Tag: Sandia National Labs

Sandia National Laboratories is owned by Lockheed Martin and are the major research and development laboratories for the US Department of Energy. Established in 1948, the laboratories’ mission is to provide the US government with research, development, and testing of the non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons. Its mission is to maintain the safety of the United States’ nuclear weapon systems, and to promote the proper disposal of the hazardous waste produced by the US nuclear weapon programs.

Sandia came into being during the World War II when in an effort to produce the first atomic bombs, the Manhattan Project was implemented. During the successful detonation of the first atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer looked for a new site for weapon development which focuses instead on its non-nuclear aspect. In 1945, the Z Division was established, which would later become Sandia.

Sandia was home to ASCI Red and ASCI Red Storm, the world’s fastest supercomputers, until both were decommissioned in 2006 and 2012, respectively. It now hosts the Z machine, considered as the largest X-ray generator in the world and gathers data to help in the remodeling of nuclear weapons.

Sandia has government-owned facilities in Livermore, California, Tonopah, Nevada, and Kauai, Hawaii. Its headquarters and main facility is in Albuquerque, New Mexico.