Inside the explosives issue

After 76 years in business, we know a thing or two about things that go “boom.”

December 12, 2019

Placeholder Image — In February 2018, an explosives experiment at the Lab’s Lower Slobbovia firing site provided data that helped validate calculations in a subsequent experiment at the Lab’s Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT) facility. The test object for this experiment contained pyrophoric materials similar to those found in some fireworks. Credit to: Los Alamos National Laboratory

Bob Webster Side Image — Bob Webster, Deputy Director Weapons

Project Y, the Los Alamos branch of the Manhattan Project, began taking shape on Northern New Mexico’s Pajarito Plateau in February 1943. Just 29 months later, the scientists who’d been secretly transported to Los Alamos had created the world’s first atomic device.

In other words, Los Alamos National Laboratory has been in the explosives business since Day 1. The successful implosion weapons of the Trinity test on July 16, 1945, and the Nagasaki mission on August 9, 1945, used detonators to ignite explosives that compressed a plutonium core (pit). If you’ve never seen a 1940s-era detonator, go to the article to learn more about these tiny devices and why they are so devilishly difficult to make.

Our explosives work comes with very strict safety and environmental regulations that we are eager to comply with. Operating a weapons laboratory while respecting the environment is something we’ve been doing for decades. High-explosives scientist David Chavez took this to heart with his invention of BOM, a “green” explosive more powerful than TNT but much healthier for the environment—not just in Northern New Mexico but around the world. Turn to p. 20 to learn more.

Our last feature article in this issue of National Security Science highlights how augmented reality can protect warfighters, specifically, explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) technicians, who dismantle improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Thanks to augmented reality technology developed at Los Alamos, EOD techs can train using virtual IEDs, which makes for a much safer learning environment.

So, whether we are maintaining the detonators, pits, and other components of U.S. nuclear weapons or determining what’s inside someone else’s bomb, Los Alamos scientists are among the best explosives scientists in the world. By working hard to support our national security mission, we have helped keep the peace for more than 76 years, and we are confident we’ll help keep the peace for another 76 years or more. ★