By The Independent
Sixty years ago, the world was a much different place. Harry Truman was president, the Cold War was ramping up, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established. That year, 1949, also marked the opening of Sandia National Laboratories.
In a letter to Leroy Wilson of AT&T, President Truman asked the corporation to assume management of a small nuclear research and development complex in New Mexico. On Dec. 17, Sandia President Tom Hunter reflected on the wording of that letter in a 60th anniversary celebration at Sandia’s Livermore site. Commemorative events were held earlier this year at Sandia’s main site in Albuquerque, NM, and in Washington, DC.
“That letter has in it a phrase that has captured our attention and our value system from that day: ‘This is an opportunity to render exceptional service in the national interest,’” said Hunter. “That is the ethos statement of this institution.”
Sandia has gone from a laboratory that was founded with a single focus on nuclear weapons to one heavily involved in broad areas of national security including energy and cyber security. Today nuclear weapons represent just 40% of Sandia’s overall work.
Sandia helped Goodyear design tires through computer modeling, invented decontamination foam that has been licensed as Liquid Gold Mold Control, with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory pioneered supercomputers, and created nanoelectronics that Hunter described as “little things you can’t see that do things you can’t imagine.”
Joining in the celebration were elected officials and their representatives from the federal, state, and local level. “I think it’s great that everyone in the region could join us,” remarked Hunter. “I wonder who’s left to run the government. Everybody of note is here.”
Hunter and Rick Stulen, vice president of Sandia’s Livermore site, received recognitions from representatives of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, and Congressmen John Garamendi, Jerry McNerney, Dennis Cardoza, and George Miller, along with members of the California Senate and Assembly. Recognitions also came from Vic Reis of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Steve Liedle of Lawrence National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore Mayor Marshall Kamena, California State University East Bay President Mohammad Qayoumi, Las Positas Community College President DeRionne Pollard, and Livermore Chamber of Commerce President Dale Kaye.
Reis called out Sandia’s involvement in the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant as a major accomplishment. “We have actually solved our nuclear waste problem. Sandia was instrumental in designing that system. The only issue is that Congress says it can only be used for defense waste, not for commercial waste. The isotopes, of course, don’t know the difference,” he said. “So when you go back, let people know we’ve solved that problem and now it’s just a question of changing the law.”
Sandia was honored for its years of service to the nation. A common thread among the speakers included Sandia’s connection to Livermore and the connection between Sandia and LLNL. Kamena described his first job working in Sandia’s Environmental Safety and Health Department.
Cheri Clasen, from McNerney’s office, stated, “Both my parents work across the street [LLNL] and I grew up here on East Avenue, so it’s really a pleasure for me to be here. As you all know the Congressman first started at Sandia New Mexico working on those windmills in the 80’s.”
The wife of Chip Langman, who represented State Assemblymember Cardoza at the event, also works at LLNL. Dawn Argula, representing Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, is a 24-year resident of Livermore.
In closing, Stulen spoke about the Livermore Valley Open Campus, which will create shared space on the east end of both Sandia and LLNL to promote greater collaboration with partners in industry and academia. “As I look to the future, I think the one hallmark that will be there in spades is partnerships,” he said. “Quite frankly, some of the threats are such that we can only attack them through our public-private partnerships. Think of the computer industry and cyber threats.”
For more information on Sandia National Laboratories, visit www.sandia.gov.
