Alan Wan

Supporting stockpile stewardship with high-energy-density physics experiments

Alan Wan

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

11:00am

NW17-218

PSFC Seminars

Abstract: Under the Stockpile Stewardship program, a core mission of National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is to deliver the science, technology, and engineering (ST&E) capabilities needed to maintain nation’s confidence to sustain the nuclear deterrence mission.  Without further underground testing to validate the integrated performance of our stockpile, NNSA’s nuclear security laboratories rely on validated codes and models to deliver the needed assessment.

This presentation summarizes the range of High-Energy-Density (HED) physics experiments that deliver data meeting the mission requirements for stockpile-stewardship-relevant physics issues in regime otherwise inaccessible with other facilities.  Key HED physics topics range from material properties at high-pressure and temperatures, to radiation transport and radiation hydrodynamics.

This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Bio: Dr. Alan Wan is currently the Deputy Program Director for Weapon Physics and Design Program and High-energy-density Physics Experiments Execution Program Leader at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  He received his Sc.D. degree from the Nuclear Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986 and joined LLNL upon graduation.  He has worked on various projects concerning stockpile stewardship at LLNL, including assessment and certification of some of the systems in the current stockpile, strategic defense initiative, and weapon physics. His current job assignment involves leading the effort to improve predictive understanding of weapons performance and to develop tools to modernize United States’ assessment capabilities in support of the Stockpile Stewardship Program.