Staff Reports
NS&D Monitor
7/25/2014
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s three nuclear weapons laboratories garnered nine 2013 R&D 100 Awards handed out by R&D Magazine, led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which was selected for four awards. Known as the “Oscars of Innovation,” the awards have been given out since 1963 for the best technological advances across the nation. Livermore was recognized for a miniaturized kit known as microTLC (thin-layer chromatography) that can determine the purity of illicit drugs, pesticides or other materials, a superconducting tunnel junction X-ray spectrometer that offers more than 10 times higher energy resolution than current X-ray spectrometers, an extreme-power ultra-low-loss dispersive element that allows spectral beams to achieve previously unreachable output levels, and a new flat and spherical glass polishing method known as convergent polishing.
Sandia National Laboratories was honored for the development of a portable anthrax detector cartridge, an open-source software for simulating manufacturing processes known as GOMA 6.0, and a new plastic scintillator that gives off more light at less cost and responds faster than current scintillators. Los Alamos was honored for its Acoustic Wavenumber Spectroscopy device, which generates images of hidden structural properties or defects, and a device known as Safire that provides noninvasive, real-time and accurate estimates of oil well production.