Back
Defense
Modernizing high-explosives manufacturing
For decades, manufacturing plastic-bonded high explosives, or PBXs, has relied on legacy processes like slurry coating. In this method, explosive crystals are mixed with a binder, a polymer that helps hold the material together, to form small granules called prills. Those prills are then pressed into dense explosive parts. This process is difficult to control, inefficient…
NNSA, LLNL officials celebrate completion of critical Lab digital infrastructure upgrade
Officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) celebrated the completion of the Digital Infrastructure Capability Expansion (DICE) facility on June 9, marking a major milestone in a decade-long effort to modernize one of the Lab’s most critical infrastructure systems. The 13,000-square-foot facility,…
LLNL helps advance AI-driven design and simulation for NNSA Aires Tide collaboration
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is contributing AI-enabled payload optimization and advanced modeling and simulation expertise to Aires Tide, a collaborative National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) demonstration exploring new ways to design flight test vehicles. Developed in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National…
Meet the machines that matter: the Flash X-Ray
At your dentist's office, an X-ray machine fires a brief pulse of radiation, enough to find a cavity. Now imagine scaling that concept up by billions, producing a flash powerful enough to see through more than a foot of solid steel and capture a stop-motion image of an explosive experiment in progress. That's the Flash X-Ray machine, or FXR, at Lawrence Livermore National…
Meet the machines that matter: the portable neutron detector
Nuclear materials are rarely quiet. Even when hidden inside a sealed container, they emit a kind of heartbeat through streams of particles and radiation that carry critical information about its contents. In a laboratory, scientists have the tools and expertise to read that heartbeat. But in an emergency, first responders need a way to interpret it quickly, without highly…
Site 300 marks 70 years with employee appreciation event, open house
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) marked Site 300’s 70th anniversary in May with two events celebrating the Experimental Test Site’s history, mission and people: an Employee Appreciation Day and a family-focused open house. Although Site 300 reached its 70-year milestone last fall, celebrations were delayed due to a lapse in federal government funding. The…
Meet the machines that matter: the Electron Beam Ion Trap
Imagine listening to an orchestra: overlapping notes, blended timbres and complex harmonies coming together into a cohesive symphony. Now try to isolate a single instrument and the sounds it produces. Nearly impossible, right? The same is true for collections of ions, charged particles that have gained or lost electrons. Each ion — from hydrogen to lithium to lead and…
Roll the tape: LLNL captures inception of hydrogen-uranium reaction for the first time
When hydrogen gas interacts with uranium metal, the combination creates a chemically reactive powder and a runaway reaction that is difficult to stop. The result can impact the safety and lifespan of technology critical for fusion energy, hydrogen storage and nuclear fuels. In a recent study published in npj Materials Degradation, researchers from Lawrence Livermore…
LLNL scientists use controlled experiments to better understand nuclear fallout
In less than a millionth of a second after a nuclear detonation or a severe nuclear reactor accident, an enormous burst of energy heats the surrounding air and materials. Everything in the vicinity is vaporized into a hot, glowing cloud of gas and plasma. As that nuclear fireball expands, it mixes with air, begins to cool and condenses into tiny solid particles — creating…
Meet the machines that matter: the Optics Inspector
LLNL tackles the nation’s toughest security challenges through bold, multidisciplinary science powered by advanced facilities and instruments. In this new series, meet the machines that work behind the scenes at the Laboratory to drive discovery, push boundaries and enable excellence. From inspecting optics and trapping ions to cooling supercomputers and detecting…
Big Ideas Lab explores how the Genesis Mission aims to accelerate scientific discovery
Scientific discovery has always moved through a familiar cycle: question, hypothesis, experiment and a result. In the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab podcast, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) explores how the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Genesis Mission aims to accelerate that process by uniting AI, high-performance computing (HPC), experiments and the…
LLNL showcases AI-enabled science, national security and energy innovation at AI+ Expo
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) leaders, scientists and engineers joined national voices at the Special Competitive Studies Project’s (SCSP) AI+ Expo May 7-9 in Washington, D.C., highlighting how AI is reshaping science, security and energy innovation. The public Expo brought together government, industry, academic and Department of Energy (DOE) national…
LLNL optics system set to fly to the moon with Firefly Aerospace for Ocula imaging service
A team of scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently delivered a high-resolution optics system to Firefly Aerospace in support of Firefly’s Ocula commercial lunar imaging service. The payload is scheduled to fly onboard Firefly’s Elytra spacecraft in lunar orbit as part of Blue Ghost Mission 2, targeted to launch no earlier than late 2026. The…
Meet LLNL: Laser Material Interaction Deputy Group Leader Sonny Ly
Sonny Ly has built a career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) combining laser physics, materials science and mentorship. A deputy group leader in the Laser Material Interaction Science Group within the Materials Science Division under Physical and Life Sciences, Ly first came to the Lab in 2010 as a graduate student from the University of California, Davis…
Big Ideas Lab podcast spotlights how Skyfall defends the power grid from cyberattacks
A blackout spread across more than a hundred cities in Ukraine after malware infected the nation’s power grid. This sophisticated breach was the first of its kind, speaking the language of the industrial control systems to carry out a remote operation on physical infrastructure. The incident led U.S. Department of Energy national security experts to ask: what would happen…
Two LLNL teams attend DOE’s Energy I-Corps Cohort 22
Continuing a decade of entrepreneurial training and commercializing mission innovation, two teams of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers attended the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy I-Corps (EIC) Cohort 22 in Colorado this spring. The EIC is a key initiative of the DOE’s Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC). Candice Bila from the…
Revitalized laser technology captures commercialization grant
Small, modular nuclear fission reactors and fusion facilities could each be the future of resilient and secure energy in the U.S. and around the world. But these technologies rely on isotopes of lithium to cool fission reactors and create fusion fuel. Currently, there is no sustained, domestic production mechanism for lithium isotopes in the U.S. that meets projected…
Four decades after Chernobyl, National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center reflects on a defining moment
Documents were scattered across the floor as scientists hurriedly reviewed reports on weather patterns and radiation measurements, while colleagues in Europe awaited updates and information on the emerging radioactive crisis. Forty years later, the Chernobyl reactor accident response stands as critical experience that paved the way for what is now the National Atmospheric…
LLNL named 2026 Manufacturer of the Year by AMBayArea
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been named the 2026 Manufacturer of the Year in the large manufacturer category by the Association of Manufacturers Bay Area (AMBayArea), recognizing the Lab’s leadership in advanced manufacturing, engineering and national security innovation. The award was announced April 21 during the AMBayArea Summit at the Chabot Space …
New protein-screening platform accelerates rare-earth separation for U.S. supply chain
To ensure a robust domestic supply chain in the U.S., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are using bacterial proteins to separate the rare-earth elements that are ubiquitous in magnets, batteries and electronics. These proteins, called lanmodulin, evolved in bacteria that use rare-earth elements to power their metabolism. But to scale up and advance…
