National Laboratory

NNSA Awards Largest Federal Wind Farm Contract to Siemens

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Siemens wind turbine. Courtesy photo

NNSA News:

AMARILLO–The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has awarded a contract to Siemens Government Technologies, Inc., (Siemens) to construct and operate the federal government’s largest wind farm.

The Pantex wind farm, a first in the NNSA enterprise, will consist of five 2.3 megawatt turbines located on 1,500 acres of government-owned property east of the Pantex Plant.

Energy savings from the wind farm average $2.9 million annually over a 20-year contract term and the project will enable Pantex to meet the President’s energy Read More

NIST Patent Could Give ‘Lab on a Chip’ Technology Long Shelf Life

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A recent NIST patent shows that nanopores, which may one day help doctors perform quick analysis of blood samples, are not harmed by the polymerization process that could help nanopores operate in biochips. Polymerization hardens and stabilizes the membrane surrounding the nanopores, both of which are beneficial effects. Courtesy Robertson/NIST

NIST News:

Having blood drawn and analyzed to diagnose disease is a process that can take a few days, but what if your doctor could perform this analysis in moments, right before your eyes?

That’s the promise of “lab on a chip” technology, and researchers Read More

Michelle Hall Garners Top Geophysical Education Award

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Michelle Hall of Los Alamos with Michael McFadden, President of the American Geophysical Union at an awards ceremony last month in San Francisco at which Hall was honored. Courtesy photo

 

By Carol A. Clark

Michelle Hall of Los Alamos received the 2012 American Geophysical Union Excellence in Geophysical Education Award during a special honors ceremony Dec. 5 in San Francisco.

Hall is a geophysicist and science educator who is married to Terry Wallace, Principal Associate Director of Global Security at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Hall was recognized and honored by the AGU for her Read More

Regional Coalition of LANL Communities Meets Jan. 18

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RCLC members from top row left, Commissioner Mayfield, Brian Bosshardt, Harry Burgess, Mayor David Coss, Seth Kirshenberg, John Heaton. Bottom row from left, Sharon Stover, Commissioner Chavez, Mayor Alice Lucero. Courtesy photo

RCLC News:

 

Regional Coalition of LANL Communities Business Meeting is scheduled for 9-11 a.m. Jan. 18 at Ohkay Casino Conference Center, Suite C/D, Highway 68 – two miles North of Espanola in the Pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh.

 

AGENDA

9:00

 

Welcome & Introductions

Mayor Lucero

 

Action

Confirmation of Quorum

Mayor Lucero

 

Read More

NNSA Holds Radiation Emergency Consequence Management Training in Israel

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Soreq Nuclear Research Center is an applied R&D Institute affiliated to the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. Courtesy/Soreq.gov

NNSA News:

WASHINGTON, D.C.–The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week conducted a training course on Consequence Management (I-CM) in Israel.

The training was held in the Soreq Nuclear Research Center and was attended by 25 Israeli participants.

“The training is part of an ongoing bilateral cooperation between NNSA and Israel,” said NNSA Associate Administrator for Emergency Operations Joseph Krol. “The training provided participants Read More

LANL 6 Found Guilty on Two of Three Counts

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The self-named LANL 6 protesters outside the Los Alamos Justice Center Wednesday include Janet Greenwald, Catherine Euler, Pamela Gilchrist, Cathie Sullivan, Benjamin ‘Summer’ Abbott and Barbara Grothus. Photo by Greg Kendall/ladailypost.com

By Greg Kendall

Six defendants sat in the front of Judge Alan Kirk’s Municipal Courtroom at the Los Alamos Justice Center Wednesday morning with their defense lawyer, Santa Fe Attorney Jeffery Haas.

The defendants were on trial for charges of trespass, refusing to obey an officer and obstructing movement as a result of their actions Read More

Sig Hecker to Talk on Los Alamos and Kazakhstan

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Sig Hecker
 
Dr. Siegfried S. Hecker, PhD, is an Austrian-Polish-American nuclear scientist and metallurgist who served as director of Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1986 until 1997.

On Jan. 19, Hecker will present a public talk titled, “One of the Greatest Nuclear Stories Never Told – Los Alamos and Kazakhstan.”

Hecker works at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.
 
He explains that in 1992, the Russians pulled out of their former huge nuclear test site at Semipalatinsk, now in the newly independent Republic of Kazakhstan.
 
Read More

Local Scientist Competing in 3,000-Mile Race

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Lisa Dougherty participating last November in the 24 Hour World Time Trial Championships in Coachella Valley, Calif., finished 2nd among the women, one 16-mile loop behind six-time Race Across AMerica (RAAM) winner Seana Hogan. Courtesy photo

By Carol A. Clark

Local athlete Lisa Dougherty is a Ph.D. materials scientist, Project Management Professional and Certified Quality Engineer working full-time as an engineer at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL.)

In November, she qualified to participate in the 3,000 mile non-stop Race Across AMerica – RAAM. She will start in Oceanside, Read More

‘Standard Quantum Limit’ Smashed, Could Mean Better Fiber-Optic Comms

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Fiber optic communications illustration. Courtesy/NIST

NIST News:

Communicating with light may soon get a lot easier, hints recent research* from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland’s Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), where scientists have potentially found a way to overcome a longstanding barrier to cleaner signals.

The findings, which demonstrate for the first time an error rate far below the “standard quantum limit” for a wide range of light levels, could increase the efficiency of fiber-optic systems by reducing Read More

LANL: Check Out Latest Addition of National Security Science Magazine

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Readers May Be Surprised: look inside the new issue of National Security Science magazine

In this issue:

  • Solving a Nuclear Whodunit—How Los Alamos solves the crime could deter it from happening.
  • Giving Nuclear Watchdogs Their Bite—Who trains all of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) inspectors?
  • Surplus Plutonium Pits—Only Los Alamos can convert them into fuel for civilian nuclear reactors.
  • Los Alamos Technology Goes to Mars—The Mars Curiosity rover wouldn’t rove without the Laboratory’s plutonium power source.
  • Stockpile Size—Too many? Too few? Brig.
Read More