As a key participant in the nation’s Stockpile Stewardship Program, Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory is committed to maintaining confidence in the U.S.
nuclear weapons stockpile. Stockpile stewardship is a principal mission of the Department
of Energy’s
National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
The Stockpile Stewardship Program
is designed to ensure the safety, security, and reliability
of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile to meet the security
needs of the 21st century. Confidence in
the performance of weapons is to be maintained through
an ongoing process of stockpile surveillance, assessment
and certification, and refurbishment or weapon replacement.
The three major program elements—surveillance,
assessment and certification, and refurbishment or
replacement—are tightly interconnected. Livermore
has many close partnerships and working relationships
with other sites in the NNSA weapons complex, which
includes three laboratories, the production plants,
and the Nevada Test Site. As one of the two nuclear
design laboratories (the other is Los Alamos), we have
particularly important formal certification responsibilities.
The Laboratory also operates a number of unique, state-of-the-art
experimental and computer facilities that are essential
for program success.
Livermore is the design laboratory
for four weapon systems in the stockpile: the
W87 and W62 ICBM warheads, the B83 bomb, and
the W84 cruise missile warhead. They are expected
to remain in the stockpile well past their originally
anticipated lifetimes. Lawrence Livermore and
Sandia/California are also responsible for the
W80, a cruise-missile
warhead designed by Los Alamos.
Stockpile
Surveillance. Stockpile surveillance focuses on assessing the condition of weapons and understanding the effect of aging on them. Aging affects the physical characteristics of materials, and we must determine how these changes affect weapon safety and performance. With a better understanding of aging—together with the development of new diagnostic tools and improved analysis methods—stockpile surveillance can be more predictive, making it possible to correct developing problems. It is important to be able to detect subtle changes to the weapon system well in advance of the change causing a safety, reliability, or performance issue.
Sampling gases in aging nuclear weapons
Assessment
and Certification. Assessments of the safety and performance of stockpiled weapons and actions taken to modify them must be based on demonstrated performance. The assessments draw on existing nuclear test data, nonnuclear tests, fundamental science experiments, and simulations using validated computer models. The experimental data are used together with past nuclear test results to validate the computer simulations of weapon performance in the absence of nuclear testing. Validated simulations guide expert judgments about stockpile issues.
Such demonstration-based assessments underpin the Annual Assessment Review and the certification of a replacement weapon or a weapon system that undergoes refurbishment to extend its stockpile life.
Visualization of a 3D simulation
Weapon
Refurbishment or Replacement.
The Laboratory completed the W87 Life Extension Program, a very successful demonstration
of stockpile stewardship in the absence of nuclear testing. Refurbishment of
the W87 ICBM warhead extends the lifetime of the weapon to beyond 2025.
Livermore is also an active participant in NNSA’s Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program. The program’s goal is to determine the effectiveness of replacing existing warheads with ones manufactured from materials that are more readily available and more environmentally benign than those used in current designs. These modified warheads would be much less costly to manufacture, their designs would include advanced safety technology, and their safety and reliability would be easier to certify.