US tests B61 Atomic Bomb- fire later that night at labs

The National Nuclear Security Administration said in a statement that the test was conducted on Tuesday by the Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, National Journal reported.
The analysis “is a significant achievement and gives us confidence in our ability to move forward with our efforts to increase the safety and security of the bomb,” Don Cook, NNSA deputy administrator for defense programs, said.
The test was meant to verify how a new model of the B-61 bomb would work under routine conditions or accident scenarios, according to the NNSA.
The analysis also included the targeting accuracy of the revamped model of the nuclear gravity bomb also called Mod-12.
Engineering work for Mod-12, which has been underway for two years, is aimed at keeping B-61 bombs ready for potential use and bolstering their security.
The initial test “provides data for analytical model correlation and validation, insight into component environments and evaluation of developmental hardware,” the NNSA said. “The mechanical environment test series will assist in qualifying the final B-61‐12 design against the full suite of environments.”
AGB/AGB

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/02/06/349556/us-successfully-tests-b61-atomic-bomb/
 and
http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/us-conducts-analysis-updated-b-61-bomb/

Sandia is home to Earth’s most powerful pulsed-power facility and X-ray generator. The Z machine compresses energy in time and space to achieve extreme powers and intensities for research in high energy density science.”

  From Wikipedia:

The Sandia National Laboratories, managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation (a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation), are two major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratories….

…Sandia National Laboratories’ roots go back to World War II and the Manhattan Project.

…In the many months leading up to successful detonation of the first atomic bomb, the Trinity test, and delivery of the first airborne atomic weapon, Project Alberta, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Director of Los Alamos Laboratory, and his technical advisor, Hartly Rowe, began looking for a new site convenient to Los Alamos for the continuation of weapons development – especially its non-nuclear aspects. They felt a separate division would be best to perform these functions. Kirtland had fulfilled Los Alamos’ transportation needs for both the Trinity and Alberta projects, thus, Oxnard Field was transferred from the jurisdiction of the Army Air Corps to the U.S. Army Service Forces Chief of Engineer District, and thereafter, assigned to the Manhattan Engineer District. In July 1945, the forerunner of Sandia Laboratory, known as “Z” Division, was established at Oxnard Field to handle future weapons development, testing, and bomb assembly for the Manhattan Engineer District. The District-directive calling for establishing a secure area and construction of “Z” Division facilities referred to this as “Sandia Base“ — apparently the first official recognition of the “Sandia” name.

 …..On February 13, 2007, a New Mexico State Court found Sandia Corporation liable for $4.7 million in damages for the firing of a former network security analyst, Shawn Carpenter, who had reported to his supervisors that hundreds of military installations and defense contractors’ networks were compromised and sensitive information was being stolen – including hundreds of sensitive Lockheed documents on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project. When his supervisors told him to drop the investigation and do nothing with the information, he went to intelligence officials in the United States Army and later the Federal Bureau of Investigation to address the national security breaches. When Sandia managers discovered his actions months later, they revoked his security clearance and fired him.^[2]

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandia_National_Laboratories}