Technology Modernization
Optimize and apply advanced technologies to enable modernization of the deterrent and its nuclear warheads.
Initiatives
- Develop effective manufacturing and supporting technologies for depleted uranium and enriched uranium that enhance fabrication readiness and agility at Y-12. Inclusive of modernization of core facilities like Sigma.
- Develop effective manufacturing alternatives, including electron beam additive manufacturing for upcycling components related to manufacturing at Y-12.
- Develop effective manufacturing alternatives for polymers and other non-SNM material components to benefit the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC) and Y-12 (e.g., salts and special materials).
- Advance HE formulations through an understanding of process-structure-performance interplay along with physics and chemistry at the mesoscale.
- Enhance HE pilot scale synthesis, formulation, and advanced manufacturing capabilities to support product development within the NSE complex and to benefit Pantex.
- Deliver a technically mature and manufacturable initiation system for the next LANL weapon system that improves reliability and safety of the warhead and that is applicable to multiple weapons systems.
- Develop advanced applications for gas transfer systems, power, and surety that can be applied to new weapons systems to improve reliability, performance, and safety.
- Enhance and extend capabilities in delivery vehicle design:
- Payload and system integration with hypersonic platforms – Collaborate with services and industry; participate in current and future designs.
- Hypersonic flight analysis and platform design – Identify gaps and develop options to bridge them; strengthen collaboration with the Texas A&M University’s University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics; ensure coordination of Lab-wide capabilities are applied to problems.
- Modernize facilities and infrastructure per current ALDW ten-year infrastructure plan.