Proton radiography team receives NNSA Defense Programs Award of Excellence

Plutonium experiments support the nation’s nuclear weapons program

Levi Neukirch on the phone in the control room for a proton radiography shot at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. Invented at the Laboratory, proton radiography employs a high-energy proton beam to image the properties and behavior of materials driven by high explosives. Credit to: Los Alamos National Laboratory

Proton Radiography (pRad) at Los Alamos Neutron Science Center is a major facility where high-explosive plutonium experiments are taking place again after a pause of nearly two decades. For this achievement, a team of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists received a Defense Programs Awards of Excellence from the National Nuclear Security Administration. These awards acknowledge those who realize significant achievements in quality, productivity, cost savings, safety or creativity in support of the nuclear weapons program. Why this matters: Dynamic imaging at pRad captures a series of images over time to visualize movement. This type of experimental capability generates valuable data to study the physical properties of plutonium relevant to nuclear weapons and validate models routinely used to address critical national security questions. What they did: The team established a rare capability where researchers can safely and securely perform high-explosive plutonium experiments. (The nation’s only other capability like this is at the Nevada National Security Sites.) They used 800 MeV protons from the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, an accelerator primarily sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration. Conducting these experiments in specially designed containment vessels enables high-energy proton imaging.

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