Nothing less than the role calculations have played in decades of nuclear testing will be the topic of a classified Director's Colloquium by a veteran weapons scientist scheduled for Wednesday.John Hogan, senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories, will speak on "Slide Rules, Pocket Calculators and Nuclear Effects," at 1:10 p.m., Wednesday in the Administration Building Auditorium at Technical Area 3.
All attendees must be U.S. nationals who hold "Q" clearances and have sigmas 1-10 assigned by line management.
"As a user of nuclear weapons effects calculations for 30 years, both for the analysis of weapon requirements and the evaluation of competitive concepts, I plan to share a few lessons learned," Hogan said.
His talk will cover how such calculations were performed and scaling laws that emerged. He will provide several examples of calculational results, focusing on collateral damage, which has been a subject of discussion for decades among those engaged in planning for NATO and experts on tactical weapons.
"Collateral damage was studied in great detail in the 1970s as new weapons were proposed," Hogan said.
Hogan will discuss uncertainties in nuclear effects calculations and different methods of addressing those uncertainties.
"I want to challenge the community to engage in a detailed analysis of nuclear weapon effects, both effects on target as well as collateral damage," Hogan said.
At Sandia, Hogan began the Weapon Intern Program and the new hire program and continues to teach nuclear weapons courses. He served with the U.S. Army's Pershing Project Office in charge of the W50, W85 and W86 warheads.
The goal for the classified colloquium series is to disseminate important and interesting information on classified scientific topics to Los Alamos technical staff. The talks are planned to help inform a wide audience of Los Alamos' major classified scientific research and to stimulate discussions within an appropriate, secure environment, ultimately leading to future ideas and initiatives that will advance classified programs.
Transportation is available by calling 7-TAXI (7-8294) and indicating that you are attending the classified colloquium.