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Aligning the Governance Structure of the NNSA Laboratories to Meet 21st Century National Security Challenges (2015) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix D: Evolving Mission of the NNSA Laboratories
Pages 60-62

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From page 60...
... , a separately organized subagency within DOE. This was to address a perceived lack of DOE administrative control of the nuclear weapon capability and national security information.
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From page 61...
... National security laboratory scientists also contributed to such diverse environmental problems as ameliorating the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the release of nuclear materials from the tsunami-damaged nuclear reactors in Fukushima, Japan. Nuclear weapons continue to be a major element of our national deterrence posture; however, new non-nuclear national security threats
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From page 62...
... Some observers have argued that the laboratories should be re-imagined as engines of technical innovation and commercialization.1 Others have argued that the laboratories risk losing focus on their traditional primary mission as they seek to develop technologies for other national security missions that the private sector or U.S. academia may be equally capable of providing.2 While the exact dimensions of the laboratories' missions in the future continue to be the subject of active debate, it is clear that they have evolved significantly from the original sole focus on nuclear weapons to meet a broader national security mission.
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Key Terms

  • security laboratories
  • security threats
  • nuclear reactors
  • national deterrence
  • security mission

  • ing nuclear
  • security administration
  • nuclear design
  • security laboratory
  • nuclear warhead

  • existing nuclear
  • nevada national
  • nuclear nonproliferation
  • homeland security
  • sandia national

  • national nuclear
  • nuclear mission
  • security site
  • security information
  • nuclear regulatory

  • broader national
  • nuclear warheads
  • weapon maintenance
  • primary nuclear
  • security missions

  • nuclear materials
  • understanding nuclear
  • weapon design
  • nuclear security
  • nuclear testing


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