World

NNSA Conducts Experiment To Improve U.S. Ability To Detect Foreign Nuclear Explosions

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NNSA News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, a National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) led-team successfully conducted the fourth in a series of experiments designed to improve our ability to detect underground nuclear explosions.

The Source Physics Experiment (SPE-4 Prime) is a fundamental step forward in the U.S. effort to improve arms control verification, and will eventually be used to assure compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, Anne Harrington, noted that “The seismic Read More

New Research Reveals Europa’s Mystery Dark Material Could Be Sea Salt

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AGU/NASA News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― New laboratory experiments suggest the dark material coating some geological features of Jupiter’s moon Europa is likely sea salt from a subsurface ocean, discolored by exposure to radiation.
The presence of sea salt on Europa’s surface suggests the ocean is interacting with its rocky seafloor―an important consideration in determining whether the icy moon could support life.
 
The new study has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, and is available
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Threading Forever Exhibit At Mesa Public Library Features Internationally Renowned Artists June 5-27

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‘Metamorphosis Series’ by Theresa DiMenno. Courtesy/MPL

MPL News:

Mesa Public Library’s Upstairs Art Gallery will be the site for some exceptional art work with international ties June 5 through June 27.

Three artists of the collaborative Threading Forever, and one additional special guest, will show works ranging from sculpture to digital art and photography.

Threading Forever has been brought together through the efforts of Jemez resident and sculptor Harriette Lawler. A long-time resident of New York City and a veteran of many exhibits throughout the United States and Europe, Lawler Read More

Armenia Secures Dangerous Radioactive Sources In Cooperation With NNSA

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NSA News:

YEREVAN, Armenia – The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) joined the Republic of Armenia today to announce the safe and secure removal of three unused radioactive sources from two locations in Yerevan, Armenia.

The successful completion of the radioactive source recovery campaign was conducted by the Armenia Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ANRA).

Since 2002, the NNSA’s Radiological Security Program has committed over two million dollars to Armenia in support of radiological security projects. Together, ANRA and NNSA have removed, identified Read More

Mars Rover’s ChemCam Instrument Gets Sharper Vision

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Yellowjacket is the first rock targeted by the NASA Mars Rover’s ChemCam device after checkout of the auto-focus repair. It is a layered sedimentary rock. The laser analysis yielded a composition very close to that of Mars soil and unlike the lakebed sedimentary compositions observed at lower elevations and earlier in the mission. The soil-like composition may indicate that these rocks formed from sediment transported by wind, rather than by water. The ChemCam image also shows millimeter-size spherules of unknown origin, not seen in most earlier sedimentary rocks. Yellowjacket was analyzed Read More

NNSA Hosts International Nuclear Forensics Workshop

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NNSA News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― During May 11-22, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence program held a hands-on nuclear forensics course at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington. The “International Training Course on Nuclear Forensics Methodologies,” was co-sponsored with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 
 
Twenty participants from eight countries focused on the application of nuclear forensics methods during the investigation of nuclear or
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AIA: Mark Von Hagen Lecture On Ukraine May 31

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Dr. Mark Von Hagen

AIA News:

 

ALBUQUERUQE – The Albuquerque International Association (AIA) will host a public lecture by Dr. Mark Von Hagen titled “Ukraine between East and West: Linking the Past to the Present” at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 31, at UNM Continuing Education Auditorium, 1634 University Blvd. NE in Albuquerque.

There is no one in the country better able to explain Ukraine in terms of its current problems, as well as in terms of its troubled history than Von Hagen. He Hagen was educated at Georgetown University, Indiana University-Bloomington, and Stanford University, where he received Read More

New Options For Plutonium Pit Production At LANL

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Pit Production would continue at PF-4, according to new report by the Congressional Research Service. Courtesy/LANL

 

By ROGER SNODGRASS
Los Alamos Daily Post
  • Would relocating Royal Crest help solve safety problem?

The Royal Crest trailer park may have a role to play in fulfilling a Congressional mandate for Los Alamos National Laboratory to resume production of plutonium pits, the imploding, hollow cores that detonate thermonuclear weapons.

A report by the Congressional Research Service that became available this week proposes several options to solve manufacturing, safety Read More

Legislation Introduced To Build Cuba’s Digital Economy

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SENATE News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― U.S. Senators Tom Udall, D-N.M., Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Dick Durbin, D-Ill. and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. introduced bipartisan legislation Tuesday that would enable U.S. telecommunications and Internet companies to provide their services and devices in Cuba.
 
Cuba is one of the least wired countries in the western hemisphere, leaving many Cubans unable to access the Internet for things like business development, political discourse and personal communications.
 
Smartphones also are unusable in Cuba, and the few Cubans who do have access to
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IIE Announces 160 Study Abroad Scholarships

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IIE News:
 
NEW YORK — Leading up to its centennial celebration in 2019 and building on its nearly 100-year commitment to study abroad, the Institute of International Education launched Generation Study Abroad® in 2014 to double the number of students who study abroad each year.
 
With less than 10 percent of American college students studying abroad, IIE is taking action to enable more U.S. students, especially those who are typically underrepresented in U.S. study abroad, to participate in an academic, internship, or service-learning
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