = The NTESS Transition HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C63D69D1_FD5D_CF98_41E1_D34AE0BE63EA.toolTip = The Oldest Department HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C9A62CA9_FD2F_4588_41D4_2CA7D67B1BB1.toolTip = The Original Mission HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_258E5A54_36AC_FBF4_4189_1BBADE65308E.toolTip = The Rocket Capability (still KTF) HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_252B9E8E_365C_DB54_41CA_60604E5E2DA0.toolTip = Tonopah Test Range HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C6683296_FD64_DD98_41C6_B4BAC92C86DA.toolTip = Under New Management HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_FB3B4140_DB26_2037_41C1_13E4878AF7E6.toolTip = Vela Hotel: Detecting Nuclear Testing HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C8E5BF6D_DD65_4488_41E6_5637A8BEB89A.toolTip = Vela Uniform: Detecting Nuclear Testing HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_22BE66AB_366D_AB5C_419F_44CAE22E1EED.toolTip = Video: Building and Using the Solar Tower HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_CA40EA38_D9E6_2057_41D2_54E63E683602.toolTip = Video: Developing the Clean Room HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_FF047376_DB23_E0DB_4179_AA86FF03344F.toolTip = Video: How Sandia Saw Itself HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_0505768E_0A52_AEFB_4195_CB1082776BE0.toolTip = Video: How Sandia Saw Itself HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C27307A1_DB61_E079_41D8_0FF4C4D1CAF8.toolTip = Video: Modernizing with MESA HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C8F48805_DD6C_CC78_41D7_6D7A291018F4.toolTip = Video: President John F. Kennedy Visits Sandia HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_00A17A1B_287D_3C1B_4198_69B90B71E3C6.toolTip = Video: Rocket Launch at Kauai HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_250D07E3_365C_68CC_41C6_64D123D8F4F0.toolTip = Video: Rocket Launch at Tonopah HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C480D390_FD6B_4398_41DB_FC7AA578BCF5.toolTip = Weapon Assembly HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_040714A7_0A52_6229_41B3_F94BD226404D.toolTip = Where to Live? HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C7877A93_FD27_CD98_41E8_9126C8230603.toolTip = Why Work Here? HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_C2954ADC_FD2B_CD88_41E9_C442B51382EA.toolTip = Why the Thunderbird? HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_CE62F078_D962_20D7_41A6_D47D891435A7.toolTip = Work for Others HotspotPanoramaOverlayArea_FCDBCF5A_DD2B_C488_41BD_04E034AA69B3.toolTip = You Say GOCO, I Say FFRDC ## Media ### Description album_2B910C91_37DD_BF4C_41B8_276FCD3C1A45_6.description = Also rocket-powered, a large pendulum was placed in the Coyote Test Field area in the early 1950s and provided sustained and impact shock testing of non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons. A steel test frame hung from aluminum arms standing on concrete footings. The test frame was propelled by up to 50 rocket motors, which immediately accelerated test units undergoing duration shock up to 40 Gs or more. Impact shocks were created by attaching twin steel rams to the test platform. Powered by the rocket motors, the rams traveled a short distance and smashed into the platform, generating accelerations up to 300 Gs or 182,000 pounds force. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_8.description = April 1, 1989 – August 14, 1995 \ The first Sandia Corporation president selected directly from Sandia’s ranks, Al Narath brought a long familiarity with the Laboratories and its workforce to his leadership role. He was thus able to respond well to the end of the Cold War, as well as to the transition in the management contract from AT&T to Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin). Narath expanded component development’s total quality program to all of Sandia. Building on the big-picture thinking of George Dacey and Irwin Welber before him, he also launched the Laboratories’ first strategic planning effort. Published as the first corporate strategic plan within the Department of Energy, it emphasized changing Sandia’s corporate culture to embrace new world conditions. The Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) approved by Congress were the most visible impact of this change as they made technology transfer a critical part of Sandia’s strategic plan. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_4.description = April 29, 2005 – July 8, 2010 \ Thomas O. Hunter joined Sandia in 1967 as a member of the technical staff and devoted his entire career to the Laboratories. Known for his detailed analysis and sharp focus, he addressed both operational improvements and major transitions in mission areas during his tenure. In response to Department of Energy concerns over management transparency, Hunter oversaw the introduction of the Integrated Laboratory Management System and addressed safety concerns. Under his leadership, Sandia shifted to a majority of funding from nonnuclear weapons work. Within the core mission, the Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications (MESA) complex—Sandia’s largest construction project—reached completion, providing nuclear weapons work with advanced, future-leaning research and production capabilities. photo_5501EC76_4AAD_DFB4_41B7_21EFFD6D33C2.description = As the Cold War neared an end, the production of new weapon systems slowed and the need for new feeder materials ended. Sites providing materials closed and began the slow road to environmental cleanup. photo_5501EC76_4AAD_DFB4_41B7_21EFFD6D33C2.description = As the Cold War neared an end, the production of new weapon systems slowed and the need for new feeder materials ended. Sites providing materials closed and began the slow road to environmental cleanup. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_1.description = August 1, 1981 – January 31, 1986 \ Under George Dacey’s leadership as vice president of research at Sandia in the early 1960s, advanced research capabilities flourished, developing advanced mechanical and electrical devices for the safety and operations of nuclear weapons. Noted for his forward thinking, Dacey returned as Sandia president in 1981 with a strong focus on leveraging partnerships between different areas within the Laboratories and between Sandia and its industrial suppliers. He pushed to raise the technology levels in all areas and again expanded advanced and exploratory efforts. In particular, the radiation effects research and development teams were cross-pollinated in studies of radiation effects on advanced electronics systems. He also increased the Laboratories’ work on conventional weapons, as well as supercomputing, leaving Sandia well placed for the increasingly multiprogram environment of its future. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_12.description = August 15, 1995 – April 29, 2005 \ Stepping up into the primary leadership role from the vice presidency for laboratory development, Paul Robinson focused on streamlining internal operations and placing a renewed focus on the defense and energy-environment programs. He successfully moved the Laboratories completely out of a Cold War focus and turned its attention to the new century, cementing a relationship with the Russian nuclear laboratories, encouraging a burgeoning biosciences research capability, and extending supercomputing. At the same time, Robinson was an effective advocate for defining a new nuclear weapons policy for the 21st century and the place of the nuclear weapons laboratories within it. He provided calm inspiration on and after September 11, 2001, for a workforce anxious to bring its expertise to bear in defense of the nation. And he delivered Sandia capabilities in anti-terrorism to Washington, D.C., in the short and long term. photo_4B11115B_4ADC_E9FC_41B0_C00B2C69355F.description = By 1947, plans were underway to move some of the component manufacturing and assembly activities away from New Mexico to new locations at Mound and Burlington. photo_4B11115B_4ADC_E9FC_41B0_C00B2C69355F.description = By 1947, plans were underway to move some of the component manufacturing and assembly activities away from New Mexico to new locations at Mound and Burlington. photo_4B16B816_4ADC_E774_41B5_878B08737444.description = By 1953, the second physics laboratory—what we now know as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory—was up and running, as were new gaseous diffusion plants to provide more uranium for the new weapon systems under design and development. photo_4B16B816_4ADC_E774_41B5_878B08737444.description = By 1953, the second physics laboratory—what we now know as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory—was up and running, as were new gaseous diffusion plants to provide more uranium for the new weapon systems under design and development. photo_4B11EE83_4ADC_DB4C_41C5_9C7399E61D55.description = By 1980, Pantex was the only site left in the complex focused on weapon assembly and disassembly. photo_4B11EE83_4ADC_DB4C_41C5_9C7399E61D55.description = By 1980, Pantex was the only site left in the complex focused on weapon assembly and disassembly. photo_4B11D451_4ADC_EFCC_41D0_52DE52A9374C.description = By the end of the war, two of the materials production sites at Oak Ridge were being phased out of use. The remainder of the sites formed the basis of the postwar nuclear weapons complex. photo_4B11D451_4ADC_EFCC_41D0_52DE52A9374C.description = By the end of the war, two of the materials production sites at Oak Ridge were being phased out of use. The remainder of the sites formed the basis of the postwar nuclear weapons complex. photo_4B16A4D3_4ADC_E8F3_41B4_D80104E40B33.description = By the late 1950s, the nuclear weapons complex was at its peak in numbers of sites. It also reached its full production potential, adding thousands of weapons to the stockpile each year. photo_4B16A4D3_4ADC_E8F3_41B4_D80104E40B33.description = By the late 1950s, the nuclear weapons complex was at its peak in numbers of sites. It also reached its full production potential, adding thousands of weapons to the stockpile each year. album_C501F65E_FAEC_C488_41E6_DC5ABA3B0F16_7.description = Clubs formed for any number of pursuits. Here ham radio enthusiasts meet to share techniques and practices. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_15.description = February 1, 1986 – March 31, 1989 \ Personable and engaged with the daily activities at the Laboratories, Irwin Welber was noted for his regular visits to the non-Albuquerque sites and for lunching in the cafeteria with the staff, which found him receptive and likable. In response to congressional and White House concerns during the first year of his tenure, Welber oversaw Sandia’s first active effort to transfer technology to the private sector to foster economic competitiveness and support industries considered vital to national defense. Stating clearly that Sandia’s purpose was to serve national needs, not preserve itself, he tackled the challenges posed in keeping energy research active by focusing on advanced coal technologies and geosciences and pressed to advance the Laboratories’ reimbursable projects for new customers. album_C501F65E_FAEC_C488_41E6_DC5ABA3B0F16_3.description = For decades, the California site maintained a fleet of bicycles that members of the workforce could use to get around the campus. In this 1992 image, contractor Wayne Hill is shown with part of the fleet he maintained for the site. album_2B910C91_37DD_BF4C_41B8_276FCD3C1A45_5.description = In 1952, a Sandia-designed rocket-powered centrifuge was constructed east of Tech Area II. The first of Sandia’s large environmental test facilities, the centrifuge was built in four months from available materials. The test unit was placed on one end of the arm, a Thiokol T40 rocket on the other provided propulsion. Various rockets and missile components, including those for the Honest John, the Corporal, and the Alias/Betty depth bomb were tested in the two years this centrifuge was in operation. album_2B910C91_37DD_BF4C_41B8_276FCD3C1A45_4.description = In 1953, still using rocket motors to power its testing, Sandia installed a rocket sled track. Using a standard railroad gauge, the track extended for 1,000 feet in 39-foot sections. Rocket-powered sleds rode on the track, held by slippers designed to grip the track’s underside. The track was used to test a variety of weapon components and devices by simulating missile launch, aircraft takeoff, and catapulting launch environments, as well as to test systems and components upon impact. The track was extended to 3,000 feet in 1956 and a water capability was added in 1959 to study rain erosion at high velocities. In 1961, Sandia moved this type of testing to Holloman Air Force Base, but returned in 1968 when a new 5,000-foot track (later extended to 10,000 feet) was built in Tech Area III. This smaller track was used again beginning in the 1970s to test shipping casks and it remains in occasional use now. It has been shortened again to 2,000 feet. album_2B910C91_37DD_BF4C_41B8_276FCD3C1A45_0.description = In 1957, a 300-foot tall steel drop tower was installed in Tech Area III for impact testing. Virtually all weapon designs entering the stockpile between the drop tower's construction and the end of the Cold War had components and/or subsystems tested at this site. In 1983, a 50-foot-deep pool was added for water impact studies in support of NASA’s space shuttle program. With the ability to pull down test it photo_4B16FB47_4ADC_F9D4_41CE_50EFC8790D32.description = In addition to expanding work done by Los Alamos during World War II, the complex also expanded with the addition of new feeder materials production sites. photo_4B16FB47_4ADC_F9D4_41CE_50EFC8790D32.description = In addition to expanding work done by Los Alamos during World War II, the complex also expanded with the addition of new feeder materials production sites. album_C501F65E_FAEC_C488_41E6_DC5ABA3B0F16_0.description = In the early years, until the city of Albuquerque grew out to meet up with Kirtland Air Force Base, many social activities involved Sandians meeting with other Sandians and Atomic Energy Commission staff during non-working hours. The Coronado Club, built to provide a social gathering site, offered family events, pools, tennis, organized games, bowling, and a bar. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_10.description = January 1, 2020 – Present \ James Peery returned to head Sandia after short stint at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He had been vice president of Defense Systems and Assessments at Sandia under Lockheed Martin’s management, but left when the contract changed hands in 2017. Shortly after stepping into the director’s role, Peery found himself managing a lab through the COVID-19 crisis. As the pandemic was announced, Sandia rapidly moved to send as many workers as possible home to work while providing a safe environment for those still working on site. In the meantime, Peery encouraged and managed the staff into meeting critical nuclear weapons deadlines. The Labs’ growth continued under his oversight, and after COVID-19 faded into a more manageable background risk while other global risks became sharply apparent, he rallied staff to step up and fill in where needed to ensure all national security commitments were met. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_3.description = July 17, 2015 – April 30, 2017 \ Jill Hruby was the 14th president of Sandia Corporation and Sandia Lab Director. She brought to her the role more than three decades of experience at Sandia in such diverse fields as nuclear security and nonproliferation technologies, chemical and biological defense and security, homeland security and counterterrorism, and energy technologies. Hruby stepped in during a time of rapidly changing global priorities and her leadership focus guided Sandia to become more integrated both internally and externally. This focus helped strengthen the Labs’ mission area framework, propelling the institution forward and embedding it as a trusted, expert partner in matters of national security. Her insistence on open, clear, and frequent communication was key to enhancing trust both internally and externally. Hruby was also the first woman to head Sandia; indeed, she was the first woman to head a national security laboratory (and she led the largest one). album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_9.description = July 9, 2010 – July 16, 2015 \ Paul Hommert used his broad knowledge of the Laboratories to steer a steady course for Sandia, gradually bringing about growth at a time of turbulence and shifting programmatic dynamics. Hommert oversaw a significant expansion in nuclear weapons work and ushered in a new generation of scientists and engineers hired to modernize the nation’s stockpile. During his tenure, Sandia formalized its role as a multimission laboratory with broad responsibilities in matters of national security. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_11.description = March 1, 1952 – August 31, 1953 \ Building on Landry’s operational foundation and managing Sandia’s continued growth, Don Quarles began Sandia’s transition out of war reserve production and shifted it to a systems research approach in component design, leading to both preproduction engineering and a world-class reliability evaluation program. Critically, he engaged in negotiations with the military services on responsibilities for design of warhead arming and fuzing systems and in establishing the phases in a weapon’s lifecycle. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_14.description = May 1, 2017 – December 31, 2019 \ Stephen Younger was the first Sandia Labs Director under the new contract with National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia LLC (NTESS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc. He oversaw the transition in management, with an entirely new team of Associate Labs Directors heading up the existing Divisions within Sandia. He introduced a regular communication with members of the workforce to enhance transparency (a communication that has been continued by his successor). On the technical side, he supported and pushed to meet milestones for the life extension programs, while overseeing the continued growth of the workforce in that arena. Hypersonics, climate change, and quantum computing also advanced on his watch, and he spoke eloquently about the changes in approaches to developing computers that think. album_C770FC42_FD5F_C4F8_41D0_E6E8783B3405_2.description = Moving from a message of save the world to change the world, recruiting ads in the decade after the Cold War ended emphasized opportunities to pursue individual interests and change the world through research. All of these opportunities were offered at Sandia’s locations in the west alongside abundant recreational opportunities. album_C501F65E_FAEC_C488_41E6_DC5ABA3B0F16_8.description = Not so much a club as a passion, hunting was quite popular in the Lab’s early decades. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_5.description = November 1, 1949 – February 28, 1952 \ As Sandia Corporation’s first president, George Landry oversaw both the separation of the Laboratory from Los Alamos and the expansion of nuclear weapons production. An engineer with an extensive background in operations management, Mr. Landry was well equipped to complete Sandia’s support infrastructure, adding functions formerly performed by Los Alamos. He established strong ties with the local community and advanced employee support for the Albuquerque Community Chest (now United Way of Central New Mexico). Following the Soviet Union’s first nuclear test and the start of the Korean War, Sandia successfully began volume production of new weapon designs on an emergency footing. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_7.description = October 1, 1958 – August 31, 1960 \ Facing the first slowdown in Sandia’s growth, resulting from the 1958 US-UK-USSR moratorium on nuclear testing, Julius Molnar redirected part of the testing workforce into new arenas. Under his guidance, Sandia also instituted requirements and opportunities concerning advanced degrees for newly hired engineers. Molnar pushed for stability and partnered with the other nuclear weapons laboratories to support various peacetime projects, including support for projects focused on magnetic confinement of plasma for fusion energy, and the Plowshare Project for peaceful uses of nuclear devices. Ultimately, many of these efforts resulted in new lines of business. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_2.description = October 1, 1966 – September 30, 1972 \ A bold manager, John Hornbeck launched both operational and programmatic changes during his tenure. Sandia functions were reorganized, and he introduced a cost-control system modeled on one from Bell Laboratories that moved budget responsibilities from administrative support organizations to the line managers. Hornbeck also increased the technical depth at the Livermore site, adding an applied research organization there that focused in part on tritium research for gas reservoir designs. Although research and development money declined throughout the country, Hornbeck chose not to solicit additional programs, opting to let Sandia’s work sell itself and enhancing research capabilities in response to specific needs as they arose—for example, the Atomic Energy Commission’s initial investment in alternative energy, which became an ongoing line of business for Sandia. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_13.description = October 1, 1972 – July 31, 1981 \ His reputation for excellent science preceding him, Morgan Sparks brought a strong sense of stability to his leadership of Sandia. This served him well, as he arrived a few months before the largest cutbacks in Sandia’s history and a subsequent ten percent staffing reduction. Concerned about the future and ensuring the depth of capability necessary to support the weapons program, his leadership team moved into additional non-weapons defense activities in the form of nuclear reactor safety investigations, and of physical safeguards and security training in the wake of terrorism at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Both programs grew in the next decade, becoming entrenched lines of business. photo_4B11173B_4ADC_E9BC_41C5_9E995ED95EEB.description = One way to envision the creation, rapid growth, leveling off, and decline in size of the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal over time is through the entities included in the complex that produced the weapons. During World War II, the Manhattan Engineer District included sites built just for the effort to construct an atomic bomb, as well as supporting elements in industry and academia, including mining, component manufacturing, and research efforts at Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley. Mining, private industry, and academic institutions are not included on this or the succeeding maps. photo_4B11173B_4ADC_E9BC_41C5_9E995ED95EEB.description = One way to envision the creation, rapid growth, leveling off, and decline in size of the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal over time is through the entities included in the complex that produced the weapons. During World War II, the Manhattan Engineer District included sites built just for the effort to construct an atomic bomb, as well as supporting elements in industry and academia, including mining, component manufacturing, and research efforts at Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley. Mining, private industry, and academic institutions are not included on this or the succeeding maps. album_C770FC42_FD5F_C4F8_41D0_E6E8783B3405_5.description = Recruiting in 1962-1963 included a push for PhDs in the sciences. The ads indicated Sandia’s interest in hiring individuals with PhDs in physics, materials science, engineering, mathematics, chemistry, and ceramics. Different ads then offered examples of areas of research. In this ad, the stress was on high pressure physics. photo_4B0A7B7E_4ADC_D9B4_41D4_879309AAF0B5.description = Rocky Flats, Mound, and Pinellas all closed and moved into environmental cleanup by the mid-1990s; production activities consolidated at the remaining sites. Although some of their names and managing entities have changed since 1995, the eight sites still in service at that point are recognizable as the same eight in the current Nuclear Security Enterprise. photo_4B0A7B7E_4ADC_D9B4_41D4_879309AAF0B5.description = Rocky Flats, Mound, and Pinellas all closed and moved into environmental cleanup by the mid-1990s; production activities consolidated at the remaining sites. Although some of their names and managing entities have changed since 1995, the eight sites still in service at that point are recognizable as the same eight in the current Nuclear Security Enterprise. album_C501F65E_FAEC_C488_41E6_DC5ABA3B0F16_2.description = Running and bicycling became more popular in the 1970s and remain so. Here, 1980 Sandia Bicycle Association President Ron Malpass pedaled with a rolled-up bike bag owned by the association that members could borrow when they traveled. photo_4B16EE66_4ADC_FBD4_41D8_4C29BC1AE783.description = Sandia is one of the new spots on the map, as it was separated from Los Alamos in 1949. The growth of the complex in these early years was a result of the effort to increase production. New sites were created to increase output by handling the work done at Los Alamos during World War II. photo_4B16EE66_4ADC_FBD4_41D8_4C29BC1AE783.description = Sandia is one of the new spots on the map, as it was separated from Los Alamos in 1949. The growth of the complex in these early years was a result of the effort to increase production. New sites were created to increase output by handling the work done at Los Alamos during World War II. album_C501F65E_FAEC_C488_41E6_DC5ABA3B0F16_5.description = Sandians formed bowling leagues. The Coronado Club basement had a bowling alley for the first few years, before the space was converted to meeting rooms (work before leisure). Later leagues played at bowling alleys elsewhere in the community. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_6.description = September 1, 1953 – September 30, 1958 \ Jim McRae presided over Sandia’s management through the core of the 1950s, when nuclear weapons designs moved from fission to fusion, new delivery systems were introduced, and nearly sixty weapons systems were in various phases of planning or development. McRae focused on improving morale and ensuring consistent quality in weapons production while initiating an expanded research capacity to support weapons designs. Sandia researched radiation hardening with new accelerators and reactors, actively engaged in computer modeling, and pursued research into electronics, plastics, microwaves, metallurgy, and materials science. album_C308D3F2_DD7D_C398_41D2_AC215C2837E3_0.description = September 1, 1960 – September 30, 1966 \ Monk Schwartz stepped into the Sandia presidency after having served as general manager under Jim McRae and Julius Molnar, and thus brought a familiarity with the Laboratory’s operations and needs into his leadership. Contraction resulting from the U.S.-U.K.-U.S.S.R. nuclear test moratorium led to Sandia’s first layoffs, and Mr. Schwartz pushed for advanced research capabilities to keep the Laboratory looking and moving forward. He deftly engaged the White House on Permissive Action Link development and its required overseas deployment, a critical point in Sandia’s role in weapons safety. As the number of nuclear weapons systems in design dropped, Schwartz sought out special and reimbursable projects, including work for NASA and in support of U.S. efforts in Vietnam. album_C501F65E_FAEC_C488_41E6_DC5ABA3B0F16_1.description = Sports have been popular from the beginning, with scores and rivalries reported in the Bulletin and subsequently in the Lab News. album_2B910C91_37DD_BF4C_41B8_276FCD3C1A45_2.description = Still in use, Building 860 has housed environmental testing in the NM site’s Tech Area I since 1949. Part of the suite of early permanent buildings constructed for Sandia, the building was intended to house purchasing and general stores, though only general stores moved in. It quickly moved back out as 860 was remodeled after only six months to accommodate environmental testing. The earliest equipment installed included a 12-foot centrifuge, chambers to produce different environment conditions (hot, cold, humid, dry), x-ray equipment, and additional centrifuges to test units of various shapes and masses. Over time, equipment to accommodate different types of testing of different types of items came and went. For example, an extended radiography facility was added in 1964; in 1970, a pressure room was added; in 1974, a universal testing machine was installed; and in 1988 a new centrifuge was put in, followed a few years later by a new amplifier. Additional equipment upgrades continue into the present. album_C501F65E_FAEC_C488_41E6_DC5ABA3B0F16_6.description = The Coronado Club also offered organized evening events, including dinners and dances. Sometimes movies provided the entertainment. Musical groups often played on the weekends and different themes were celebrated. album_C501F65E_FAEC_C488_41E6_DC5ABA3B0F16_4.description = The Coronado Club pools were popular and useful—offering opportunities for generations of Sandia offspring to learn to swim and to enjoy summer activities. Swimming and tennis drew large numbers of participants right up until the Club closed, and the tennis courts remained in use even after that. album_C770FC42_FD5F_C4F8_41D0_E6E8783B3405_1.description = The expansion of Sandia’s mission areas in the 21st century meant an increase in opportunities for research and development. Recruiting underlined the variety of fields in which employees might have a significant impact on national security issues. album_2B910C91_37DD_BF4C_41B8_276FCD3C1A45_1.description = The first facility built specifically for Z Division was Building 828 to house environmental testing. Construction began in early 1946 when Z Division was getting established and completed later that same year. It housed several machines to test mechanical components, including large and small shake tables, cold chambers of different brands and sizes, a pendulum facility for inertial studies, and various calibration equipment as well as a drafting room and machine shop. album_2B910C91_37DD_BF4C_41B8_276FCD3C1A45_3.description = The hydraulic centrifuge that forms this stop on the tour was installed in Tech Area III in 1954. It was a follow-on to the rocket-powered centrifuge Sandia originally built. This one skipped the rocket, had a 35.5-foot radius arm, and was hydraulically powered. It is still used occasionally. In 1966, another centrifuge was added to the area. Built underground and also hydraulically powered, this one sports a 29-foot radius arm and can accelerate a payload of 16,000 pounds to 100 Gs (or lighter loads to 300 Gs). It is capable of simulating flight, offering vibration, spin, thermal, and shock in a single test. This centrifuge is in frequent use today. photo_4B1121A6_4ADC_E954_41CE_05BEFB445EE8.description = The nuclear weapons complex was already shrinking by the time the stockpile reached its peak in size in 1967. The feeding of raw materials slowed as weapons production leveled off and the number of new weapon systems moving through the complex into the stockpile dropped. photo_4B1121A6_4ADC_E954_41CE_05BEFB445EE8.description = The nuclear weapons complex was already shrinking by the time the stockpile reached its peak in size in 1967. The feeding of raw materials slowed as weapons production leveled off and the number of new weapon systems moving through the complex into the stockpile dropped. photo_579CA26A_4ADC_ABDC_4182_22AB5C3AAAEA.description = There are eight sites under the purview of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. NNSA has oversight of all nuclear weapons design and production activities. photo_579CA26A_4ADC_ABDC_4182_22AB5C3AAAEA.description = There are eight sites under the purview of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. NNSA has oversight of all nuclear weapons design and production activities. album_C770FC42_FD5F_C4F8_41D0_E6E8783B3405_0.description = This 1950 brochure for recruiting and new hires emphasized Sandia’s location and the recreational opportunities in the Albuquerque area. The attractions of living in the Southwest, and, after the expansion to a second site in California, the West, continues to provide a consistent theme for recruiting. album_C770FC42_FD5F_C4F8_41D0_E6E8783B3405_3.description = This 1968 recruiting ad again emphasized the history of the American southwest, with a play on the work missions and implicitly comparing the drive of Spanish missionaries with that of engineers working on nuclear weapons. All focus was on the mission. album_C770FC42_FD5F_C4F8_41D0_E6E8783B3405_4.description = This recruiting ad from 1958, with its emphasis on peacekeeping and explicit reference to the U.S. policy of deterrence, placed Sandia firmly in the West with a key role in preserving the peace. 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"The Sandia Story," a 1958 film about Sandia, was produced as a recruiting piece. It follows the story of a new young male engineer hired into the Labs. It offers an idea of what a first day at work will look like and delves into what work Sandia does. It then follows him out into Albuquerque, which turns out to be a great place to live and raise a family.
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A one-of-a-kind research facility, the National Solar Thermal Test Facility includes a 200 ft. Solar Tower and 212 computer-controlled heliostats to reflect concentrated solar energy onto the tower, producing a total thermal capacity of 6 MW.
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After Congress expressed concerns about the control of U.S. nuclear weapons based in Europe, and the permissive action link (PAL) was introduced to ensure weapons were only used with proper authorization from the U.S. President, the Kennedy administration issued National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) 51. NSAM 51, issued June 1962, mandated PALs for all land-based nuclear weapons in Europe. The memorandum also authorized continuing research at Sandia to meet the requirement. Sandia worked with the manufacturer, U.S. Gauge, to successfully deliver the first PALs to Europe in September 1962.
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After Operation Dominic ended on November 4, 1962 with Tightrope, the last of the Fishbowl series of high-altitude shots and the last of the U.S. atmospheric nuclear tests, the nuclear powers continued with underground testing. They also continued negotiations for a nuclear test ban treaty. The treaty negotiations had been going on (and off) since the mid-1950s, as the U.S., the U.K., and the USSR pursued a test ban while also pursuing testing (except during the 1958-1961 test moratorium). The Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water was signed in Moscow on August 5, 1963 and entered into force on October 10, 1963. It banned all detonations of nuclear devices in these environments.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff urged caution when the U.S. was considering the treaty. Among their recommendations was that the U.S. should retain the ability to return to testing should it be needed or warranted. When the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on September 24, 1963, the readiness approach was undertaken. Among other readiness preparations, the U.S. kept the launch facility at Kauai operational and Sandia continued using it as a rocket test facility. The readiness initiative continued until the mid-1970s when funding ceased. Sandia kept on testing at Kauai.
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After the 1989 explosion aboard the USS Iowa that killed 47 crew members, the Navy concluded that one individual used a detonator to set off the explosion. Sandia subsequently conducted an investigation of the event for the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. After establishing the arrangement and nature of the materials in the space where the explosion occurred and then conducting simulation tests, the Sandia team concluded that an overram of the powder bags as the gun was being loaded was the likely cause of the explosion. The Navy demurred, but concluded that the cause could not be determined.
Photograph of Karl Schuler and Paul Cooper with the drop-test setup for their investigation of the USS Iowa explosion, 1990
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After the 9/11 attacks, there were a series of anthrax attacks resulting in contamination on Capitol Hill, in mailrooms, and at media headquarters. EnviroFoam Technologies put the decontamination foam originally developed by Sandia into successful service and cleaned up the contaminated spaces.
Photograph of Maher Tadros with decontamination foam, 2000.
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Al Narath took over as Sandia Lab Director on April 1, 1989. Seven months later, the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War ended. Narath successfully guided Sandia through the ensuing uncertainties. He and his leadership team anticipated the end of new nuclear weapons designs and the resulting shift in budgets. Sandia was well-placed to continue with existing Work for Others (non-Department of Energy-funded work, most of it for the Department of Defense) and to expand in that arena, as opportunities arose. He kept tightly to his proposed programs of strategic planning and quality control that allowed him to edge the Labs forward into new research arenas funded by Lab Directed Research and Development funds. Narath and his leadership team pushed for programs with the former Soviet Union states, working to corral nuclear materials, weaponry, and minds to prevent proliferation.
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Al Narath was Vice President of Research in 1975, as energy research was taking hold at Sandia. His scope was expanded to include an energy projects center. The work focused on alternative energy, including two solar thermal technologies: central and distributor receivers. The central receiver concept involved mounting a receiver or boiler on top of a tower, heating it with concentrated sunlight reflected from a field of sun-tracking mirrors known as heliostats, and using the steam to generate electricity. The Environmental Research and Development Agency (ERDA, successor to AEC and precursor to DOE) named Sandia its technical administrator for central receivers in 1975. The Labs’ California site took responsibility for this technology, planning a 10 megawatt central receiver named Solar One at Daggett, near Barstow. Solar One was the first commercial solar-electrical generating plant in the country and operated reliably from 1982 to 1989. Its successor, Solar Two, opened in 1996. On the research side, Sandia’s Central Receiver Test Facility was built at the New Mexico site. It was a five-megawatt power tower that began operating in 1977 and was identified as the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF).
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Also in 1995, the Department of Energy (DOE) selected Intel to deliver the first high-speed machine under ASCI. DOE, Sandia, and Intel announced a $55 million TeraFLOPS development contract. Originally brought online at Intel in Beaverton, by June 1997, ASCI Red had moved to New Mexico and was fully operational. Two years later, the machine achieved 2.121 TeraFLOPS, was upgraded with new processors, and in November 1999 hit 2.379 TeraFLOPS. For more than three years ASCI Red was recognized as the fastest computer in the world. It remained a significant machine until it was taken offline in 2005. It was used to continue the development of faster, more powerful parallel systems, serving as a testing platform for Red Storm, ASCI White, and other machines within the suite of accelerated scientific computing (ASC) capabilities. It also served Sandia’s micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) design and fabrication analysis efforts, neutron generator tube design, Z-Pinch experiment design, and the simulation aspects of various other programs.
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Among the energy programs Sandia pursued was the extraction of oil from oil shale. Shale releases oil when heated, so researchers attempted to heat it underground to avoid the costs and environmental impacts of mining it. Explosives turned the shale to rubble, then a fire on top of the rubble heated the rock, releasing the oil, which was pumped to the surface. Sandia cooperated with the Laramie Energy Research Center at oil shale formations in Wyoming and Utah in 1975-76 and worked with Occidental Petroleum near Parachute, Colorado to pursue these ideas.
Photograph of Dave Northrop, Wendell Weart, and Hap Stoller discussing oil shale research, ca. 1974.
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As Sandia added a fundamental research capability in 1958, it began hiring researchers to suit. Since the research focus was on radiation hardening components, the Lab hired materials researchers. These were primarily PhD-level physicists, chemists, and physical chemists. Recruiting ramped up through the 1960s, reaching out to PhD scientists with advertising that emphasized the interesting problems Sandia had to solve.
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As Sandia moved into energy programs, particularly oil shale recovery and geothermal options, its researchers developed ideas about drilling. It appeared that drilling technology could be improved by drill bits that could drill faster, last longer, and remain in the borehole longer. Engineer Max Newsom stated, “We have built reliable hardware that functioned in more extreme environments than the bottom of an oil well.” Sandia pursued multiple types of drills, including the terradrill, in which bullet-like projectiles were filed down through the bit to break the rock ahead; and a chain bit, which could rotate new cutting surfaces onto a bit face without pulling the bit from its borehole. These were too expensive for industry to adapt. But Sandia did have success with improvements to a drag big with cutters made of synthetic diamonds. The cutters often broke loose from the bits. Sandia improved the bonding that locked cutters to the drill head and they achieved success in industry, being used in about a third of all oil and gas exploration.
Photograph of Sam Varnado with a diamond-studded drill bit designed by Sandia for use in the petroleum and energy industries, 1980.
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As Sandia moved into energy research in the early 1970s, hydraulic fracturing was a new method in use for stimulating oil and gas well production. It was successful in some places, but not in others. Sandia undertook to understand fracturing. At Rainier Mesa on the Nevada Test Site, Sandia had previously done studies of stress measurements for nuclear blast containment in G-tunnel, conducting small fracture tests to obtain stress and related data. To further observe fracturing, researchers drilled a vertical well from the top of Rainier Mesa then created a fracture with colored cement and mined through the region to observe and photograph the exposed fractures. The results were impressive; the hydraulic fractures were clear and could be studied. Sandia passed its results along to industry, as well as DOE.
Photograph of Bill Vollendorf in a drift at G tunnel, measuring a mined out hydraulic fracture that resulted from Sandia’s experiments on Rainier Mesa.
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As a branch of Los Alamos, Sandia Laboratory kept growing. Norris Bradbury expressed his concern about managing such a large separate site with a focus on engineering. Similarly, the University of California, which had the management contract for Los Alamos, expressed a preference for not managing a production facility.
The Atomic Energy Commission asked Mervin Kelly (then executive vice president of Bell Telephone Laboratories) to conduct a study and recommend a company to take on management and operation of Sandia. Kelly recommended AT&T, which took a little convincing. But, over the course of 1949, the various players hammered out contractual details, formed Sandia Corporation as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Western Electric Company, and turned over Sandia’s management to the new corporation on November 1, 1949. George Landry from Western Electric was the first president of Sandia Corporation and first director of Sandia Laboratory.
At the time, the Bell System (popularly referred to as Ma Bell) consisted of three entities: AT&T, Bell Telephone Laboratories, and Western Electric, representing the administrative, research, and engineering and manufacturing arms of the effort, respectively. As Sandia was an engineering lab and still had the assignment for weapons production, Western Electric was seen as the appropriate entity to manage Sandia.
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As the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) prepared to ask AT&T to undertake management of Sandia Laboratory, the White House provided an introduction. On May 13, 1949, President Harry Truman sent a letter to Leroy Wilson, president of AT&T, letting him know the AEC would be bringing a request. He asked Wilson to consider it, noting that he believed AT&T had “an opportunity to render an exceptional service in the national interest.” Necah Furman came across the letter in the 1980s during the research for her book on Sandia’s first decade. Sandia management embraced the phrase “exceptional service in the national interest” as its motto, and even more, its goal.
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At the Lab’s beginning, Albuquerque and its amenities were far from Sandia. Sandia and Atomic Energy Commission personnel formed and built their own social club, with membership fees and a board of directors, to provide a gathering space and recreational options close to work. The Coronado Club’s grand opening in June 1950 was attended by about 2500 people. The Club offered a dining room, ballroom, bar, and multiple recreational options. While the city gradually grew out to reach them, three generations of Sandia and AEC-ERDA-DOE families danced, ate, swam, celebrated, played, met, and enjoyed themselves at the Club. But, by 2004, membership was down and, after 9/11, access to the base was limited. Citing data on the decline in club use and the availability of alternative resources, as well as the building’s need for extensive maintenance, Sandia management decided to close the Club. In 2011, it was torn down.
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Beginning in 1968, Sandia leased range land in Edgewood, New Mexico, for terradynamic research (terradynamics is the Sandia-developed study of how bodies pass through earth). Sandia put in utilities and an airstrip, using the site for about a decade. Both Davis guns and aircraft drops were done, studying the movement of penetrator test units through the soil.
Photograph of a group of Sandia field testers loading a Davis gun at the Edgewood site. The two on the right are centering the propellant between the projectile and the reaction mass.
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By 1948, Z Division was as large as its parent site in Los Alamos. Norris Bradbury, director of Los Alamos, re-designated the division a branch and renamed it Sandia Laboratory, a branch of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. It was moved forward in a cloud of construction dust with Paul Larsen as its director.
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By 1959, the design was in use more generally as Sandia’s logo, not just on service awards. Sandia’s Legal organization pursued a trademark. In the late 1960s, Lab director John Hornbeck asked that the logo be redesigned (AT&T was simplifying its logo at the time) and in 1971, the new Thunderbird appeared. It was a simpler line design that is still in use today.
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By the mid-1950s, Sandia was looking for a new test range. The Salton Sea was becoming crowded and lacked a hard target for drop testing. After looking at different sites and considering sharing a site with the military, Sandia settled on an area in the far north of what is now Nellis Air Force Base. Near Tonopah, Nevada, the site had been used as a bomber training site in World War II. In the Cactus Flats between the Kawich and Cactus mountain ranges, a series of usually dry lake beds align roughly north-south and appeared as potential targets for drop testing. The site was selected in 1956, with targets and tracking locations sited and staked out soon after. By 1957, flights were dropping test units at the range. Later, facilities were expanded, and a concrete hard target was poured. Testing has continued at the site since, tracking ballistics, aerodynamics, and parachute performance for artillery shells, bomb drops, missiles, and rockets. The end of the Cold War and the resulting gap in new weapon designs moving through the nuclear weapons complex in the 1990s caused a slowdown in the site’s use. With the introduction of the nuclear weapons life extension programs at the turn of the century, however, Tonopah was back in full test mode.
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Carter Broyles retired from Sandia in 1989 as Director of Field Engineering. He spent 37 years at the Labs, all in the testing program. The tributes flowed in from every organization involved in nuclear testing, congratulating him on his long and successful career. Shortly after retiring, he received the Defense Nuclear Agency’s Meritorious Public Service Medal for his work in the nuclear weapon effects testing program. Broyles was involved in every turn in nuclear testing, including the start of the program to analyze weapon component vulnerability to nuclear effects through to the US-USSR Joint Verification Experiment designed to determine whether each nation could accurately detect and measure the other’s nuclear test yields. One test was conducted at the Nevada Test Site with Soviet observers attending and one was conducted at Semipalatinsk and observed by US attendees. Broyles was an official observer.
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Decades before new programs were introduced to support tech transfer, Sandia had a few large wins in successfully transferring technical breakthroughs out to industry. The laminar flow clean room is one example. Another is the hot air solder leveler developed by Bob Sylvester and T. A. Allen to coat and level the solder on the Vela satellite logic system components prior to the first launch in the early 1960s. Hot air solder levelers were subsequently used by printed-circuit board manufacturers. A 1989 estimate indicated the Sandia-developed hot air solder leveler had saved industry approximately $250 million annually.
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Different technical solutions blossomed in the late 1990s in response to attention and funding for chemical and biological counterterrorism research. In 1997, Maher Tadros and Mark Tucker began work on a decontamination foam that would neutralize any number of chem/bio agents. In July 2000, the foam was licensed to Modec, Inc. and, later, to EnviroFoam Technologies. Sandia continued its research and in 2003 demonstrated its effectiveness against the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
In the late fall of 2006, after a few years of retail development, Mold Control 500 began appearing in stores. Mold Control 500 is distributed by Scott’s Liquid Gold, which arranged with Modec to sell the product in retail markets. EFT Holdings and its subsidiary Intelagard also licensed the Sandia formulation, selling it under the name EasyDecon ® DF200, certified against chemical and biological agents. In 2007, they released the product under a second name, Crystal Clean, packaged and marketed specifically for methamphetamine lab cleanup.
Research and testing continued over the years. For example, in 2016, the foam was used in DHS-sponsored studies of cleaning up a subway after contamination. Sandia chemical engineer Patrick Burton developed a new version of the foam that includes a chemical to help it stick to the walls and ceilings of a subway tunnel longer, to kill more of the contaminant.
Photograph of Mark Tucker comparing petri dishes holding anthrax simulant, one treated with decontamination foam and one not.
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During the 1960s, Sandia partnered with a variety of organizations, providing support for different projects that intersected with or could use its capabilities. For example, as the impressive improvements in clean room performance based on Willis Whitfield’s laminar flow clean room design became known, NASA worked with Sandia on ensuring outbound spacecraft were sterilized prior to launch. Part of the planetary quarantine program, this effort included establishing requirements and planning for use of clean rooms in the space program.
As the decade progressed, the nuclear heaters designed by Mound Laboratories to keep instrumentation left on the Moon functioning were tested at Sandia’s environmental test facilities. Heat, pressure, vibration, and shock testing simulated environments the devices could encounter in flight, in service, and in an accident. For the Apollo 11 mission, Sandians provided technical input on the Systems Nuclear Auxiliary Power (SNAP) development and loaded the plutonium 238 fuel capsule for SNAP onto the lunar module. Also, in 1968, Sandia Labs Director John Hornbeck was appointed to NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel formed in response to 1967’s Apollo 1 accident.
Photograph of the Sandia team practicing loading the SNAP-27 plutonium 238 fuel capsule on the lunar module at the Saturn V launch pad for the Apollo 11 mission.
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Employees assigned to the Salton Sea Test Base moved there along with their families. Housing was available on site in the form of apartments, houses, and a mobile home park. The site included recreational facilities and provided activities for children.
Photograph of the Salton Sea Test Base mobile home park for residents.
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Following the success of the Vela satellite work, in 1964 the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) authorized Sandia to begin work on Vela Uniform, or underground. This project was to design, construct, test, and evaluate a prototype Unmanned Seismic Observatory, capable of continuous operation for 90 days. Sandia assigned a staff of about 20 to conduct research to interpret seismic signals. This effort was quite successful, deploying a network of seismic sensors. As with satellites, sensors remain a key research and development area for Sandia.
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For decades, internal descriptions of Sandia’s culture included dedication, service, and a “can do” attitude. “Can do” seems like a rather old-fashioned phrase now, but it is still invoked on occasion to describe the approach taken when a new problem is presented, or a tight deadline is scheduled. “Can do” is a basic get it done approach. It grew out of the early years when staff were frequently war veterans and there was a lot of innovation or build-it-yourself involved in the design and testing of nuclear weapons components. The perceived need for speed to hold U.S. leadership in the arms race and a strong sense of what was at stake drove staff to meet aggressive deadlines. Over the years, Sandians prided themselves on the high quality of their work. The “can do” attitude became an implied “can do it well” description, allowing for great work to be done, no matter the challenges.
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Here, you are outside at the Sandia/California site, the second lab Sandia built. It was officially established in March 1956 to provide engineering support for the nuclear weapons designs coming out of the new physics laboratory now known as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. With a few dips in response to federal budgets and policies at various points, Sandia’s story is largely one of growth. Both the missions and the workforce have expanded over time. And, as you will discover at this stop on the tour, Sandia has also expanded in other locations; in addition to the California site, it now has test ranges in Nevada and Hawai’i.
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Here, you are outside at the Sandia/California site, the second lab Sandia built. It was officially established in March 1956 to provide engineering support for the nuclear weapons designs coming out of the new physics laboratory now known as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. With a few dips in response to federal budgets and policies at various points, Sandia’s story is largely one of growth. Both the missions and the workforce have expanded over time. And, as you will discover at this stop on the tour, Sandia has also expanded in other locations; in addition to the California site, it now has test ranges in Nevada and Hawai’i.
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Hired in 1959, Wendell Weart was the first PhD geologist to work in geology at Sandia. He was initially involved in nuclear testing, particularly for the Plowshare Program. When Sandia began investigating the site chosen for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), Wendell became a manager in the project. He stayed with WIPP until waste went into the ground in 1999. His deep scientific understanding of the site and the requirements for managing nuclear waste earned him the moniker, “Sultan of Salt”.
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In 1946, Sandia worked to obtain use of the former U.S. Navy test range at Salton Sea in southern California. At an elevation of 200 feet below sea level, the Salton Sea test range allowed for a better understanding of how test units performed as they passed through different altitudes. Ultimately, the Atomic Energy Commission arranged for Sandia to take over the Salton Sea Test Base. Field testing stopped using Los Lunas and installed more permanent equipment and facilities at Salton Sea. Sandia maintained a staff of about 100 at the range and housed them on site, which also offered a lodge and a restaurant. Salton Sea served as Sandia’s main test range until 1960 and was used until July 1, 1961.
Photograph of Swiss-made Contraves cinetheodolite operated by two test engineers at Salton Sea Test Base. A theodolite is an optical instrument used to precisely measure the angles between two points in the horizontal and vertical planes. In testing, it is used to track the exact location of the test unit as it falls or flies. The theodolite is a cinetheodolite when a film or video camera is attached to it to record the action.
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In 1946, as an attempt was underway to build up the new site, Z Division’s entire assembly group was called to the Pacific to support Joint Task Force 1 (JTF-1), the first postwar nuclear test (Sandia was involved in support of all U.S. nuclear tests that followed). Los Alamos learned of the proposed Operation Crossroads nuclear test series in December of 1945; it was scheduled for May 1946 but slipped out to July. These were weapon effects tests. Three shots were scheduled, and two were completed: the Able airdrop on June 30, 1946, and the Baker underwater shot on July 24, 1946.
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In 1948, the Atomic Energy Commission established funding to build permanent structures for Sandia as part of the push to expand the nuclear weapons complex and create a war reserve stockpile of weapons. A major building program ensued, adding facilities for management, technical design, testing, and assembly. The initial set of new facilities sat along the north edge of Tech Area I and were designed by noted New Mexico architects; most by W. C. Kruger’s architectural firm, but Max Flatow provided the design for Building 804, Military Liaison (which is now the Technical Library).
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In 1952, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) established a second physics laboratory to complement and compete with Los Alamos in nuclear weapons designs. Located in Livermore, California, the lab initially was a second site of Ernest Lawrence’s radiation laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. It is now known as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).
At first, Sandia provided support to the new lab from Albuquerque, only sending fifteen employees out to Livermore in 1955 to work on the design for the W27. On March 8, 1956, the AEC announced that Sandia would provide engineering design support for LLNL. Sandia formally established a second lab site in Livermore on the south side of East Avenue with Jack Howard in charge. Sandia has been there since, although Jack eventually retired in 1982 as Executive Vice President.
Photograph of Jack Howard (right) in conversation with Livermore’s Edward Teller and Sandia Laboratory Director Jim McRae.
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In 1955, in search of a design for 5- and 10-year service pins, the Lab News called for proposals from all employees. A committee selected the best four of those submitted. They were printed in the Lab News and employees voted, choosing H. C. “Clyde” Walker’s submission, for which he received a $75 U.S. Savings Bond. The original design was pentagonal, featuring a turquoise enamel Thunderbird with three distinct feathers on a copper background.
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In 1957, having overseen multiple fundraising campaigns for different entities, the Lab instituted payroll deduction to coordinate and increase Sandians’ charitable contributions. The new plan was called the Employee Contribution Plan (ECP) and launched with a “give once” campaign. The ECP’s year-round giving through payroll deduction initially supported 31 health and welfare agencies. It continues into the present day, coordinating employee donations through the United Way, while providing the option of selecting individual charities. Sandia is the largest contributor to United Way of Central New Mexico and provides approximately $2.5 million every year to other nonprofits in New Mexico, California, and the nation.
Photograph of Robert A. Knapp, L. M. Jercinovic. William B. Davis, and L. J. Heilman tabulating employee contributions as the first ECP campaign went over $100,000 in 1957.
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In 1958, the Atomic Energy Commission announced Project Plowshare, a government-sponsored program to develop peaceful uses for nuclear weapons. Based on an initial proposal by what is now Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Plowshare’s focus was to use nuclear explosions to dig canals and harbors, mine oil and gas, and recover important information on cratering, radiation, and seismology. Between 1958 and 1975, the program conducted 35 nuclear tests, as well as numerous high explosives experiments simulating nuclear excavation. LLNL directed Project Plowshare, using the expertise of Sandia, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines. Sandia played a small but key role in Project Plowshare, providing meteorological studies, air-blast expertise and analysis, and support for both the high explosives tests and nuclear tests undertaken by the project.
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In 1959, Sandia was having problems with lots of coded switches failing quality inspections. Particulates in the assembly areas at the manufacturer were contaminating the parts and affecting their operation. The advanced manufacturing engineering group set out to investigate and solve the problem. It turned out that the clean rooms where the assembly was being done were not clean enough; nor were clean rooms in common use across industry. The clean rooms and the workers in them started out clean, but any particulates generated during the manufacturing activities remained in the space. One of the Sandians on the team, Willis Whitfield, developed a method for continually sweeping the rooms with air to move the particulates out through the filter system. The laminar air flow clean room transformed manufacturing. The rooms and benches designed by Willis and his Sandia colleagues were 1000 times cleaner than any previous design.
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In 1959, Willis Whitfield was on the team assigned to assess the problem of whole production lots of switches failing quality checks. The team knew the problem lay in the contamination of the parts with particulates. The manufacturers needed a cleaner environment. Whitfield came up with the idea of improving on existing clean room designs by continually sweeping the rooms with filtered air that would move any contaminants on out through a filter. He changed manufacturing, surgery, food handling, and enabled silicon chip manufacturing.
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In 1959, the U.S. embarked on research and development of nuclear test detection technology. The Vela program included three elements: Hotel, Sierra, and Uniform. Sandia was involved in both Hotel and Uniform. Vela Hotel was a program to launch satellites with nuclear detectors and logic systems that could communicate results back to Earth. Sandia had a staff of about 60 people involved in the satellite work at its peak. Funded out of the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, Vela was a team effort. Sandia worked with Los Alamos to develop and install atmospheric and space nuclear-burst detectors and logic systems on Air Force space satellites designed by aerospace company TRW. In 1963, the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed and went into effect. It banned testing in space, the atmosphere, and underwater. The first Vela satellites were launched the same year and served to monitor for the treaty.
The photograph shows two Vela satellites loaded into a Titan III-C launch vehicle in 1969. The first Vela satellites were launched in 1963 in pairs that then separated in orbit. While the last Vela satellite was turned off in 1984, satellite work continues at Sandia as a core program area.
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In 1963, Sandia personnel who had worked on the clean room were assigned to prepare a Federal Standard for clean rooms that would introduce common standards and language into contamination control. Sandia, the General Services Administration (GSA), the Air Force, the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), and several industrial firms sponsored a conference in Albuquerque to consider a standard. Sandia and DASA came into the conference with a proposed draft that was finalized by a working group after the meeting. Federal Standard No. 209 was published by GSA in December 1963.
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In 1968, the One Year on Campus (OYOC) program replaced the Technical Development Program (TDP). While TDP sent employees to a master’s program part-time while they kept working, OYOC sent them to a master’s program full-time, and they returned to work once they were finished. TDP also focused on engineering, while OYOC provided degrees in engineering, physics, chemistry, or math. The first OYOC class started in 1968. Ralph Clark was the first Sandian to receive his master’s degree through the program in December of that year.
In 1972, Lab Director John Hornbeck announced Operation Opportunity, a set of initiatives surrounding fair employment. The activities included identifying people within Sandia who had lacked opportunities and determining what and how opportunities might be made available to them, assessing the standards for promotion and movement within the Lab, and the development of awareness of fair employment practices. One of the most immediate changes Hornbeck announced, was to dedicate the OYOC program as a “mechanism for bringing on roll able individuals who have lacked opportunity.” The plan began enrolling people in the next school year.
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In 1971, Congress amended the Atomic Energy Act. Changes included authorizing Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) research on “the preservation and enhancement of a viable environment by developing more efficient methods to meet the Nation’s energy needs.” AEC Chair Dixy Lee Ray appointed a committee to plan future national energy solutions. Don Shuster represented Sandia on the committee, solicited ideas and proposals, and held daily meetings to review them. The push for energy solutions was furthered by the 1973 energy crisis caused by OPEC’s embargo on oil shipments to the U.S. during and after the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
Building on its expertise in underground testing and instrumentation from nuclear, environmental, and developmental testing, Sandia developed dozens of proposals, some of which became fully fledged research projects.
Photograph of Don Shuster, Sandia’s energy coordinator, with a solar collector in 1973.
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In 1971, Sandia Base merged into Kirtland Air Force Base and the site is now one large base, serving as home to a variety of entities that include the 377th Air Base Wing, the New Mexico Air National Guard, the Air Force Research Lab, Sandia National Laboratories, and several other research and testing facilities.
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In 1992, AT&T announced it would not bid in the next round of contract renewal to manage Sandia. The contracts were changing in response to DOE’s experience with environmental cleanup and there would no longer be a no-profit, no-fee contract to manage DOE’s labs and plants. AT&T was also changing and had no incentive to manage a national laboratory. DOE put the contract out for bid, and it was awarded to Martin Marietta. In 1993, Sandia Corporation moved from AT&T, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Martin. Two years later when Martin merged with Lockheed, it fell under Lockheed Martin. The contract change did not noticeably alter Sandia’s approach to its mission initially. Al Narath remained lab director into 1995, allowing for a relatively smooth transition. Under Lockheed, Narath’s quality initiatives advanced and DOE’s new Stockpile Stewardship Program was launched and got traction.
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In 1995, President William "Bill" Clinton announced a new Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship Program. The U.S. stopped nuclear testing in 1992, and the new program aimed to bring scientific and technical knowledge and techniques to replace testing and ensure the stockpile remained safe, secure, and reliable. The program included the annual certification by each of the nuclear weapons lab directors that the stockpile was safe, secure, and reliable. It also gave rise to the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) to fund the use of supercomputers for modeling and simulation to use in nuclear weapon design, evaluation, and simulated testing.
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In 2011, DOE announced that it would put the management contract for Sandia National Laboratories up for bid. The existing contract with Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sandia Corporation was then extended several times. In May 2016, with the contract extended until April 30, 2017, NNSA released a Request for Proposal, which resulted in responses from multiple entities. On December 16, 2016, NNSA announced its selection of National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a subsidiary of Honeywell International to take over Sandia’s management contract. The transition occurred on May 1, 2017, with Steve Younger stepping in as Labs Director.
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In 2018, Sandia fired up Astra, the most recent in its history of powerful supercomputers. The first computer built of Arm microprocessors, Astra opened with a theoretical peak processing speed of 2.3 petaflops. Arm processors were used for low-power mobile computers (cell phones, tablets) until Astra. In Astra the microprocessors are used for higher performance, with each of the machine’s nodes performing about 100 times faster than a cell phone and the machine as a whole using 2,592 nodes. The use of the Arm microprocessors was initiated under Sandia’s Vanguard program to invest smaller amounts of money in new technologies to investigate potential without spending extensive resources.
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In July 1959, the Sandia Lab News announced a pilot program for advanced educational opportunities for technical staff. The Technical Development Program (TDP) sent new college graduates with degrees in electrical or mechanical engineering to the University of New Mexico (UNM) to obtain a master’s degree. New hires attended UNM part-time and spent the other half at their assigned job at Sandia. The pilot program started with twenty employees and was considered successful, with TDP running for about a decade before being replaced. Between TDP and the push to hire PhD scientists, the educational level of the workforce increased noticeably in succeeding years, with bachelor’s level degrees dropping as master’s and doctorates increased.
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In March 1983, Labs leadership announced the first Distinguished Members of Technical Staff (DMTS) appointments. DMTS was originally an award, with recipients gaining a plaque, a pin, a check, and “the honorary title of DMTS.” Fifty men were named that first year, most of them already widely recognized for their significant technical achievements. The DMTS designation then became a job level, essentially an alternative to going into management that allowed employees to continue to contribute within their area of expertise while acknowledging and encouraging their roles as leaders and mentors. The pin and the check were dropped as the role became a regular job level. Over time, the Distinguished level was also extended to other job categories, including technologists and the non-technical classifications.
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In September 1945, Z Division’s field testing group began moving from Los Alamos to the new site on Sandia Base. Beginning in 1946, with flights out of Kirtland airfield, the group used a test range south of Albuquerque to drop test units for ballistic and other testing of the designs. Installing no long-term facilities at this range except target and camera-station markers, they used mobile equipment to track the test units, which also carried telemetry. The range was referred to as the Albuquerque Bombing Range initially, then as the Los Lunas Test Range. Sandia used the site intermittently into 1959 by arrangement with the Isleta Pueblo.
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In addition to drop testing at Tonopah, rocket testing was added to the site as part of the preparation for the Operation Hardtack series of nuclear test shots in the Pacific, scheduled for 1958. To support ground-launched tests, Sandia created a rocket launch capability northeast of the main target at Tonopah. The facilities constructed during the summer of 1957 included two rocket launchers, an assembly building, a control bunker, and various camera stands. Over time, three more rocket launchers were added. The rocket testing at Tonopah supported both rocket development and using rockets for shock testing of components and operation of switches.
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In addition to the impact the new clean room design had on industry, it also completely transformed surgical environments. In 1962, Dr. Randy Lovelace of the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque contacted Sandia about using the clean room in operating rooms. Lovelace’s interest was in testing the clean room to reduce bacterial contamination in a conventional operating room while studying the role of airborne bacteria in post-operative wound infections.
The first hospital operating room that used the new design was operational in January 1966 at Bataan Memorial Methodist Hospital in Albuquerque. The design included a filtered ceiling with an air chamber above it, and a clear vinyl curtain reaching from the ceiling to within 30" of the floor. Filtered air flowed straight down inside the curtained area, removing contamination as it went.
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In high-performance supercomputing, one raw measure of a computer’s speed is expressed in Floating Point Operations per Second (FLOPS). FLOPS indicate how many multiplications can be performed within one second on the machine. Thus, the CDC 6600, the world’s fastest computer 1964-1969, had a processing speed of about 1 megaFLOPS (a million FLOPS). ASCI Red’s peak was 3.2 teraFLOPS (one trillion FLOPS), while its successor, ASC Red Storm, reached a peak of 284 teraFLOPS. In 2022, Sandia worked with industrial partners to develop power measurement and control capabilities for the Astra supercomputer, which operates in the Petaflops range. The new controls allow investigations of trade-offs among performance, power usage, and temperature with an eye on developing even higher-performing machines. They just keep processing faster!
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In terms of gender roles, Sandia largely reflects the American culture around it. In the early years, women were found in support services as secretaries, clerks, nurses, human resource staff, and education, just as they were in the workforce at large. Women made up about 20% of the Sandia workforce in 1950 (compared to over 30% in the U.S. as a whole). The technical staff jobs and management positions were mainly held by male engineers and scientists. There were exceptions—supervisors in a few of the service areas, a medical doctor, a PhD chemist, engineers, physicists, and several mathematicians. Their presence in management and the technical ranks increased slowly and by the 1980s, they began an organized push for an increase in numbers and opportunities. By 2000, women were about 30% of the Sandia workforce, by 2010, 32%, and by 2020, 32.3% while about 47% of the U.S. workforce was female.
The photograph shows women supervisors in 1958 (and the areas they managed). Seated, from left: Oleta Morris (secretarial), Winifred Fellows (secretarial), Evelyn Garman (keypunch), Wynne Cox (distribution), Claudine Sproul (tracing files). Standing, from left: Irene Palmer (nursing), Ilva Baldwin (secretarial), Lila Ness (secretarial), Beulah Sutherland (data reduction), Kathleen Sadler (secretarial), Martha Tuffs (secretarial), Bertha Allen (library), Frances Hale (drafting services), Patricia Farley (employee records).
Among those not pictured, Gertrude Byrne (secretarial), Leigh Hendricks (data reduction), Bertha Merrill (data reduction), Joan Adkins (key punch), Mavis Randle (central development files), Cecile McIntosh (administrative—Livermore).
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In the 1950s atmosphere of Mutual Assured Destruction, criteria evolved to have nuclear weapons operate in environments rich with gamma- and x-rays. Sandia’s first moves into fundamental research involved understanding how materials behaved and how components performed in such conditions. The Labs began construction on the Sandia Engineering Reactor Facility in 1957 to produce test environments for research and development of radiation-hardened components. Shortly after, the Labs installed its first Van de Graaff accelerator for the same reason. The facilities expanded over the years, as did Sandia’s research into and understanding of materials science, in which it is now a leader.
Photograph of student visitors touring the new Sandia Van de Graaff in 1958.
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In the 1950s, sites within the nuclear weapons complex arranged for storage of their nuclear waste as they saw fit. By 1957, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) was recommending research on waste disposal in salt. Oak Ridge National Laboratory began that research, which continued on into 1970, when the NAS recommended that waste be stored in salt. Sites were considered and rejected until a site in Carlsbad, New Mexico was selected in 1973. In 1975, Sandia received funding for work on selecting the site and characterizing it, producing a conceptual design, drafting the Environmental Impact Statement, and initiating new scientific studies. As scientific advisor, Sandia consistently provided research and analysis over the succeeding decades, while political concerns were addressed and the Environmental Protection Agency finally certified WIPP in 1998, the last of the legal hurdles cleared in March 1999, and waste began arriving from the nuclear weapons complex right after. The salt beds where waste is buried at WIPP are more than 2,000 feet below. As requested, Sandia also began investigations into Yucca Mountain as a possible repository for high-level waste from nuclear reactors in the 1970s and in 2006 was named the lead scientific laboratory for the project, which has since been put on hold.
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In the 1958 “Sandia Story” recruiting film, a new young male engineer hired into the Labs tours the New Mexico site and gets a glimpse of Albuquerque. He also takes a trip out to Sandia’s Livermore site to get an idea of the work undertaken there. He has an opportunity to tour a bit of the Bay Area, which is beautiful and welcoming to new hires.
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In the 1980s, there was a strong push to have national labs extend the benefits of government-funded research and development to the private industrial sector. The Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 allowed laboratories owned and operated by the government to enter into cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs). The act was the first to actively promote technology transfer from the laboratories. The Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 built on the 1980 act, requiring federal scientists and engineers to participate in technology transfers and allowing them to receive a share of the royalties when their patented work is licensed.
In response to the legal encouragement, Sandia upped its work with industry and pursued several technology transfer opportunities. In 1984, a new building, identified as the Technology Transfer Center, opened in New Mexico to support presentations and discussions with industry. And, in 1989, Sandia created a new Directorate of Technology Transfer and Special Projects, specifically to work with industry and universities as well as other national laboratories to support the transfer of lab-developed innovations to industry for commercial development. Sandia made a commitment to and created a very active push for Tech Transfer.
In 1993, Sandia implemented a new program of royalty sharing to encourage patenting and commercialization of Lab innovations. Inventors received a portion of the royalties generated from any of their patented work, as did the organizations they worked in. Scientists and engineers were encouraged to work with the Intellectual Property personnel in Legal to pursue patents and to work with the Tech Transfer organization to move the patented work to industry for further development and commercialization if possible. The program still exists and has evolved since 1993, with modifications to the percentages awarded and the maximum amounts individuals can receive.
Photograph of the groundbreaking for the new Technology Transfer Center, (left to right) Senator Pete Domenici; Ray Romatowski, DOE/AL Manager; Harry Kinney, Albuquerque Mayor; Col. Gary Mears, KAFB Commander; and George Dacey, Sandia Lab Director.
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In the biggest construction push since Sandia was established, the Microsystems Engineering, Science, and Applications (MESA) project aimed to co-locate and update the Labs’ microsystems research and applications facilities. After eight years of construction, the 400,000 square foot complex was completed in 2007 at a cost of $518 million. It came in on time and under budget. The primary facilities in MESA are the MicroFab, the MicroLab, the Microelectronics Development Lab, Office and Light Lab, and the Pete V. Dominici National Security Innovation Center (the Weapon Integration Facility).
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In the earliest years, the base where Z Division (and later Sandia Laboratory) was located was relatively distant from the heart of Albuquerque. The city’s residential neighborhoods did not extend that far east, and, in the immediate postwar period, there were significant housing shortages. Some on base housing was made available to Sandians, but it was soon needed by the military, so Sandia took on managing its own housing area. The housing area included 401 family units and 97 dormitory rooms. Family units were assigned based on family size and level of employee; dormitories were separated by gender. Full maid service was available. By the second half of the 1950s, the military needed the space and Albuquerque had grown out to the north of Kirtland Air Force Base, so Sandia’s housing operations were shut down. But, working, living, and, once the Coronado Club was built, recreating together pushed the development of a close-knit community, creating a Sandia culture that was sustained in succeeding decades.
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In the early 1960s, while developing and deploying the Permissive Action Link (PAL), Sandia formed a group to test the PALs. Referred to as black hatting, the goal of the effort was to be the bad guys and find ways to get around and defeat the locks. Made up largely of mathematicians, this group tested designs, took them apart, and challenged them in multiple ways to find any weak points that needed to be redesigned. The mathematics group continued this type of work on through the decades, advancing into studies of encryption and breaking encryption. Gus Simmons was a key contributor in the 1960s and was managing the group of mathematicians by the 1970s.
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In the mid-1950s, the nuclear powers (U.S., U.S.S.R., U.K.), encouraged by the United Nations, began discussions to end nuclear testing. Within a context of mutual distrust, the specific sticking point to agreeing on a treaty was an inability to verify that any given nation was not testing. In 1958, while negotiations went on and off, the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. each offered to suspend nuclear testing; the U.K. agreed. On August 22, 1958, President Eisenhower announced the U.S. moratorium on nuclear testing would start at the end of October. The three powers all had last-minute nuclear tests during September and October. This was not a treaty or an otherwise signed agreement.
In August 1961, the Soviet Union announced it was about to resume testing and did so on September 1. The United States followed on September 15, with underground tests at the Nevada Test Site before moving to atmospheric testing in April 1962. The tests each side undertook were impressive. The Soviet Union’s 58 MT detonation of the Tsar Bomba was the largest nuclear test ever conducted. The United States’ test series included high altitude shots in the Pacific in Operation Dominic. That was the last of atmospheric testing for the U.S.S.R., U.S., and U.K.
Photograph: Certificate of Participation in Operation Hardtack, the last U.S. nuclear test series before the moratorium.
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Late in 2022, Sandia’s Military Liaison organization celebrated its 75th anniversary. Military Liaison, part of Z Division’s original assignment, was established as an organization in 1947 and has remained recognizable under the same name ever since. While clearly other functions have existed since the beginning (like weapon design and testing), no other organization has kept the same title so long. Military Liaison is exactly what it sounds like. This is the group that provides training on nuclear weapons to members of the U.S. military. It also handles reports back from the military on any issues with the weapons and oversees or trains on any in-place component replacements. Related to this work is the preparation and maintenance of the manuals for each of the nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile.
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Oh, about half of them.
This joke is told regularly to new employees during their first few months of working at Sandia.
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On April 20, 2010, BP’s Macondo Well 252 in the Gulf of Mexico suffered a natural gas blowout. The resulting explosion and fire resulted in 11 deaths and 17 injuries, as well as the sinking of the drill ship Deepwater Horizon and the largest marine oil spill in history. As the spill from the mouth of the well remained uncontained, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu asked Sandia, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support the federal response. For five months, Sandia staff in BP’s Houston office aided the effort to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf, and were ultimately successful.
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On December 7, 1962, President Kennedy toured various sites of the nuclear weapons business. He began the day touring underground Strategic Air Command facilities in Nebraska, then flying to New Mexico to tour Los Alamos and Sandia. He arrived at the Sandia/New Mexico site at dusk, where thousands of Sandians stayed after work and lined the streets of Tech Area I to see his arrival. He then received briefings on the nuclear weapons program and Sandia’s technical work.
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On January 2, 2006, an explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia left 12 dead miners and one survivor. Sandia was consulted in the ensuing investigation. Sandia’s research indicated that the explosion was likely triggered by a lightning strike reaching deep into the mine. Those findings were included in the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration report. The report led to new safety measures for mines.
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On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 exploded in air and crashed into the Atlantic ocean just 12 minutes after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. All 230 people on board died. The National Transportation Safety Board’s four-year investigation included Sandia computer modeling. The international investigation team ultimately concluded that the accident was likely due to and electrical failure that led to the ignition of fuel-air vapors in the jetliner’s central wing fuel tank, which resulted in an explosion.
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On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Japan generated a tsunami that caused significant damage, including complete electrical grid failure and damage to the backup power supplies at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Okuma, Japan. This left the plant unable to cool its reactors after shutdown, ultimately compromising containment. Seawater was pumped in to cool the reactors, becoming contaminated. On March 14, DOE and NNSA deployed a team of people with equipment to Japan to provide support. Sandians were included in that effort and subsequently provided technical expertise and analysis. Sandia researchers were also able to provide specific technical assistance by deploying the crystalline silico-titanate (CST) they had developed in the early 1990s to capture and remove radioactive cesium from the seawater pumped in to cool the plant’s towers. Sandia and UOP (a Honeywell Company) licensed and deployed the CSTs to Japan, where millions of gallons of contaminated seawater were treated.
Photograph of researchers Tina Nenoff and Jim Krumhansl, who demonstrated the effectiveness of CSTs in capturing radioactive cesium in saltwater.
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One of the earliest proposals for Sandia’s move into energy research suggested looking further into geothermal energy from subsurface magma. Sandia’s first studies in extracting geothermal energy from magma began in 1974 with drilling holes several miles deep to reach the magma and then apply the heat to steam boilers. Researchers studied the corrosive effects of molten magma on metal alloys and studies on volcanic gases and magma to understand the underground environment. Sandia worked with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on evaluating this potential energy source.
Early work included using terradynamics and weapon detonators to assess geothermal potential in Alaska, which led to successful drilling of well bores into subsurface molten rock in Hawaii. Heat extraction experiments were successful. Once scientific feasibility was illustrated, engineering feasibility was examined. For help with drilling technology, Sandia turned to the oil industry and formed an industrial committee for technical review of Sandia’s research. Along the way to developing useful geothermal energy, Sandia developed and successfully deployed a high temperature bore logging tool to measure down hole temperatures.
Photograph of Kyle White and Davie Palmer with Sandia’s new logging tool for measuring down hole temperatures.
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Sandia began as Z Division of Los Alamos when it was still part of World War II’s Manhattan Project. In July 1945, Los Alamos lab director Robert Oppenheimer undertook a broad reorganization with an eye to what the lab might look like after the war’s end.
One of the changes was to consolidate the ordnance engineering activities into one division. Identified as Z Division and placed under the leadership of Jerrold Zacharias, the new group was expected to grow. There was only one problem: Z Division had no room for expansion, so a search for a new site was undertaken. It was a large undertaking, as the requirements for this site included being near an airfield to support testing, working closely with the military, all while still being relatively close to Los Alamos.
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Sandia continued to grow rapidly after its separation from Los Alamos. The Atomic Energy Commission pushed hard for the growth of a nuclear weapons complex to produce a large war reserve stockpile, both expanding the existing sites and establishing more. Sandia grew to handle the multiple weapon designs moving through to production, addressing military requirements and pursuing new technical options.
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Sandia has extensive experience in managing, handling, using, and identifying explosives. It is occasionally asked to address questions related to explosives and has even seen technology it developed used to disarm terrorist bombs. A key tool developed at the Labs’ is the Percussion-Actuated Nonelectric (PAN) Disrupter. It was used to disable a device in the cabin of Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski after his arrest in 1996. The PAN Disrupter was also used to disable the shoe bombs Richard Reid tried to detonate on American Airlines Flight 63 on December 22, 2001. In a successful tech transfer from Sandia, the PAN Disrupter is manufactured by Ideal Products of Lexington, KY. It is widely used by bomb squads.
Photograph of PAN Disrupter inventors Rod Owenby and Chris Cherry practice using the device to disarm a dummy bomb.
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Sandia has worked with NASA over the decades on a variety of projects and programs, including planetary quarantine and testing elements of the Apollo program. NASA also turned to Sandia during the investigation and analysis of the 2003 space shuttle Columbia tragedy. Sandia brought its knowledge and expertise in materials research and characterization as well as computer simulations to bear on the problem, showing that damage to the shuttle’s wing from foam debris was the likely cause of the accident. Subsequently, Sandia developed a sensor and robotic arm system that allowed the shuttle crew to inspect the shuttle’s thermal protection shield for tiny cracks and other damage prior to landing. The system flew on more than a dozen space shuttle missions.
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Sandia intersects actively with the communities around it, offering some insight into its operations and promoting science and engineering. The interactions have varied over time. In addition to providing tours to visiting dignitaries, local leaders, teachers, and school groups in the 1950s and 1960s, the Lab mounted exhibits at county and state fairs.
In 1956, for example, Sandia exhibited at the New Mexico State Fair a 40-foot booth featuring working models of Sandia’s environmental test facilities. The following year, an even bigger exhibit was displayed in a large-balloon-type inflated structure 80-feet long that blew away in a not untypical windstorm. In 1958, the Lab borrowed a geodesic dome from Lincoln Laboratory. 82,000 visitors viewed the Sandia exhibits. The dome was so popular it remained open in the evenings (when it glowed green) and on Saturday for a week after the Fair’s end.
Sandia obtained a geodesic dome of its own and installed it just outside of Tech Area I. Easy to move and install, the dome was moved to the State Fair for another successful run. 110,586 people visited the Sphere of Science at the 1959 New Mexico State Fair.
From 1959 to 1978, the Sphere of Science served as a visitor center and introduction to Sandia’s technical work. Audiences included local educators, scientific societies, employment candidates, engineering and technical conference attendees, and service organizations. It also served as the official entry point for dignitaries and foreign visitors.
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Sandia started a program in physical security after Israeli athletes were taken hostage and killed during the 1972 Munich Olympics. The Labs has offered physical security design, analysis, and training ever since that incident. The famous 1988 sled track test that slammed an F-4 Phantom into a concrete wall was done on a contract studying the forces from the aircraft as it hit the concrete. In the same period, technology developed for nuclear treaty verification included nuclear/radiation detection capabilities.
But the 1995 Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas subway attacks in Japan concentrated attention on chemical/biological and asymmetric attacks. The following year, DOE stood up a program in civilian chem/bio defense to develop intelligence capabilities, sensors, and other technologies to detect, deter, and respond to terrorist attacks involving weapons of mass destruction. A variety of technical solutions were proposed and developed in response. The 9/11 attacks further focused attention on Sandia’s capabilities and those capabilities advanced further in the aftermath. The work continues to grow and evolve in the present.
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Sandia/California is just across East Avenue from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Like the new physics lab, it was placed on land used as Naval Air Station Livermore during World War II. In the sketch, LLNL is the square of land in the top half of the picture, while Sandia is the narrow rectangular section extending to the south.
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Sandia’s early management was not particularly concerned with Sandia having a public image. In general, the Labs’ work was classified, so there wasn’t much to be gained by discussing it in public. However, there was Sandia’s role as a neighbor in its communities, as well as informing those communities about the work done here and the jobs available. There was some resentment in the local community about Sandia’s hiring (who got jobs, who did not; how much Sandia paid vs. local salaries). To address some of that and to more fully integrate the Labs into the community, Lab Director George Landry established a public relations department under Ted Sherwin. Sherwin and management established ongoing contacts with Albuquerque’s leaders and encouraged Sandians to become involved in local activities. Sherwin also started the Sandia Lab Weekly Bulletin (which evolved into the Lab News) for internal communication with and among employees.
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Sandia’s energy research programs got their start in the 1970s and included solar power research. Early on, the Labs was interested in understanding and improving photovoltaic systems. In addition to its own research, it partnered with industry, ultimately creating the Photovoltaic Systems Evaluation Laboratory (PSEL). PSEL provides a test bed and evaluation capability for industrial photovoltaic systems. Working within the Department of Energy’s Regional Test Center program for testing solar technologies, PSEL provides an opportunity for industrial partners to study and validate the performance and reliability of their photovoltaic technology. DOE’s program provides standard data acquisition and operation protocols, offering comparison of performance in different climates and hoping to increase investor and consumer confidence.
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Sandia’s research on seismic sensors in support of Vela Uniform resulted in data regarding nearby footfalls and road traffic; basically, unwanted results because they were trying to detect nuclear tests. However, Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) had a problem the sensors might address. In the mid-1960s, the U.S. military was pursuing technology to block or reduce the incursion of North Vietnamese soldiers into South Vietnam. Originally envisioned as a wall across the border between the two states, the technology ended up put to a variety of uses. Sandia’s sensors were used around military encampments to detect intrusion and along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to detect troop and vehicle movement. Sensor work continued within Sandia, becoming an entire line of business as sensors were developed and used for a variety of detection and tracking purposes.
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Sandia’s testing continues in support of both nuclear weapons development and other mission work. The B61-12 went into production in 2022 after successful testing at the environmental test facilities in New Mexico and at Tonopah Test Range (including aircraft compatibility testing with DoD delivery systems). Sandia retains and uses the ability to fully simulate the environments a nuclear weapon will encounter in storage and in use.
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Sandia’s work with NASA in the 1960s fell into the category of work for others. This was technical research, problem-solving, and testing for organizations outside of the Atomic Energy Commission that did not directly involve nuclear weapons research and development. The work was reimbursable (the customer, not the AEC, paid for it) and the only constraints on it were that it did not require increases in personnel or facilities, that it should not be subcontracted, and that it did not compete with the private sector. The Systems Nuclear Auxiliary Power work Sandia did for NASA fell under work for others, as did the work for the Planetary Quarantine program and different non-nuclear weapons efforts for the Department of Defense, including the Strategic Defense Initiative in the 1980s. Sandia continues to work for others on a great variety of programs, although the overall name of the effort has changed to the Strategic Partnerships Program.
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The Environmental Protection Agency certified the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for storage of nuclear waste in 1998. In March of 1999, the last legal obstacles to opening WIPP are addressed and the first shipment of waste arrived from Los Alamos. Shortly after, WIPP began receiving waste from other sites in the nuclear weapons complex.
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The Kauai Test Facility exists to launch rockets. Personnel are pretty good at it.
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The Sandia Fellow recognition was established in 1986 under Lab Director Irwin Welber. Originally referred to as Senior Fellow, the position recognized the very few technical professional staff who demonstrated continuing contributions of “truly exceptional breadth, depth, and creativity” in fields related to Sandia’s technical mission. It was meant to be rare and highly selective. The first Senior Fellow was Gus Simmons, whose appointment was announced shortly after lab leadership agreed on the new category. In 1997, the title of the honor was changed to Sandia Fellow. In 2022, it was expanded to include administrative personnel. In 2018, six technical researchers were named Fellows, including the first woman Sandia Fellow (Katherine Hansen Simonson) and the first Hispanic Sandia Fellow (Gil Herrera). From 1986 into 2023, 21individuals have been identified as Sandia Fellows.
Photograph of Sandia Fellows Ed Cole, Jeff Brinker, Jerry Simmons, and John Rowe presenting insights during National Engineers Week, 2014.
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The United States developed the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) after the 1973 oil embargo caused shortages in the country’s supply of oil. The SPR stores its oil in salt caverns along the Gulf Coast. In 1978, DOE asked Sandia to conduct an independent technical assessment of the program. A Sandia team did a three-month investigation and concluded with recommendations. DOE then asked Sandia to provide ongoing scientific and engineering assistance. Sandia teams continued geological site investigations of existing and potential news sites, developed new leaching codes, conducted cavern testing and monitoring, and provided improved modeling capabilities.
Photograph of Joseph Martin trimming a sample of salt from SPR for a triaxial creep test.
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The aerodynamicists at Sandia proposed a wind power solution to energy use. Based on a design originally patented in France in 1926, they designed a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) with airfoil blades that provided lift (like an aircraft wing) and rotated into the wind, regardless of wind direction. In the 1980s, the experimental design was installed in Bushland, Texas. The windmill structure was 165 feet tall with a 10-foot-diameter vertical axis. The two bowed aluminum blades each spanned 183 feet and were 110 feet apart at their widest point. In the long run, interest in the VAWT design faded. More recently, Sandia has been involved in research to improve the productivity of wind farms by understanding how the wind moves as it encounters each windmill.
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The currently all-electronic, biweekly Sandia Lab News that provides communication both to and about the Lab began in 1948 as the mimeographed Sandia Bulletin. The Bulletin appeared sporadically at first, then became a weekly publication focused on internal news—often poking fun at individual employees, their hobbies, and their habits. With the last issue in 1950, it moved from mimeograph to print and in January 1954 became the Sandia Lab News, a biweekly publication. It has served throughout the years as a place to notify members of the workforce about events and achievements. It kept readers informed about gatherings, dances, and programs at the Coronado Club while that facility was still operating, as well as reporting on employee clubs and sports. And, on the technical side, it included reports on employees’ conference talks and society participation, as well as overview articles covering different areas of work. Testing and technological breakthroughs were covered and praised (with consideration for sensitivity). Gradually, the social aspects of the coverage thinned and articles about programs and technical achievements came to dominate.
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The first U.S. underground nuclear test was the 1.2 KT Uncle crater shot of Operation Jangle, conducted at the Nevada Test Site on November 29, 1951. However, it was 1957’s Operation Plumbbob that first included multiple underground tests, including both shaft and tunnel shots. Testing after that was a mix of underground and atmospheric shots until the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty banned all testing in space, the atmosphere, and underwater. From that point until U.S. nuclear testing ended in 1992, nuclear weapons testing was done underground.
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The nuclear weapons complex was built to produce, and it did. Between 1950 and 1963, the complex added 39 new weapon systems to the U.S. stockpile. In 1947, weapons were produced at the rate of about one every two months, and in 1959 and 1960, the production rate exceed 7,000 weapons per year. The stockpile grew accordingly, holding 13 weapons in 1947, 1,169 in 1953, and 22,229 in 1961. And it kept growing, reaching a peak of 31,255 in 1967.
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The second technology Sandia pursued in solar research was the distributed receiver concept, which grew out of earlier proposals to use solar systems to meet a variety of energy needs. The concept evolved into a distributed receiver effort, in which a receiver was provided for each reflecting surface (a dish or reflecting trough that concentrated sunlight on the receiver). Then each receiver could be linked to a heat engine or the heat from multiple receivers could be transported to a single heat engine or something that used thermal energy. Test projects using solar-powered pumps for agricultural irrigation were completed near Willard, New Mexico, and Coolidge, Arizona during the late 1970s. No economic return was seen and over time, Sandia shifted from parabolic-trough systems to emphasize the dish-Stirling concept. In this system, linked parabolic-dish reflectors were connected to simple Stirling heat engines to produce stand-alone power. This offered the potential to serve remote geographic areas.
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The site selected was near Albuquerque, New Mexico, within land already acquired by the U.S. military in the 1940s. This site selection photo from July 1945 is looking east from just west of the current Albuquerque airport towards Tijeras Canyon. Albuquerque at this point was not as large as the city we know today, and the interstate highways were not yet in place. Route 66 (Central Avenue) extends from the center left of the image up to the east and into the canyon.
The center portion of the photograph shows two military installations. In the foreground is Kirtland Army Air Field (later Air Force Base), established in 1941 as a training facility for bomber pilots. To the east of Kirtland and towards the back of the photo is Albuquerque Air Depot Training, a training center for aircraft mechanics and air depot personnel that was a convalescent center by mid-1944.
Albuquerque Army Air Field was transferred to the Corps of Engineers for the Manhattan Project’s use in July 1945. It was renamed Sandia Base and Z Division began moving there in the fall of 1945.
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This is a hydraulic centrifuge, built in 1954 to test nuclear weapon designs. With a 35.5 foot radius, it was considered the largest centrifuge in the world at the time. It was among a large suite of facilities Sandia constructed beginning in the 1950s to support environmental testing of component, subsystem, and system designs. This stop on the history tour introduces the various types of testing Sandia has conducted over the years. By the way, this centrifuge is still used today on occasion for testing very large items.
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This is a hydraulic centrifuge, built in 1954 to test nuclear weapon designs. With a 35.5 foot radius, it was considered the largest centrifuge in the world at the time. It was among a large suite of facilities Sandia constructed beginning in the 1950s to support environmental testing of component, subsystem, and system designs. This stop on the history tour introduces the various types of testing Sandia has conducted over the years. By the way, this centrifuge is still used today on occasion for testing very large items.
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This is the Photovoltaic System Evaluation Laboratory for research on and analysis of photovoltaic cells and modules. Sandia’s original mission was the design and testing of the non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons. But, beginning slowly in the 1960s, the Lab began to take on additional work, at first closely related to the nuclear weapons assignment. When the Atomic Energy Act was amended to encourage the Atomic Energy Commission to support non-nuclear energy research, Sandia advanced multiple programs in both traditional and alternative energy. And, as this stop on the tour will elucidate, Sandia’s remit has since expanded even further—it is now a multi-mission laboratory.
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This is the Photovoltaic System Evaluation Laboratory for research on and analysis of photovoltaic cells and modules. Sandia’s original mission was the design and testing of the non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons. But, beginning slowly in the 1960s, the Lab began to take on additional work, at first closely related to the nuclear weapons assignment. When the Atomic Energy Act was amended to encourage the Atomic Energy Commission to support non-nuclear energy research, Sandia advanced multiple programs in both traditional and alternative energy. And, as this stop on the tour will elucidate, Sandia’s remit has since expanded even further—it is now a multi-mission laboratory.
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This is the Thunderbird Plaza, a relatively open space with some shade and seating in Sandia/New Mexico’s Tech Area I. There are exhibits here chronicling some of Sandia’s history and the 50th Anniversary monument celebrating Sandia’s workforce. This stop in the history tour focuses on the workforce and the world they have created. The culture has changed from the early days when Sandia was still so far from Albuquerque that many employees lived on the base and celebrated together at the Coronado Club. Thunderbird Plaza is used to represent Sandia and its employees, seeing the Labs’ workforce as sharing a collaborative, productive spirit. The culture now focuses on national service and high-level problem solving.
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This is the Thunderbird Plaza, a relatively open space with some shade and seating in Sandia/New Mexico’s Tech Area I. There are exhibits here chronicling some of Sandia’s history and the 50th Anniversary monument celebrating Sandia’s workforce. This stop in the history tour focuses on the workforce and the world they have created. The culture has changed from the early days when Sandia was still so far from Albuquerque that many employees lived on the base and celebrated together at the Coronado Club. Thunderbird Plaza is used to represent Sandia and its employees, seeing the Labs’ workforce as sharing a collaborative, productive spirit. The culture now focuses on national service and high-level problem solving.
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Tonopah no longer conducts rocket launches for testing, but did multiple launches per year for decades beginning in 1957.
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Various artists have supported, described, illustrated, and captured Sandia’s science and engineering endeavors. In addition to the drafting of engineering drawings that one would expect to find in an engineering lab, visual artists created cutaways and other illustrations of weapon components and systems from the beginning. Writers covered everything from project proposals to research summaries and broader explications in research publications like Sandia Research and public-facing publications like the Sandia Lab News, and, later, the Sandia website and social media presence.
Sandia started its full-fledged technical arts department in 1948, with about two dozen fine-arts-trained artists. Many were award-winning professional artists outside of the workplace. Within Sandia, they provided technical illustrations, drawings for manuals, and interpretations of weapons and other technology, as well as graphics for the communication products of day-to-day operations.
The art department swelled through the succeeding decades, eventually forming into specialty sections focused on different types of products, such as presentations, graphic design, and print publication. By the 1980s, keyboards, monitors, and software began to supplant pens, ink, and paper. Artists blended fine-art talent with computer skills, carrying on the legacy of communicating Sandia’s work to the world.
In addition to the fine artists, Sandia has employed and contracted with many photographers over the years. Photographers captured both the technical work and the non-technical activities of Sandia personnel. Moving from early large-format black-and-white to the more recent immediacy of the digital image, the photos are reliably ubiquitous. They are also, frequently, beautiful.
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When 9/11 happened, Sandia did not have much direct involvement on the day. There were members of the workforce on travel who had to be tracked down and have their safety verified. DOE sent the workforce home, leaving only essential personnel on site and working. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, however, Sandia sent emergency personnel to Ground Zero to assist with search and rescue and also provided equipment for K-9 rescue units that transmitted live audio and video to human rescuers. Lab Director Paul Robinson also began receiving phone calls. As Robinson said, “As a result of strategic planning and the prior investment of resources for emerging threats, Sandia was in a position to immediately address some urgent needs.” NNSA asked Robinson to send a team to Washington, D.C. The team flew out on September 12, escorted by military aircraft while all commercial flights were grounded. The requests kept coming in the days after 9/11, particularly for Sandia’s expertise in systems analysis and technological knowledge. Systems analysis, a well-established and well-known Sandia specialty, had been directed at threats from weapons of mass destruction in the years immediately preceding 9/11. In the wake of 9/11, Sandia would further develop anti-terror analysis and technology, going beyond concerns with state actors while also ramping up a new biological research capability aimed at countering bio threats.
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When Sandia began studying the potential of penetrator weapons and developed the science of terradynamics in the late 1950s, it started using Davis guns to fire projectiles into the soil. The Davis gun was invented by Commander Cleland Davis in 1910 as part of an effort to develop guns that could be fired from aircraft without the recoil affecting flight. The Davis gun is a recoilless gun that balances the mass of the projectile with a counter mass leaving the gun in the opposite direction of the projectile, thus canceling out the recoil. Sandia’s version of the Davis gun was used to fire test units into the ground at its Tonopah and Edgewood test ranges as penetrator weapons were in development. Sandia still uses the Davis gun in support of various tests.
Sandia also used other guns in support of testing. In New Mexico, a gun site was established using a 155mm gun for impact testing and analysis. This facility is no longer in use, but other shock and impact environmental test facilities still use guns in their research and testing. In the late 1960s, Sandia also began using guns in testing at Tonopah Test Range. A gun pit area was built with a gun control bunker to provide impact and shock testing of components.
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When Z Division of Los Alamos was first formed, Jerrold Zacharias was placed in charge. He left at the end of war to go back to MIT; Roger Warner took his place in charge, but he then went to the Pacific for the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in 1946. So, Dale Corson took charge, but he also ended up leaving by late 1946. Bob Henderson, who was also about to leave the project, was asked to serve as acting head of the division. He agreed to take the lead as head of Z Division, but only temporarily. Then Paul Larsen was brought in to head the effort and get it on a permanent footing, including implementing a large building program to accommodate the growing site.
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When Z Division was at Los Alamos formed in 1945, it included the assembly group that put together the atomic device for testing at Trinity. That group was then called to the Pacific in 1946 for the Operation Crossroads nuclear test series. Sandia subsequently provided teams for every U.S. nuclear test, conducting assembly operations, providing fuzing and firing technology, creating safing systems, and capturing data to measure yield, blasts, effects, and a variety of other phenomena.
In addition to nuclear testing (a part of field testing), tests of components, materials, sub-systems, and systems were also conducted at Sandia. Environmental testing simulated possible and predicted environments that weapons would encounter in storage and in use. Developmental testing focused on ensuring components, sub-systems, and systems worked as designed. Field testing involved ballistic test drops, aircraft compatibility studies, and rocket testing. The site selection considerations for the New Mexico site included support for testing of all types, beginning with ballistic testing (drop testing) to improve the ballistics of the early Fat Man-type implosion weapons and the ability to conduct environmental testing.
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When the U.S. Senate ratified the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963, it placed a stipulation requiring safeguards articulated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to maintain the U.S. nuclear weapon research and development program. The third safeguard was the Readiness Program for “maintenance of the facilities and resources necessary to institute promptly nuclear tests in the atmosphere should they be deemed essential to our national security or should the treaty or any of its terms be abrogated by the Soviet Union.”
In response to the safeguard mandate, the Air Force formed a special unit at Kirtland Air Force Base with aircraft ready to begin nuclear testing at any time. Sandia was involved in the readiness effort to modify three NC135 aircraft to serve as flying laboratories for each of the nuclear weapons labs, design test vehicles to carry the devices and telemetry for nuclear tests, and participate in readiness practice missions, often in connection with scientific research projects. The three laboratories embarked on a variety of atmospheric studies, including auroral research, high altitude research, and eclipse studies as part of the effort to keep the NC135 aircraft in active use for Readiness.
Photograph of Sandians preparing for a research trip on the Labs’ NC-135 (in background).
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You are in the lobby of Sandia’s executive offices, where the buck, or at least the important visitor, stops. As you’ll discover at this stop on the tour, part of Sandia’s leadership lies in the companies that have held the Labs’ management contract, part with the managers who make the day-to-day decisions about operations, and part with the various employees who have taken on leadership roles from their positions as staff.
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You are in the lobby of Sandia’s executive offices, where the buck, or at least the important visitor, stops. As you’ll discover at this stop on the tour, part of Sandia’s leadership lies in the companies that have held the Labs’ management contract, part with the managers who make the day-to-day decisions about operations, and part with the various employees who have taken on leadership roles from their positions as staff.
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Z Division began moving down to Sandia Base in September 1945. Field testing was one of the first operations to move, and both new and existing facilities were brought into use. Wartime shortages of construction materials continued after the war, and some buildings were disassembled at other military bases that were experiencing staff reductions and reassembled for Z Division. New structures, military in design and quickly constructed, also appeared, including Building 828 (under construction near the base chapel in the photo) to house environmental test equipment for new weapon designs.
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Z Division focused on the design, testing, and production of the non-nuclear portions of nuclear weapons. Its mission was to turn the nuclear physics package into a deliverable weapon. As an engineering group, its key functions included design, field test, assembly, and military liaison.
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Z Division was envisioned as an industrial operation, with weapon assembly a key part of its mission. The building program of 1948 included assembly facilities constructed in Tech Area II, a diamond-shaped parcel of land to the south of the main tech area. The assembly facilities opened in fall 1948. Components manufactured around the country arrived at Sandia, were unpacked, assembled into subsystems, and taken out to Tech Area II where they entered one of two assembly buildings at the lower end. Each weapon moved through a series of bays as its various parts were put together, including the high explosives. Weapons left the high bay end of the building and were shipped off to storage. At the time, weapons were assembled without their nuclear physics packages, or cores, which were stored separately.
Even as the assembly buildings neared completion late in 1948, plans were underway to move the assembly activities to other sites in the nuclear weapons complex. The Burlington Plant in Iowa had been selected, and Pantex would soon follow as the nuclear weapons complex expanded to produce a large war reserve stockpile. Sandia was the primary assembly site for the U.S. stockpile from 1948 to 1952 while Burlington and Pantex came online.
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Z Division, as part of Los Alamos, was part of the new contracting arrangement established during World War II for significant research efforts. Referred to as government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO), this new way of doing business allowed the federal government to own and pay for massive research endeavors without having to directly hire all of the scientists, engineers, and other staff to operate the facilities. Large industrial or military contractors could bring their expertise to bear on getting the government’s work done. The GOCO arrangements continued after the war, and when Sandia separated from Los Alamos, Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Electric, took over its management within the GOCO model. GOCO is a rather loose, descriptive term for the arrangement. In the 1960s, a new term was introduced to define and provide some expectations and constraints on these types of arrangements. Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC) were defined and listed beginning in 1971 and Sandia has been on that list since.
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On September 1, 1961, the Soviet Union ended the nuclear testing moratorium agreed to in 1958. They began with a series of large nuclear shots and the United States soon followed, first with underground tests at the Nevada Test Site, then with atmospheric tests there and in the Pacific in 1962. The Pacific test series, called Operation Dominic, included a set of high-altitude shots referred to as the Fishbowl series. Among the preparations Sandia made for Dominic were diagnostic rockets that could track and record data from the high-altitude shots. In addition to launching rockets from Johnston Island, Sandia used a site at Barking Sands on Kauai.
Photograph of a Nike-Apache rocket on a Sandia HAS launcher ready for launch from Kauai during Operation Dominic.
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Step into Sandia’s past—see how the Labs has grown from its origin as a part of Los Alamos into a multidisciplinary research and development institution supporting multiple national security-related missions.
You are standing on the path between two of Sandia’s early facilities. Their exterior design with the long rows of windows clearly marks them as products of the mid-20th century. One facility still houses some of the core nuclear weapons design mission activities for which it was built. The other originally held Sandia’s main machine shop, but now hosts programs related to newer national security missions. This stop in the history tour offers information on Sandia’s origins and early development.
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At its test range within what is now the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, Sandia developed both rail-launch and vertical-launch rocket facilities, testing hundreds of rockets over the years. In the 1980s, the facilities at the Kauai Test Facility were upgraded and expanded to conduct testing for the Strategic Defense Initiative. Work continues at the site, largely in support of non-nuclear weapons-related research and development for defense customers.
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Sandia’s recruiting efforts reflect both the era and the Lab’s needs at the time. They consistently emphasize the challenging work, the recreational opportunities available to Sandia employees, and the Southwest setting. The mission is deliberately emphasized through the opportunity to serve, particularly in the early decades.
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Step into Sandia’s past—see how the Labs has grown from its origin as a part of Los Alamos into a multidisciplinary research and development institution supporting multiple national security-related missions.
You are standing on the path between two of Sandia’s early facilities. Their exterior design with the long rows of windows clearly marks them as products of the mid-20th century. One facility still houses some of the core nuclear weapons design mission activities for which it was built. The other originally held Sandia’s main machine shop, but now hosts programs related to newer national security missions. This stop in the history tour offers information on Sandia’s origins and early development.
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The original contract between the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and Western Electric to operate Sandia was 26 pages, and that included an Appendix with the contract between Sandia Corporation and Western Electric to actually staff and run the place. It encouraged using and procuring U.S.-made products and materials, forbade use of convict labor, specified the AEC’s right to audit, detailed a bit on Sandia obtaining products from Western, and generally made clear the boundaries of the relationship. It was a no-profit, no-fee contract in which Western made no money, but was responsible for managing the federal funds it received as reimbursement for Sandia’s costs well.
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window_C4F69C8A_FD27_C588_41EC_A8474F15C3CF.title = Why Work Here? window_C7B48C70_FD2B_C498_41E2_E3934F10F27D.title = Why the Thunderbird? window_C1CEBB0F_D962_2049_41B5_55AE7B5F37AF.title = Work for Others window_FBA21D81_A99C_1B0E_41AB_6735DAE94277.title = Workforce and Culture window_C3946051_FD64_DC98_41E3_041D0B686829.title = Workforce and Culture window_FAC4BDAE_DD2D_4788_41EA_AA0EE608A2A3.title = You Say GOCO, I Say FFRDC ## Skin ### Button Button_0D63E6A4_3A5C_EB54_41BA_117E3353DC37.label = See Comentarty Button_16E67846_3A54_67D4_41C8_5AC4A04EF1B1.label = See Fun Button_151551BC_3A54_E8B4_4199_FB06E254FD76.label = See Info Button_1508137B_3A6C_69BC_41BF_A32C70AC885C.label = See Sandia Steps Up Button_1FC71C37_39AC_5FB4_4192_384DE8EF3A32.label = show All ### Image Image_006EE4A9_0E00_2BB0_41AC_111B66C97B9C.url = skin/Image_006EE4A9_0E00_2BB0_41AC_111B66C97B9C_en.png Image_02660285_0E00_2E70_419F_BF922C63737B.url = skin/Image_02660285_0E00_2E70_419F_BF922C63737B_en.png Image_1F5DF8E2_1C62_BF8C_41A3_2508508402AB.url = skin/Image_1F5DF8E2_1C62_BF8C_41A3_2508508402AB_en.png Image_1FE22821_1C26_9E8C_41B6_923E167B585D.url = skin/Image_1FE22821_1C26_9E8C_41B6_923E167B585D_en.png Image_4B679893_40F0_1B47_41CD_B75F2E07DBC5.url = skin/Image_4B679893_40F0_1B47_41CD_B75F2E07DBC5_en.png Image_59BCFB6D_5130_C1C9_41BE_D0E39DB625B5.url = skin/Image_59BCFB6D_5130_C1C9_41BE_D0E39DB625B5_en.png ### Multiline Text HTMLText_4CC54F85_4050_1543_41CC_8E7E56628DA1.html =
858 Lobby


Originally built in the late 1980s to house the Manufacturing Development Laboratory and its offices, Building 858 expanded significantly when 858EF (the MicroFab) and 858EL (MicroLab) were added as part of the MESA construction. The building houses wafer manufacturing, compound semiconductor fabrication, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) production, and electronic circuit manufacturing.
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858 Photolith Lab


Sandia maintains a clean room outside of the MicroFab area for its photolithography processes. This allows the MESA workers to develop and maintain customized processes without disruption to the manufacturing effort.


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858 SiliconFab


Building 898 is a three-story, partially pre-fabricated, facility housing offices and light laboratories. Designed as an integrated facility promoting interaction among groups via workspace blocks, the building sports a postmodern, high-tech industrial design. Its polished stone and steel and glass exterior includes curvilinear walled ribbons of windows leading to the northeast entrance, and extended wings with sun-protecting louvered windows. The soaring lobby and high ceilings create an open and empowering environment for the design work housed here.
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898 Corridor


State-of-the-art videoconferencing and stunning projection capabilities make the VIEWS Corridor a prime viewing and sharing spot for scientific computing displays. Output from the visualization tools used in Sandia's high performance computing arena can be projected in 3D. The area is a magnet for VIP visits and tours.


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898 Lobby


Building 898 is a three-story, partially pre-fabricated, facility housing offices and light laboratories. Designed as an integrated facility promoting interaction among groups via workspace blocks, the building sports a postmodern, high-tech industrial design. The soaring lobby and high ceilings create an open and empowering environment for the design work housed here.
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Gowning Room


Clean rooms environments are kept clean both by limiting the volume of particles introduced to the space and by constantly moving the air to remove particles. Workers wear protective garments to reduce the number of contaminants they introduce to the room. This changing station allows staff to put on appropriate layers prior to entering a clean room; additional changing rooms allow for full changes of clothing.
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MicroFab


The MESA Microsystems Fabrication facility is one of the most complex buildings at Sandia. It is the first in the world to combine silicon processing with fabrication of compound semiconductors under one roof. This is the heart of microsystem manufacturing, done primarily in cleanrooms.


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Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications (MESA)


Welcome to MESA, home of Sandia’s advanced nuclear weapons research, design and development functions, as well as integrated materials research, and the production facilities for microsystem technologies.


Focused primarily on the nuclear weapons mission, the facilities that make up MESA ultimately connect with all of Sandia's mission areas via microsystems research and applications.


After eight years of construction, MESA was completed in 2007 at a cost of $518 million. It was Sandia's largest construction project since the Labs' first permanent buildings were built in the 1940s.


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