The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Wednesday detonated a conventional explosive underground at the Nevada National Security Site, the sixth in a set of experiments meant to enhance U.S. abilities to monitor low-yield nuclear testing and detect underground explosions.
The activity, part of the agency’s Source Physics Experiment research, involved the detonation of chemical explosives equivalent to 2,200 kilograms of trinitrotoluene (TNT) 31 meters underground, the announcement said. High-speed video, photogrammetry, synthetic aperture radar, accelerometers, and other technologies will be used to analyze seismic, infrasound, optical, acoustic, geospatial, and magnetic data from the test, it said.
The NNSA will next begin Phase II experiments consisting of explosions in alluvium, a softer rock – in contrast with the hard rock used for Phase I – to identify the impact of geology on seismic waves from subterranean nuclear blasts. Five explosions during the next phase are set to be conducted in the next two years, the NNSA said.
Researchers from the Nevada site and the Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia national laboratories are among those participating in the experiment series, which Anne Harrington, NNSA deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation, said in the statement is intended to “advance technical solutions for treaty monitoring by the United States and its partner nations.”
Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), the management and operations contractor for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, is seeking multiple construction firms to compete in an upcoming solicitation for construction and design build services.
The sources sought notice posted Saturday said LLNS plans to award multiple master task agreements for services involving “either design-build projects or construction projects involving architectural, structural and other construction-related tasks.” The solicitation does not specify the date of the upcoming solicitation or the facilities or projects for which the construction services are necessary.
The total annual expenditure for the agreements are estimated at $90 million to $130 million over four years, the notice said. Interested firms should complete and submit the representation and certification form available at fbo.gov to Cher Loder at [email protected].
From the Wires:
- From the Washington Post: Ten former nuclear launch officers warn against allowing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump access to U.S. nuclear codes.
- From Wired magazine: President Barack Obama fears an artificial intelligence being trained to steal U.S. nuclear codes.
- From Quartz: The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking into blockchain technology as a means of protecting nuclear-weapon data and other sensitive information.
- From the State Department: Secretary of State John Kerry observes the 30th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev’s nuclear arms-focused summit in Reykjavik, Iceland.
- From Bloomberg: A Russian lieutenant general says the “illusion of invulnerability and impunity” provided by missile defense could lead the United States to take unilateral action that could “lead to a decrease in the threshold for using nuclear weapons to preempt enemy actions.”
- From the Union of Concerned Scientists (via Politico): Recommendations for the Obama administration to further cut the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons and materials, including by dropping the number of deployed strategic weapons to about 1,200.
