New weapons exhibit opens at the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos

After two years and the hard work of approximately 150 employees and partners, the new weapons exhibit at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Bradbury Science Museum officially opened with a reception on Sept. 30.

The exhibit showcases a key part of the Laboratory’s role as a national security science institution: its nuclear weapons mission. While the reception was its official opening, parts of the exhibit have been viewable to visitors as it was being completed. The feedback has been very positive.

"The amount of time visitors are spending looking at and engaging with this exhibit is off the charts," said Linda Deck, exhibit project leader and Bradbury Science Museum director emeritus. "Typically, visitors spend only a minute or two viewing a particular panel. But people are spending 15 minutes or more on these."

The Lab's historic involvement in the Manhattan Project has received a lot of attention recently, but the new exhibit brings that legacy up to date by showing the work the Lab is currently doing on nuclear weapons and why.

The exhibit is the last of Deck's 17 years as the Bradbury's director and 42 years in the museum world; she retires Oct. 2.

"When we first began planning this exhibit, I knew it was going to be the most challenging project of my 42-year career," she said. "And I knew there was never going to be another exhibit for me that would compare to this one. It was an incredible honor and privilege be able to find a way to express this subject matter with the care it deserved. And I had an exceptional group of talented individuals who helped make it a reality."

The exhibit covers four main areas, each with interactive hands-on activities:

• Nuclear deterrence
• The science of stockpile stewardship
• The story of plutonium
• A new video in the renovated theater about how the nuclear weapons mission supports other science research at the Lab

At the opening reception, remarks were given by Patrick Moore, the new museum director; Kim Scott, executive officer of the Weapons directorate; Frances Chadwick, Laboratory staff director; and Deck.

For Moore, this exhibit gives people who might not understand the complexities of what the Lab does and why a chance to learn more — and perhaps see themselves as part of the Lab and its future.

"I hope it inspires people — young and old — to see the work we do here, and to see how many different people it takes to accomplish every part of the Lab's mission. In doing that, the Lab is no longer 'that place up on the hill,' but a part of the community, a part of who we all are," Moore said.