Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Lunn, Maureen Elizabeth.
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is well on the path to the W87-1 plutonium pit first production unit. When a piece of equipment in the Plutonium Facility (PF-4) went down in May, teams across the Laboratory who support work in PF-4 rallied to develop an innovative fix.
If you're at Los Alamos National Laboratory and happen to encounter Matt Johnson, don't be surprised if this busy leader smiles and stops to ask you how he can help. That’s the essence of the type of manager—and person—he is. As the leader of the Pit Technologies division at the Lab, Matt oversees six groups that cover national security manufacturing, operations and professional support. Matt started his career at the Lab in 2002. His first assignments included work with confinement vessels used at firing sites such as Nevada National Security Site. Matt's deep knowledge of high-strength steel made him a perfect fit for the research and fabrication of these explosive-proof containers. Shortly after joining the Lab, Matt accepted the position as the Welding and Joining team leader supporting national security manufacturing, the hydrotest program and welding efforts across the NNSA complex. Over time, Matt made his way across many programs at the Laboratory.
At Los Alamos National Laboratory, new employees are encouraged to give themselves a full year to settle in and figure out all the complexities, cultural expectations and acronyms in the churning machine of the Laboratory. So how can summer students who have two months to do it all find their way? Keira Arce, a civil engineer in the Plutonium Facility Engineering division, is passionate about answering that question and helping college students have the best possible experience from the moment they enter the Lab’s facilities.
As a technical project manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Scott Boise works on programs and projects that make a big impact. Although he spends most of his days in a quiet office, he also makes a big impact on his team. He's well-known for his character and integrity because of the way he develops leadership skills on the team, promotes respect for others and lives a commitment to learning. Scott joined the Lab in June 2021, the period of the COVID-19 pandemic when most new employees began their careers without ever having stepped foot on-site. That experience has continued to serve as a reminder to him that new employees face numerous challenges no matter how and when they start. He's made it his aim to do what he can to lift some of that load. Coming to the Lab from a career in the biomedical industry, Scott arrived with years of project management experience but without a deep understanding of nuclear operations. His dedication to continuous learning has helped him pursue experiential opportunities and ask the proper questions to understand his role.
Martin Herrera, a deputy division leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory, is well-loved by everyone who meets him. His coworkers refer to him as a “V.I.P.,” and know him for his kindness, positivity and wisdom. Martin is a leader in the Laboratory’s Prototype Fabrication division, which is home to machine shops that manufacture components for programs across the Lab and the nation.
Mark Davis (ALDWP-COO) is the Chief Operation Officer for the Associate Laboratory Directorate of Weapons Production, where he focuses on ramping up operations in the Plutonium Facility in support of the directorate's programs, including the plutonium pit mission. Davis has had an accomplished career in the U.S. Navy that has compelled him to inspire those who support our nation's national security through sharing stories of our nation's history and the individuals who have been world-changers. He is passionate not only about our national security mission here at the Lab, but also about ensuring every employee understands that they play a key role in the mission, no matter their day job. In this special edition of the Pits 101 series, Public Affairs sat down with Davis to get his perspective on the meaning of credible and sustainable strategic deterrence, and why it matters today.
We learned why we don’t need plutonium to make new pits in an earlier edition of Pits 101, but why do we need new pits from a national security standpoint? A plutonium pit, or the core of a nuclear weapon, is like a weapon’s battery. The pits that Los Alamos will make in coming years will be like new batteries for nuclear weapons in the existing stockpile. Pit production is mandated in order to meet Department of Defense (DOD) requirements by our primary customer, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which is a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy. NNSA’s mission is to “deliver safe, secure, reliable warheads for an effective nuclear deterrent.” As Marv Adams, head of NNSA Defense Programs, describes, it’s a mission that is simple to state, but challenging to deliver.
The first floor of the Radiological Laboratory/Utility/Office Building at TA-55, known as RLUOB (roo-lob) or Plutonium Facility-400 (PF-400), will soon become a bustling and dynamic space as employees and programs increase their work scope thanks to the new hazard category 3 designation. On Feb. 7, NNSA gave the final stamp of approval designating RLUOB as a hazard category 3 (HC-3) nuclear facility. RLUOB has been designated as a radiological facility (less than HC-3) since 2013, when the first phase of RLUOB Equipment Installation was completed. HC-3 is a level up in facility hazard category, a major effort to support the national security mission.
Of the more than 400 employees who find themselves in and out of the RLUOB building at TA-55 on any given day, there is one person that almost everyone knows, and that’s Hermalinda Coronado. Hermalinda is on the janitorial staff for both RLUOB and areas behind the fence near PF-4. She’s known for always wearing a smile and doing her work with excellence and integrity.
From a young age, Loretta Ortega (NPI-7) picked up the meaning of hard work, discipline and respect as she helped her father and siblings on their ranch with everything from feeding animals and tractor work to helping with equipment maintenance. Her father never differentiated between the boys or girls in her family. In his eyes, they were all capable of doing everything on the ranch.
In mid-August, nine members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) joined nine LANL employees for a three-day cross-training drill in which FBI forensics experts would train fissile material handlers in the work of traditional forensics on nuclear components. The drill was called Audacious Aardvark, reflecting an aardvark’s diligence and fearlessness.
On July 12-14, Thomas Summers, the vice chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, visited the Laboratory alongside a small team of other DNFSB employees, including the two resident inspectors assigned full time at Los Alamos. The visit allowed him to tour the nuclear facilities around the Lab where he learned about the important work conducted by the myriad of employees who work within these facilities. As part of his visit, Summers and his team also observed the July 13 full-scale emergency exercise that was centered at TA-55.
We ensure nuclear weapon safety, security, and reliability. To date, Los Alamos has designed and certified 46 of the 63 nuclear weapon systems put into the U.S. Stockpile.
For the past 15 years, Los Alamos (LANL) employees have played a major role in plutonium experiments using the Z-machine — a device at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) that uses high magnetic fields, electrical currents, and X-rays to help scientists understand how materials behave under extreme temperatures and pressures. High-energy density physics, or the study of matter under extreme conditions, is a key component of certifying the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.
When Bob’s team started the project of clearing drums out of the PF-4 basement, there were 1,800 drums inside. Now, there are less than 500. It’s no coincidence that Bob Geyer leads a team that goes by the acronym of MVP — move, validate and prepare — more commonly recognized as “most valuable player.” Bob and the MVP team manage waste drums after they’ve been packaged. Their job is to constantly work a puzzle of drums and locations based on the contents of the drums, where they came from and where they’re headed. All the while, they’re ensuring there’s enough floor space in the Plutonium Facility for the waste materials that come out of daily production operations.
As much of America ramped down for winter break in 2021, a small team composed of members of both the Actinide Materials Processing & Power (AMPP) and the Nuclear Engineering & Nonproliferation (NEN) divisions found themselves in the middle of Nevada performing experiments with chlorine and plutonium, watching the very results they’d long hoped for roll in — just in time for the holidays.
The Weapons Pit production manufacturing team completed pit build 21-1 assembly operations on December 23, 2020. This build utilized all essential flow sheet steps and included the second -01 long tube cut off extension and welding activity. This is the best build produced in the MC4597-01 pit program to date. Final out-of-line operations, non-destructive evaluation, and radiography was completed during the week of January 4. Depending on the results from high energy radiography, this pit will be considered to be a candidate for CERT-02 and shipment to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in support of pit certification. It is notable that this build was completed while concurrently making Plutonium (Pu) metal, producing additional castings, machining Pu parts for Build 22, completing disassembly of two pits, supporting Nightshade B Pu target characterization, and precision machining of Jasper certification base plates.
During the week of Veteran’s Day (Nov. 8–11), Santa Fe was full of something we don’t see a lot here in the high desert — sailors! In honor of Santa Fe Navy Week, sailors and personnel from a number of U.S. Navy vessels, commands, and other programs visited Northern New Mexico to give residents an opportunity to learn about the U.S. Navy and its importance to national security. On Nov. 8, the Associate Laboratory Directorate of Weapons Production (ALDWP) invited a group of the U.S. Navy visitors up to Los Alamos to honor our shared mission.