The awards included the DOE/NNSA Silver Medal, given to John McClelland, Deputy Associate Director for experimental programs. Due to retire this month, he has been at Los Alamos National Laboratory for 25 years and has been instrumental in weapons physics, advanced radiography programs and accelerator physics. McClelland has been in his current position since June 2003.
A fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics, McClelland received his doctorate in physics from the University of California at Los Angeles. McClelland's work on advanced radiography includes research and development in proton radiography, optimization of the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrotest facility, and simulation and analysis of Advanced Hydrotest Facility design and theory.
Additional individual awards were presented to Sieg Shalles for his work on the annual assessment of the nuclear weapons stockpile, Patrice Stevens for her work on weapons surety and Cheryll Faust for her technical oversight of pit surveillance.
Team awards went to the Los Alamos Classified Media Library Start-Up Team, the Armando Sub-Critical Experiment Team, The Model Based Engineering W76 JTA Behavioral Modeling Team, the Plutonium Casting Team, the TEPLA Team, the Weapons Manufacturing Procedures Task Team, the Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments (DANCE), the Process Engineering, Implementation and Maintenance Group, the Weapons Program Decision Analysis Team, the High-Explosive Radio Telemetry (HERT) Team, the ESD Technical Basis Development Team, the Los Alamos Earned Value Reporting Team, the Lead Slowing-Down Spectrometer team, the Qual 2 Metallography team, the Understanding Neutron Tube Target Lifetime team, the W76-1 Acorn Sub-component Development Team, the 4T Terrazzo Gas Transfer System team, the Concept Development Team, the Full-Scale Test Facility Team, the Los Alamos High Explosives Study Team, the Los Alamos Pit Capacity Study Team and the Los Alamos Radiography Study Team.
Defense Programs Awards of Excellence are given to both Federal and contractor employees for significant achievements in quality, productivity, cost savings, safety or creativity in support of the nuclear weapons program. The awards were presented to the winners by David Crandall, the NNSA's assistant deputy administrator for research, development and simulation, at a special ceremony held at the Laboratory last Thursday.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.