As part of NNSA’s mission to extend the lifetime of nuclear weapons in the stockpile, the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Campaign provides NNSA with leading edge, high-end simulation capabilities.  The ASC program helps NNSA to meet nuclear weapons assessment and certification requirements, including: weapon codes, weapon science, computing platforms, and supporting infrastructure.

NNSA’s three national laboratories house three of the world’s fastest supercomputers: the BlueGene/L at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Red Storm at Sandia National Laboratories, and the soon to be delivered Roadrunner at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

ASC simulations are central to U.S. national security, as they provide a computational surrogate for nuclear testing.  NNSA’s ability to model the extraordinary complexity of nuclear weapons systems is essential to establish confidence in the performance of our aging stockpile.  ASC tools enable nuclear weapons scientists and engineers to gain a comprehensive understanding of the entire weapons lifecycle from design to safe processes for dismantlement. Also, through close coordination with other government agencies, ASC tools also play an important role in supporting nonproliferation efforts, emergency response, and nuclear forensics.