The need for nuclear weapons as an effective deterrent remains strong in the United States. In fact, nuclear weapons are even more crucial in today’s world than ever before. Sandia is poised to reap the benefits of our decades-long history as a nuclear weapons engineering leader and resource, and thus contribute to the vision of nuclear weapons that will serve a new era in the global, information-rich society of the 21st century.
Sandia’s nuclear weapons program is a core element of our national-security work. Simply put, U.S. nuclear weapons deter others from destroying our nation and our world. Their absence would enable potential enemies – whether rogue states or terrorist groups – to initiate nuclear attacks without fearing retaliation. Hostile dictators could seize power, threaten nuclear destruction, and hold the world hostage. For the sake of global peace and security, such a situation cannot be allowed to occur.
An electrical engineer in a Sandia weapons engineering group investigates a modular electronic assembly.
Imagine an automobile that’s been locked up inside a garage, unneeded and impossible to drive for on-road testing. The vehicle must be kept completely safe and secure. Now, imagine that it’s suddenly vital that the car perform perfectly. Your life – and the lives of your family and millions of others – depends on whether the car will start up and deliver you to your destination, with every part of the vehicle working precisely as designed.
This analogy represents the nuclear stockpile challenge faced by our nation – a challenge in large part entrusted to Sandia. Our engineers must ensure that the "working parts" of the nuclear stockpile are in perfect order, able to carry out their exact functions despite lying dormant for many years. Our engineers must also make sure that stockpile weapons are completely safe (no accidental detonations) and secure (no unauthorized detonations by the wrong parties). Thus, at Sandia, weapons engineers have the opportunity and challenge to contribute to global peace at a very personal level.
A technical staff member inspects her data acquisition assembly before securing it to the shock table.
To tackle this task of modernizing, updating, and even replacing the aging nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile, we recruit the brightest and most talented scientific minds, equip them with the latest technology, and support them with tremendous resources so that they can tackle the challenge that faces the nuclear weapons program today.
World-class scientists and engineers are drawn to Sandia by opportunities to conduct breakthrough research. Sandia designs and integrates over 6,300 parts of a modern nuclear weapon's 6,500 components. Our state-of-the-art laboratories facilitate large-scale testing and computational simulation, supporting efforts to:
Engineers at Sandia/California work on many specific weapons programs and activities, including the following:
Sandia technical staff members discuss the electrical simulation results of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that was developed at Sandia.
Nuclear weapons are the foundation for our nation’s deterrence policy, but the world has changed dramatically since nuclear weapons research first began. Sandia is committed to bringing the best technology, resources, and people to make sure that nuclear weapons are responsive and relevant to today’s needs. We support the nation’s goal of absolute control – to always know where the weapon is and what state it is in. Since our inception, we have been asked to tackle the most important problems facing our nation to ensure our national security, and we continue to serve and strive toward that end.
For more information, e-mail nw-info@sandia.gov.