Stockpile Stewardship: How we ensure the nuclear deterrent without testing

In the 1990s, the U.S. nuclear weapons program shifted emphasis from developing new designs to dismantling thousands of existing weapons and maintaining a much smaller enduring stockpile. The United States ceased underground nuclear testing, and the Department of Energy created the Stockpile Stewardship Program to maintain the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent without full-scale testing.

This video gives a behind the scenes look at a set of unique capabilities at Lawrence Livermore that are indispensable to the Stockpile Stewardship Program: high performance computing, the Superblock category II nuclear facility, the JASPER a two stage gas gun, the High Explosive Applications Facility (HEAF), the National Ignition Facility (NIF), and the Site 300 contained firing facility.

Stockpile Stewardship Program
http://nnsa.energy.gov/aboutus/ourpro...

Livermore Computing
http://computation.llnl.gov/research/...

Superblock
https://www.llnl.gov/str/March01/Sefc...

JASPER
https://str.llnl.gov/april-2013/holmes

HEAF
https://wci.llnl.gov/facilities/heaf

National Ignition Facility
https://lasers.llnl.gov/science/stock...

Site 300
https://wci.llnl.gov/fac/site300/