Vol. 70, No. 14
July 20, 2018
Published since 1949
Managed by NTESS, LLC, for the National Nuclear Security Administration
Inside . . .
A lesson in research funding: Solar cells . . . . . . . . . . 2
Excellence in Teaching award winner . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
APD offers personal safety tips, techniques. . . . . . . . 4
Materials scientist inspires STEM students . . . . . . . . . 5
Remembering Rick Glaspy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Sandia celebrates 40 years of solar research . . . . . . . 8
NNSA breaks new ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Dry casks take the heat
Sandia measures simulated spent nuclear fuel
temperatures in a dry cask to gather verification data
By Kristen Meub
S
andia researchers have built a
scaled test assembly that mim-
ics a dry cask storage container
for spent nuclear fuel to study how
fuel temperatures change during
storage and how the fuel’s peak tem-
peratures affect the integrity of the
metal cladding surrounding the
spent fuel.
Regulators could use the data to
help verify computer simulations
that show whether nuclear power
utilities are complying with regula-
tions that specify how much heat a
dry cask can safely handle.
Nationwide, nuclear power
plants are running out of room in
the cooling pools they use to store
spent nuclear fuel when it is
removed from the reactor and at its
hottest. The United States does not
have an operating geologic reposi-
tory for the permanent disposal of
spent nuclear fuel, so many power
plants use dry casks that can house
spent fuel for up to 60 years, as an
interim solution that allows them to
move groups of fuel rods, or fuel
assemblies, out of the pools.
“New cask designs are storing
more spent fuel, from 17 pressurized
water reactor assemblies up to 37
now,” said Samuel Durbin, a Sandia
mechanical engineer. “They are
Diesel doesn’t float this boat
By Jules Bernstein
M
arine research could soon be possible without
the risk of polluting either the air or the ocean,
thanks to a new ship design and feasibility
study led by Sandia.
Hydrogen fuel cells have existed
for decades, and there are multiple
advantages to using them instead of
diesel engines to power research
ships. Fuel cells are zero-emissions
technology, so they won’t contami-
nate air or water samples collected in
sensitive ecological areas. They make
almost no noise, so they won’t upset
marine life or interfere with the many
sensors scientists use to listen to
sound in the ocean.
Despite these and many other
advantages, the feasibility of a
hydrogen-powered research vessel
has never been studied or proven.
Until now.
A recent Sandia report shows it is
technically and economically feasi-
ble to build such a vessel in a man-
ner consistent with marine regula-
tions. The project team nicknamed
the vessel the Zero-V, short for zero-emissions
research vessel.
All hands on deck partnership
The project, led by Sandia, brought together the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of
California, San Diego; Glosten, a naval architecture firm;
and DNV GL, a global quality assurance and risk man-
agement company working for the maritime industry. It
was funded by the Department of Transportation’s Mar-
itime Administration.
One of the biggest additional benefits of using
hydrogen to power a boat is the absence of ecologically
damaging fuel spills. According to Sandia chemist and
project lead Lennie Klebanoff, it is impossible to have a
polluting hydrogen spill on the water. More buoyant
than helium, hydrogen rises on its own and eventually
escapes into outer space.
“If you’re working in a sensitive ecological area and
you spill liquid hydrogen there, the fuel not only
removes itself from this environment, it removes itself
from the planet,” Lennie said.
Fuel cells even generate water so pure that the ship’s
crew can drink it (with conditioning), or use it for scien-
tific experiments, reducing the need to desalinate sea-
water, which currently consumes large amounts of
energy. Also, fuel cells are electrical devices and, as
such, they offer a faster power response than internal
combustion engines.
Sandia’s expertise stems from a portfolio of hydro-
gen projects that aim to develop efficient transporta-
tion solutions with clean domestic fuels. Sandia’s role
was to lead the project, choose the kind of fuel cell to
use and the method of storing the hydrogen and pro-
vide information on the safety-related properties of
hydrogen to the U.S. Coast Guard and the regulatory
partner, DNV GL.
Sailing on the winds of
earlier success
The Zero-V project evolved from
earlier Sandia work on the SF-
BREEZE, a hydrogen-powered passen-
ger ferry designed to operate in the
San Francisco Bay.
Small hydrogen-powered pleasure
crafts made for very short distances
already existed. But prior to the SF-
BREEZE, there hadn’t been a project
that looked at the technical and eco-
nomic feasibility of powering large,
fast commercial boats with hydrogen,
according to Joe Pratt, who led the
SF-BREEZE project for Sandia.
“Until we did the SF-BREEZE, very
few people thought you could
power a real ship, a business ven-
ture, on hydrogen fuel cell power,”
Joe said. “In addition to proving it was technically pos-
sible, we had to show that it would pencil out eco-
nomically, so that it would have a chance of going out
into the marketplace.”
Based on the SF-BREEZE and other related work,
Joe came to believe so strongly in hydrogen’s commer-
cial potential that he took entrepreneurial leave from
Sandia to start Golden Gate Zero Emission Marine. The
company builds hydrogen fuel cell powertrains for the
maritime market.
(Continued on page 4)
(Continued on page 3)
HOT, DRY AND SIMULATED — Sandia designed and constructed a dry cask simulator for boiling water reactor assemblies to study how
hot spent nuclear fuel will get during storage and how the fuel’s peak temperatures affect the integrity of storage casks over time.
Electrical heaters shaped like fuel rods were used instead of spent nuclear fuels in the otherwise prototypical fuel assembly.
(Photo by Randy Montoya)
CLEAN RIDE — Artist’s rendering of the Zero-V hydrogen-powered research vessel.
(Image courtesy of Glosten)
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Lab News Notes
Editor’s Note: Lab News seeks guest colum-
nists with observations on life at the Labs or
on science and technology in the news and
in contemporary life. If you have a column
(500-750 words) or an idea to submit, please
contact Jim Danneskiold, the acting editor.
The amazing growth of renewable
energy from solar cells: A lesson for
how we fund research?
By Carleton Seager, Sandia retiree
D
oes it seem like rooftop solar panels are
popping up everywhere in New Mexico?
Have you been to Europe recently and seen
massive solar cell arrays beside many roads? Solar
cell industry statistics confirm these observations.
Since 2004, the rate at which solar cell power is
installed has doubled every 22 months and is now in
excess of 0.1 terawatts per year.
Research driving some of this expansion began
right here at Sandia more than 40 years ago. When
the Arab oil embargo produced major gasoline
shortages and price increases, the federal govern-
ment responded by funding research on renewable
energy sources. Sandia began programs on wind
energy, geothermal power, solar thermal energy and
photovoltaic (solar) cells.
While most of Sandia’s solar cell funding aimed at
processing expensive single crystal silicon cells for
concentrator use, a second initiative involved funda-
mental research addressing the issues involved in
producing cheap flat-panel cells. The program ini-
tially focused on developing thin-film silicon solar
cells, but it later included work on other types of sili-
con cell structures.
Single-crystal silicon wafers, where all the atoms
are perfectly aligned in a single orientation, were
far too expensive to meet program goals, so inex-
pensive growth techniques that produced silicon
layers consisting of many randomly oriented crystals
were investigated.
However, it was known then that the regions
where these misoriented crystals came into contact,
grain boundaries, could degrade solar cell perfor-
mance. The electronic structure of these regions was
disturbed by the atomic misalignment and, possibly,
by the tendency of these boundaries to attract impu-
rities. Little was known then about the relative
importance of either of these effects.
The program to understand these grain boundary
regions and their effects on solar cells involved coop-
eration with other national laboratories, high-tech
companies, numerous Sandia staff members and a
visiting faculty member from the University of
Rochester. These efforts spanned seven years and
enjoyed continuous funding from both Sandia and,
later, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
then called the Solar Energy Research Institute.
In addition, scientists from Oak Ridge National
Laboratory helped initiate the program by supplying
special polycrystalline silicon material. With these
samples in hand, new electrical techniques were
devised to measure the electronic properties of the
grain boundary regions, and several theoretical stud-
ies were completed that allowed this new data to be
used to deduce the actual density of the “bad” elec-
tronic states in these regions.
These initial investigations allowed Sandia
researchers to quantitatively characterize grain
boundary properties in routine fashion, and it
became clear that the next step should be to ther-
mally or chemically modify these boundaries. Based
on emerging information from studies of amor-
phous semiconductors, equipment was constructed
to expose the silicon grain boundary samples to
atomic species of fluorine, hydrogen and other
gases, which involved creating low-pressure plasmas
of these gases at elevated temperatures.
The hope was that these species would diffuse
into the silicon and tie up, or passivate, the “miss-
ing” chemical bonds that were created by the struc-
tural disorder at the grain boundaries. To monitor
the effects of these treatments, researchers observed
the resistance of these structures when electrical cur-
rents were forced across them. While little change
was seen in boundary resistance for most of the
gases that were tried, remarkable changes were seen
when hydrogen was used. In some cases, reductions
of boundary resistance by factors of 100 or more
were seen, and it became clear that these chemical
treatments might hold promise for improving solar
cell performance.
From this point on, the focus of the program
changed to observing the effects of these passivation
treatments on real solar cells. Prototype polycrys-
talline silicon cells were obtained from Honeywell
Corp. and Mobil Solar Energy, and other Sandia
researchers with expertise in ion beams were
brought into the program. Their equipment pro-
duced directed beams of hydrogen ions that had
specific energies and fluxes, so modeling of the
hydrogen passivation process could be made more
quantitative. Using this approach, it became clear
that short exposures of typical polysilicon cells to
hydrogen ion beams could improve typical efficien-
cies by 20-30 percent. More importantly, the statisti-
cal spread in cell outputs could be significantly nar-
rowed, and the resulting improvements were
extremely impervious to repeated illumination and
thermal cycling.
While the results of this research attracted consid-
erable attention, the full economic impact of this
work would only emerge more than 30 years down
the road. The growth and slicing of silicon wafers and
ribbons continued to be expensive and time consum-
ing, and the costs associated with photovoltaics were
not competitive with conventional power sources.
But things were beginning to change. In the early
1990s scientists at Mobil Solar found a way to intro-
duce hydrogen by heating a hydrogen-rich layer
applied to cells to reduce reflection. In the early
2000s, the cost of growing and slicing polycrystalline
silicon ingots began to drop sharply, and production
of cells in countries with cheap labor accelerated a
reduction in reduced cell costs. From 2004 to the
present, the total investment in polycrystalline sili-
con solar cells is more than $300 billion. This truly is
a remarkable growth industry with no end in sight,
and the passivation process discovered at Sandia is
still an important key to cell efficiency.
Are there lessons to be learned from this story? I
think so. Federal investments in renewable energy
can have big impacts that can’t be predicted. It’s
important to take a long-term approach if we wish
to see future payoffs similar to these Sandia-led
successes in photovoltaics.
Some of the research described appeared in the
paper, Passivation of grain boundaries in polycrys-
talline silicon, by C.H. Seager and D.S. Ginley of San-
dia. Appl. Phys. Lett. 34 , 337 (1979); doi:
10.1063/1.90779.
SOLAR REVOLUTION — Carl Seager displays an example
of a polycrystalline silicon solar cell, in a 1984 file
photo. Note that the light reflection differs on the sur-
face of the various crystals in the material. Sandia
developed the hydrogen passivation technique that
improved the photovoltaic performance of this class of
relatively inexpensive solar cells.
(Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories)
SILICON’S NOT SILLY — In a 1994 file photo, Jack Cannon inspects photovoltaic cells for long term exposure deteriora-
tion at Sandia's Photovoltaic Test Facility. (Photo by Randy Montoya)
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M
iguel Baez, Granada High School computer
science teacher, was recently getting his stu-
dents motivated after welcoming them back
from lunch. After getting his class settled, he was inter-
rupted by P.J. Daley, the school’s principal.
The class murmured to each other, trying to figure
out why their principal had entered their classroom
and why their teacher looked equally surprised. That
was until Kelly Bowers, superintendent of the Livermore
Valley Joint Unified School District, and Madeline
Burchard, Sandia community relations officer,
entered the classroom with balloons, flowers and an
oversized check for $500 from the Livermore Valley
Education Foundation.
“Out of hundreds of teachers in the district, your
teacher is the winner of the Sandia Excellence in Teach-
ing Award,” Bowers said. “He is being recognized for
what many of you already know, which is that he is
dedicated to finding new and interesting ways of teach-
ing you all.”
Baez was initially speechless, but it didn’t take him
long to find his words again and speak to his class. He
impressed on the class that, in the end, they are the rea-
son he goes above and beyond.
“You all are my motivation,” Baez said. “Every time I
SANDIA LAB NEWS July 20, 2018 Page 3
Zero-V Boat
The SF-BREEZE design accommodates 150 passengers
on four, 50-mile round trips in the San Francisco Bay per
day while traveling at a top speed of 35 knots (roughly
39 miles per hour). Ensuring the ferry could achieve that
speed meant adopting a 100-foot catamaran design,
slightly longer than usual.
All the plan elements, including ship design, weight
distribution and refueling options had to be re-evalu-
ated for the Zero-V.
“Instead of going fast for short periods and carrying a
lot of people, the research vessel goes slower for much
longer distances, carries fewer people and must allow
the operation of sensitive scientific instrumentation,”
Lennie explained. “The research vessel is a different ani-
mal from a passenger ferry.”
Navigating around design challenges
While working on the SF-BREEZE, Joe and Lennie
approached the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to
see whether researchers there were interested in a
hydrogen-powered vessel. They were, if the Zero-V could
complete tasks that are routine for ocean-going research
missions, such as marine ecosystem studies, physical
oceanography, tsunami risk and ocean chemistry
research.
Mapping or installing equipment on the ocean floor
requires a vessel to be stable over a single point for long
periods, even in high winds or rough seas. Glosten deter-
mined that installing propulsion devices in each side
hull would enable the Zero-V to maintain its position
with more than 25 knots of wind and waves from any
direction.
Whereas the SF-BREEZE requires refueling after 100
miles, the Zero-V needs to go at least 2,400 miles or 15
days before requiring a refuel; enough to get from San
Diego to Hawaii. Given the great distances it needs to
travel, a refueling terminal in one central location isn’t
what is needed. The Sandia team found an innovative
approach that allows liquid hydrogen suppliers to drive
fuel trucks directly to the ship at ports of call. Thus, the
Zero-V would require little investment in fueling infra-
structure.
In addition to the aforementioned requirements,
Glosten’s Sean Caughlan said finding a way to store the
heavy hydrogen tanks while accommodating at least 18
scientists, 11 crew members and three laboratories was
a challenge. Part of the solution was selecting a tri-
maran boat design. A trimaran has three parallel hulls,
and is usually used for high-speed boats. The design
offers a great deal of space above deck for the tanks,
and adequate below-deck space for other science
instrumentation and machinery.
Toward fair winds and following seas
The team designed the Zero-V using proven, com-
mercially available hydrogen technology so they could
be sure it would work. Once
completed, the vessel design
was reviewed by DNV GL
and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Both regulatory bodies inde-
pendently came to the same
conclusion: there are no
“show-stopping” technical
issues with the Zero-V
design.
In fact, DNV GL hydrogen
expert Gerd Petra Haugom
says the Zero-V design shows
an essential understanding
of the safety-related proper-
ties of hydrogen, and how it
can be used safely and
securely on a vessel.
“This project has been a
good test of our own rules
and the alternative design
approach for using hydro-
gen and fuel cells,” she said.
“The results from the Zero-V
will be part of a benchmark
to guide our assessment of
similar vessels in the
future.”
With a solid design in place, the next step for the
Zero-V is finding the funding to build it. The Zero-V has
similar capital costs to diesel-powered vessels, but
would cost roughly 7 percent more to operate and
maintain. Given its benefits — much quieter, zero emis-
sions and no risk of polluting fuel spills — Bruce Appel-
gate, who oversees the Scripps fleet, is hoping that like-
minded donors will step up to support the project.
“Like other game-changing ideas, this approach ini-
tially seems expensive. But solar power was very expen-
sive not too long ago, and now it’s affordable and
widely adopted. Hydrogen fuel cells are just as transfor-
mative a technology. They produce clean, quiet, non-
polluting power to ships while enabling superior scien-
tific capabilities,” Applegate said. “Building and
operating the Zero-V will significantly advance U.S.
marine transportation technology.”
(Continued from page 1)
CREW OF THE GOOD SHIP ZERO-V — Joe Pratt (left) currently on entrepreneurial
leave from Sandia, and Sandia California hydrogen and materials researcher Lennie
Klebanoff are seen here in Norway on a trip to visit Zero-V partner firm DNV GL.
(Photo courtesy of Lennie Klebanoff)
Computer science educator garners 2018
Sandia Excellence in Teaching Award
Top teacher programs inclusion into everything he does
By Madeline Burchard
see you all overcome a hur-
dle and not give up on your-
selves and each other, you
give me the inspiration to do
even more. So, thank you for
building me up every day.”
Baez was nominated for
his dedication to making his
computer science curriculum
interactive and inclusive. One
of his classes is a computer
class for English-language
learners, comprised of mostly
Spanish speakers. Instruction
is provided in both English
and Spanish and includes
talks by Spanish-speaking sci-
entists and engineers.
Baez’s dedication goes
beyond the classroom walls.
He coaches CyberPatriots
teams, including a team of
mostly Spanish-speaking students. As a coach, he
focuses on making his teams as inclusive as possible for
all students, including those who have not taken a sin-
gle computer science course. His teams have won cyber-
security competitions in San Francisco’s Bay Area and
have served as examples
that diversity makes
groups stronger.
“Walking into Miguel’s
class is like walking into a
startup,” said Regina
Brinker, the district’s sci-
ence curriculum special-
ist. “The energy is high.
Everyone is sharing ideas
and collaborating. Miguel
gives students the tools
and boundaries to allow
them to work at their
highest capacities. He makes extra efforts to include
Hispanic students, girls and other typically underrepre-
sented groups in STEM.”
The Sandia Excellence in Teaching Award is
presented annually to teachers in the Livermore
Valley Joint Unified School District who use innov-
ative ways to make science, technology, engineer-
ing and mathematics come alive for their stu-
dents. The honor comes with a $500 cash award.
The award is managed by the Livermore Valley
Education Foundation and funded by Sandia’s
Corporate Contributions program.
Burchard said being part of the surprise is one of the
reasons why she loves her job.
“Walking in and witnessing Miguel’s expression was
priceless,” Burchard said. “It was as if we had just
handed him a Publishers Clearing House check for a
million dollars. Seeing the students cheer was a true
testament of Miguel’s dedication to his profession.”
SURPRISE — Granada High School students try to figure out why principal P.J. Daley
(second from right) and school superintendent Kelly Bowers (right) had entered their
classroom as their teacher Miguel Baez (second from left) is surprised with the 2018
Sandia National Laboratories Excellence in Teaching Award.
(Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories)
TOUTING TEACH — Miguel Baez, Granada High School computer science teacher,
was recently surprised with the 2018 Sandia National Laboratories Excellence in
Teaching Award. (Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories)
SANDIA LAB NEWS
July 20, 2018
Page 4
(Continued from page 1)
increasing the pressure in the casks to increase convec-
tion, which transfers the heat out to the environment
while the cask shields the radiation.”
More storage demands more data
Durbin said the additional storage capacity of mod-
ern dry casks provides cost savings to operators and util-
ity customers, but new data and computer models were
needed to help verify existing computer modeling pre-
dictions that the fuel wouldn’t be too hot, under any
conditions, to affect the integrity of the fuel cladding.
The inaccessibility of the cask interior and high
radioactivity of the spent fuel make it difficult to
directly monitor the temperature, but Sandia’s dry-cask
simulator is providing answers on how spent fuel will
age in the newly designed dry casks and how hot the
spent fuel and cladding in the casks will become.
Simulating decades of temperature
measurement
During a three-year project for the DOE and the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Durbin and Greg
Koenig, an advanced nuclear fuel cycle technologist, led
a Sandia team that designed and constructed a dry-cask
simulator for boiling water reactor assemblies and ran
tests to measure the highest temperatures the cladding
inside the canister would be exposed to under a variety
of set conditions during decades of storage. No radioac-
tive materials were used in the testing.
“The simulator is fitted with more than 750 data-
gathering instruments, and about 700 of those are ther-
mocouples, or devices that measure temperature,”
Koenig said. “We have special programming software
that takes user parameters and determines the hottest
temperature within the simulation. We control the
power and pressure and can have many different decay
heats.
Heaters stand in for nuclear fuel
Everything inside the cask is built to closely simulate
the way it would be for a utility. The only difference is
that Sandia’s cask simulator uses electrical heater rods
the same length and diameter as spent fuel rods instead
of actual spent fuel.
“A lot of survivability and degradation issues are dri-
ven by the hottest part of the fuel,” Durbin said. “By
modeling these peak temperatures, we are providing
knowledge about the fuel, which is important because a
lot of phenomena are tied to the temperature the
cladding sees while it’s sitting inside the dry cask. So,
the better you know what temperatures the fuel will
reach during a set of conditions, the better you can pre-
dict the integrity of the fuel and the cask.”
The team used the dry-cask simulator to measure
temperatures for both above- and below-ground stor-
age systems. For below-ground storage, they positioned
a wind machine over the cask to replicate crosswinds
between zero and 12 mph.
“Our simulator is very heavily instrumented so we
can get a lot of quality information about the fuel,”
Durbin said. “We can take a known condition, collect
data for it, and then model it.”
Utility companies typically evaluate the performance
of a dry cask through detailed analytical modeling of
the cask’s thermal performance. The analysis is used to
demonstrate performance and regulatory compliance
before commissioning a new cask, and the Nuclear Reg-
ulatory Commission independently verifies the results.
The new data from Sandia could help regulators verify
the accuracy of the analytical modeling.
It’s up to you...
Employee Health Services talk offers tips, techniques for personal safety
By Stephanie Holinka
T
o stay safe, observe and assess your surround-
ings wherever you are, and take personal
responsibility for yourself and others, retired
Albuquerque Police Department public information
officer Trish Hoffman told a Sandia crowd at a recent
talk hosted by Employee
Health Services.
“I get asked to talk
about personal safety
and self-defense. What I
can tell you is that Albu-
querque is a violent
city,” Hoffman said. “But
the key to personal
safety and self-defense
everywhere is being
responsible for your per-
sonal safety.”
Hoffman retired
from APD in December
after 23 years as a pub-
lic information officer,
as well as filling posi-
tions in Internal Affairs
and the Aviation Divi-
sion. With more than 10
active certifications and
specialty trainings in
leadership, self-
defense, defensive tac-
tics and crisis interven-
tion, Hoffman now
trains women to take
back power through
Women Against Crime
self-defense programs.
Hoffman urged atten-
dees always to be aware of their surroundings.
Though she’s retired from the police, she said she
observes and assesses every situation in the same
way she did then.
“When I was working, I could call for back-up. Now,
there’s just me,” she said. “But everyone has a story.
Where you come from, what’s happened to you, sets
the stage for what you feel about personal safety.”
Hoffman said people often set up for interactions
by the way they walk.
“If I am distracted, versus if I’m walking into the
room confident, it changes how I’m perceived. It’s
always better not to be the path of least resistance,”
Hoffman said.
People have to train themselves to stay safe every
day, Hoffman said.
“Athletes and martial artists have to train, every
day, to be good at what they do. What if, every day,
you pay attention to what’s around you when you do
things like go to the ATM, when you are getting gas,
etcetera,” Hoffman said. “Another thing to think
about is learning a few key moves you can use.”
Hoffman suggests people carry purses, backpacks
or briefcases on the non-dominant side, to keep the
dominant hand free for defense.
“The first option to consider in a dangerous situa-
tion is always to run and scream,” Hoffman said.
“The more distance you can make between you an
attacker, the more time you have to assess the situa-
tion and decide what to do.”
Hoffman encouraged people to assess quickly
when an attacker confronts them, then decide how
to respond based on the
type of threat the
attacker represents.
“Anything in your
purse and wallet can be
replaced. But when you
are personally threat-
ened, such as when
someone tries to take
you to another location,
that’s the time to
respond,” she said.
Robbers prefer to
take the path of least
resistance, just like
potential victims.
Lighting, sensors,
alarm systems and a
dog can deter burglars
and make a home less
attractive to them. Leav-
ing attractive things in a
car, especially visible
garage door openers or
documents with per-
sonal information, can
be an invitation to
thieves.
People bear the pri-
mary responsibility for
their personal safety
and the security of their
property. Police response can feel like it takes a very
long time. Hoffman encourages people to work with
law enforcement to keep people safe.
“Law enforcement can’t do their job without the
community, and the community can’t be safe with-
out law enforcement. We have to work together. If
something’s going on that isn’t right, pay attention
to it, and follow through,” Hoffman said.
GOTCHA NOW — Trish Hoffman shows some defensive moves to Sandia business operations intern Trey Patterson
during her discussion of personal safety and property security, sponsored by Employee Health Services.
(Photo by Randy Montoya)
to stay safe out there
Dry casks
Judy Davenport (age 66) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 22
Theodore Sneddon (78) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 12
James Sweet (79). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 14
M. McLaughlin (91). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 24
Jarvis Bumgarner (98). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 24
Jose Ignacio (79) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 28
Richard Wright (77) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 4
Dallas Allen (77). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 6
James Doggett (92) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 7
J. Lochtefeld (86) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 12
Raymond Clark (81). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 14
J. Michael Stephenson (77) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 16
Billy Thorne (80) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 17
Richard Eifert (98) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 18
Clifford Blossom (93) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 21
Karl Livingstone (96) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 24
Charles Johnson (83) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 26
Robert Graham (83). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 31
Fred Perea (67) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 31
David Cole (66) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 1
Earl Minor (97) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 1
Donald Bush (92) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 4
William Byroads (92). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 5
Lawrence Posey (82) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 6
Andrea Breckenridge (85). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 7
Elwin Schaefer (92) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 8
Marjorie Rabel (99). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 9
Retiree deaths
SANDIA LAB NEWS July 20, 2018 Page 5
‘Never allow others to place their limits on you’
By Lindsey Kibler
F
or 32 years, Sandia’s Black Leadership Commit-
tee has brought science, technology, engineering
and math to more than 3,000 middle and high
school students through the Hands-On, Minds-On
Technologies program.
And for materials scientist Olivia Underwood, volun-
teering with HMTech is one way to make a difference in
the community.
HMTech began as an after-school program to inspire
African-American students to pursue STEM careers. Ten
years later, it became a Sandia-sponsored summer pro-
gram open to sixth- through 12th-grade students, pri-
marily African-Americans.
More than 100 students participated in this year’s
program, attending four six-hour Saturday sessions
comprising two-hour blocks of instruction and hands-on
learning. Students chose classes based on their grade
levels in such subjects as anatomy, physics, chemistry,
fractals, video game programming, coding, renewable
energy, robotics and website design with HTML and CSS.
HMTech also offered personal development classes,
including money management and career planning.
‘Exposure is key to success’
This is Olivia’s second year working with the pro-
gram and her first year as an instructor. In her class
— “What is Materials Science?” — students learn how
to identify metals, ceramics, composites, polymers,
semiconductors and other materials by disassembling
items like a scooter, waffle maker, handheld mixer
and electric stovetop.
The students also made replicas of the atomic struc-
ture of crystals using Styrofoam balls and toothpicks to
better understand such concepts as atomic packing and
stacking sequence. They made slime to observe the
behavior of an amorphous solid.
Olivia taught mechanical properties by having the
students use gummy worms, ice-pop sticks, paper clips,
ceramic tiles and rubber bands to illustrate the elastic
and plastic regions on the stress-versus-strain curve and
to characterize material failures as either ductile or brit-
tle. The curve provides engineers and designers a
graphical measure of the strength and elasticity of a
material, and allows them to predict the behavior of
materials used in a given application.
“It’s important to give back to the community, to
show these kids that there are other people who look
like them doing great things and they can do them too.
Exposure is key to their success,” said Olivia, who began
her career at Sandia three years ago as a materials
mechanics postdoctoral research associate. She’s now a
product realization team lead for an electronics group.
Faith, hard work and determination
Olivia grew up the youngest of seven children in
Brent, Alabama. She remembers spending childhood
hours taking things apart and analyzing them, and
knew she wanted to be an engineer or a scientist. Her
teachers encouraged her because she excelled in math
and science. But her parents were her first teachers,
instilling in her that with God, hard work and determi-
nation, she could do anything.
“What my parents wanted was for their children to
be better than them,” said Olivia. “My parents only have
a ninth-grade education, but they have Ph.D.s in life
lessons. They made sure I was prepared for it.”
She learned from her siblings never to let her age,
size or gender keep her from doing what she wanted,
and refused to be told she couldn’t do something.
“Never allow others to place their limits on you,”
she said.
Olivia earned her bachelor’s and master’s in metal-
lurgical engineering from the University of Alabama in
Tuscaloosa. She had several internships, including one
at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She also worked as a
failure analyst engineer with CGI Federal Defense at Red
Stone Arsenal, home to the U.S. Army’s Aviation and
Missile Research Development Center, and did research
at the Center for Nanophase Materials Science at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory.
At the University of Alabama in Huntsville, she felt
challenged because initially she was the only African-
American in her classes.
While the coursework was not difficult, she grew
tired of fighting to prove herself, she said. She lost more
than 10 pounds her first semester.
“I constantly had to remind myself that I was not
built to be broken and I was not going to leave without
my Ph.D.,” she said. “As a black woman, it’s easy for
someone to tell you what you can’t do, but no one is
going to tell me what I can’t do.”
In 2015, she became the first African-American to
earn a doctorate in materials science at UAH.
“It’s never easy to be the first one to do anything, but
it’s always worth it when you are able to see others cross
the finish line after you,” said Olivia. “I will continue to
blaze those trails and remove those glass ceilings.”
Olivia knows African-Americans are underrepre-
sented in math and science fields. To address the issue
by helping others toward STEM careers, she established
the Dr. Olivia D. Underwood Scholarship at her alma
mater, Bibb County High School.
In addition to volunteering with HMTech, Olivia also
serves as outreach co-chair of the Sandia Women’s
Action Network, where she works to “engage members
of Sandia’s workface and the local community to sup-
port activities for local youth in math, science and engi-
neering,” and to promote “opportunities to improve vis-
ibility of women in science and act as a force for good in
our local community.”
Olivia said she hopes her work with HMTech will
show the students that they are capable of any-
thing. “Change starts with me, and I do that when I
lead by example. It’s important to give back and
show our youth that they can do it too, because
they are our future.”
UNDERSTAND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES — A student
uses rubber bands, ice-pop sticks, paper clips and a wire
hanger to illustrate the elastic and plastic regions on the
stress and strain curve and to characterize each material
failure as ductile or brittle. (Photo by Lindsey Kibler)
MATERIALS SCIENTIST — Olivia Underwood hopes to inspire others through her work with Sandia’s Hands-On, Minds-
On Technologies program. Olivia, a postdoctoral research assistant turned team lead, was the first African-American to
receive a doctorate in materials science from the University of Alabama Huntsville. (Photo by Stephanie Blackwell)
CAN YOU REBUILD THIS? — Olivia helps her students disassemble a scooter during her materials science class. This is
her first year as an instructor for Sandia’s summer HMTech program. (Photo by Jacelyn Jefferson)
Sandia materials scientist
inspires students through
STEM program
PUMPING IRON — Weight lifting is one way Olivia
relieves stress. She competed in her first body building
competition in 2014, where she secured two second-
place finishes. (Photo courtesy of Olivia Underwood)
SANDIA LAB NEWS July 20, 2018 Page 6
Patricio Abeita 40
Dean Mitchell 40
Dino Pavlakos 40
Dennis Bateman 35
Sharon Trauth 35
JD Patrick 30
Eric Thulin 30
Duane Vermeire 30 Patrick Brady 25
Basil Hassan 25
David Gibson 20 Brian Mileshosky 20
Mark Platzbecker 35
Debbie Stephens 37
Cindi Reyes 20
Alex Tappan 20
Jerry Adams 38
Demmy Edwell 40
Alisa Bandlow 15
Nathanael Brown 15
Amanda Dodd 15
Jennifer Franklin 15
John Franklin 15
Benjamin Huff 15
Tanya Meyer 15
Steve Monk 15
Ellen Pope 15
Karen Pruett 15
Margeri Velasquez 15
Stephen Foiles 35
Rich Detry 25
Steve LeTourneau 30
Mileposts
New Mexico photos
by Michelle Fleming
California photos
by Randy Wong
Recent
Retirees
Steve Lott 29
Albert Nunez 20
Luggage packed? Check. Passport or ID handy? Check.
Whether you are on your way to that important confer-
ence or zipping off to Disneyland with your family, an
unexpected injury will sure spoil the trip.
If you’re driving
If you are driving a rental vehicle, familiarize your-
self with the car and all of its equipment (horn,
brakes, hazard lights).
Use a smartphone app such as Waze or Google
Maps to guide you around traffic jams. No GPS app
is infallible, especially in remote areas, so bring a
detailed map or road atlas as a backup.
Before beginning a long drive, always get enough
sleep and eat something. Pull over and take breaks
every couple of hours, even if you don’t feel sleepy.
If you’re driving alone, turn on the radio or put on
some music, and keep your window cracked open.
If you do have to pull over, move your vehicle off
the road. Never park on the shoulder or in the
breakdown lane for any reason except an emer-
gency.
Lock all of your valuables in the trunk or glove com-
partment, and stow all luggage in the trunk.
If you’re flying
Watch your step in unfamiliar airports and cities to
minimize trips and falls. Avoid walking while using
your mobile phone.
Keep an eye out for other travelers – they are unfa-
miliar with the area, too, and might not be paying
attention.
• Stay hydrated and well rested.
See more at livesafe.sandia.gov.
Travel safely
MISCELLANEOUS
iPHONE 6, A1586 unlocked
phone, brand new, w/Otter-
box case, glass screen protec-
tor, $180 OBO. Bigman,
505-331-2478.
DOG CRATE, large, new, $40;
hanging candle chandelier,
iron, new, $90; Everlast
punching bag, new, $90.
Logan, 505-459-5164.
WASHER/DRYER, $250; entertain-
ment center, $25; couch,
$250; queen frame, $300;
Wii, $150; full bed frame/mat-
tress, $175. Barnard,
505-480-4109.
DALLAS COWBOYS TICKETS, 2,
sect. 454, row 3, seats 1 & 2,
$300/pair. McCandless,
505-553-5281, leave message
for Suzanna.
TABLE SAW, Rockwell, 10-in. con-
tractors, 220-volt, $250; drill
press, Rockwell, 32-in. $150.
Assink, 505-730-5469.
AV RECEIVER, Pioneer Elite VSX-
60, 7.2 channel, 6 HDMI in-
puts, Airplay, Zone 2 audio,
1080p video, $85. Witek,
505-296-5198.
VACATION, Cabo MX, Cabo Azul
Resort & Spa, Sept. 14-21, Sept.
30-Oct. 7, 2 bdr., $600/wk.
Luther, 505-822-1187.
GUITARS W/CASE: vintage Gib-
son ES335TD, $3,000; Gib-
son SG Supreme, $1,950;
Yamaha CG-110CE, nylon-
string acoustic, $350. Baca,
505-792-1941.
DOLL HOUSE, KidKraft Wood
Products, w/furniture, tri-lev-
el, 33”x16”x48”, $50. Valdez,
505-550-1993.
DINING TABLE W/CHAIRS, Amish
Connection, bar height, 4’x6’,
solid oak, great condition,
$4,000 new, asking $2,500.
Bennett, 505-291-1912.
TABLE SAW, Ridgid R4510,
heavy-duty, 10-in., portable,
w/stand, new condition, $300.
Bradley, 505-379-7028.
BICYCLE FOOT PUMP, Bikemate
model 63784, German,
adaptable for balls, 16 bar,
excellent condition, $15.
Wagner, 505-504-8783.
FAX MACHINE, Brother model
1270, $20. de la Fe,
505-459-4685.
TABLE SAW & DRILL PRESS,
Craftsman, heavy-duty,
w/blades & accessories, good
condition, $150. Romero,
505-379-8875.
GOLF TRAVEL BAG, hard cover,
roller, Bag Boy, $75; golf trav-
el bag, soft, roller, Titleist,
$50; twin recliner sofa, moss
green, microfiber, 85”L x
36”H x 38”D, $350. Record,
505-243-5103.
TRANSPORTATION
’11 DODGE DURANGO HEAT,
V6, garaged, only 31K miles,
like new, $15,900. Pulliam,
505-362-6084.
’08 BMW X5 3.0si, AWD, loaded,
22/26-mpg hwy., cham-
pagne exterior/brown
leather, no accidents, excel-
lent condition, 79.8K miles,
well below book, $9,800.
Dwyer, 505-249-6935.
’11 KIA SPORTAGE EX SUV,
4WD, loaded, burnt bronze
color, 130K commuter miles,
excellent condition
inside/out, $9,200 OBO.
Goodson, 505-407-1688.
’06 HYUNDAI SONATA, AT, 93K
miles, good condition, $3,200.
Cochran, 361-676-1212.
’13 F150, 4x4, Lariat, supercrew,
loaded, new tires, brakes, B2B
warranty 2020, 60K miles,
<KBB, $25,000. Horowitz,
505-400-3781.
’67 INTERNATIONAL TRAVELALL,
2WD, V8, manual transmis-
sion, lots of good bodywork
& glass, $250. Shapnek,
505-366-4586.
’16 NISSAN SENTRA S, AT,
deep blue, factory warranty,
25K miles, excellent condi-
tion, $12,500. Crowder,
505-792-2133.
’85 F250 XL EXPLORER, 460-ci
V8, 4x4, single cab, new
clutch, transmission rebuilt,
$5,500 OBO. Moore,
505-220-8311.
’05 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER,
hitch, roof racks, floor mats,
130K miles, good condition,
$6,000. Ghanbari,
505-400-6837.
’98 MERCEDES E32, silver, high
miles but lots left, clean,
$2,500 OBO. Waddoups,
505-865-7952.
’06 MERCEDES SLK350, 2-dr.,
roadster, convertible, hard-
top, leather, 89K miles, great
condition, $12,000. Gonzales,
505-250-4788.
RECREATION
’10 NEWMAR DUTCH AIRE
MOBILE HOME, diesel, 43-
ft., fully loaded, call for
more info, $167,000. Ward,
505-296-2207.
’97 SMOKERCRAFT PONTOON
BOAT, 24-ft., Dolphin series,
115-hp Mariner motor, very
clean, low hrs., $9,100 OBO.
Argo, 505-235-2484.
’17 CAN AM COMMANDER UTV,
4-seater, red, roof, stereo,
half windshield, 45 hrs., like
new, $16,000. Vallejos,
505-328-2081.
REAL ESTATE
2-BDR. TOWNHOME, 2 bath,
many extras, minutes from
Eubank gate, $130,000.
Romero, 505-573-7909.
20 ACRES, El Vado, northern
NM, gated, electricity, shared
well, lakes, beautiful views,
$4,500 per acre. DeLaCruz,
505-266-3271.
HOMESITE, 2 acres, gorgeous,
new road, level, square,
mountain views, near Crest
Road turnoff, $120,000,
easy terms. Mihalik,
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4-BDR. HOME, Hidden Valley,
near Four Hills, beautifully
remodeled, Zillow.com:
713 Fennel Ct. SE, neighbor-
hood pool, $263,000.
Volker-Rector,
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3-BDR. HOME, 2 baths, 2,510-sq.
ft., contemporary/custom,
3.06 acres, bordering Nation-
al Forest, Tijeras, $400,000.
Jones, 505-235-5110.
~25.7 ACRES, in San Ysidro Land
Grant, $231,300. Christilaw,
505-620-5235.
WANTED
LOVING HOME, for adorable 4-
yr.-old Chihuahua mix, house
trained, in good health.
Moore, 505-507-7092.
AFTERNOON CHILDCARE, re-
sponsible student or adult,
provide childcare 3 hrs. daily
after school, starting Aug. 13.
Villegas, 505-480-6290.
TRANSCONDUCTANCE TUBE
TESTER. Larsen,
505-292-7896 or
PICKUP, for student, small, AT,
extended cab preferred,
<$6,000. Ashby,
505-281-1573.
GOOD INSIDE HOMES, 3 kittens,
initial vet fees paid, in Tijeras.
Preston, 505-205-9916, send
text.
SANDIA LAB NEWS July 20, 2018 Page 7
How to submit
classified ads
• EMAIL: Michelle Fleming
FAX: 505-844-0645
• MAIL: MS 1468 (Dept. 3651)
• INTERNAL WEB: From Techweb,
search for ‘NewsCenter.’ At the
bottom of that page, click the
‘Submit an article’ button. Due to
space constraints, ads will be
printed on a first-come basis.
DEADLINE: Friday noon before
week of publication unless
changed by holiday.
Questions to Michelle Fleming at
505-844-4902.
Ad rules
1. Limit 18 words, including
last name and home
phone (If you include a web
or e-mail address, it will
count as two or three words,
depending on length of the
address.)
2. Include organization and full
name with the ad submission.
3. Submit ad in writing. No
phone-ins.
4. Type or print ad legibly; use
accepted abbreviations.
5. One ad per issue.
6. We will not run the same ad
more than twice.
7. No “for rent” ads except for
employees on temporary
assignment.
8. No commercial ads.
9. For active Sandia members
of the workforce, retired
Sandians, and DOE
employees.
10. Housing listed for sale is
available without regard to
race, creed, color, or
national origin.
11. Work Wanted ads limited to
student-aged children of
employees.
12. We reserve the right not to
publish any ad that may be
considered offensive or
in poor taste.
Remembering Rick Glaspy
Rick Glaspy, an electronics engineer in Sandia California’s Homeland Security and Defense Systems
Center, died of heart failure on June 20.
Rick’s colleagues in California and in the organizations where he used to work in New Mexico —
defense mission assurance and stockpile evaluation — remembered him for his “Rick-sized bear hugs”
and for being a positive, enthusiastic and dedicated team member.
Yalin Hu, lead for Rick’s product realization team at Sandia/CA, said he worked with her depart-
ment as a quality engineer for nuclear weapons modernization projects and later as lead on Joint Test
Assembly projects. But he was well known to the team from his time as a customer, when he worked
in surveillance.
“I still cannot believe Ricky G didn’t come to our last team lunch, which he had organized; it was his
turn!” Hu said. “His energy, dedication and humor brought a lot to our team. He never hesitated to take
on hard jobs. His passion for work and love for family were so strong.”
Another member of his team in California recalled eating a banh mi with Rick and walking through
various exhibits at a lunchtime safety fair at Lawrence Livermore National Lab on the day he died. He
said how he always enjoyed Rick’s “great, upbeat personality” and called him “a sounding board and
just a nice person to hang out with.”
“I remember him looking over a
hot rod with a gas cell and nitro bottle in the trunk, and saying that there should be an external cutoff
switch; always the engineer,” his colleague commented.
Rick was hired in December 2010 and worked in a variety of national security and space satellite pro-
grams until he took a job as a surety and quality engineer at the California site in December 2015. In March
2017, he took a job in a telemetry organization to support Detonation Monitoring Assembly efforts.
He was a key contributor to quality engineering of the environmental testing work on an important
satellite program. His team was responsible for “overseeing and documenting every wrench turn, lock tight
application” and for verifying that more than 16,000 parts were inspected. “The number of hours that Rick
spent in the clean room never went unnoticed,” another colleague said, pointing out that his dedication
and commitment live on as the program continues to deliver for the nation.
Peter Stromberg, who worked with Rick on the same program, recounted how Rick stopped work when
another engineer tried to connect a tester to the flight unit. “He was doing exactly what a quality engineer
should,” Peter said. “I respected his judgment and I will miss him.”
Marlo Maxson said Rick introduced innovative methods to produce a complete record of assembly, and
completed a configuration audit that resulted in the customer writing, “In my 20-plus years of working
satellite programs, I would rate your record-of-assembly process as a best practice.”
Many of Rick’s colleagues, past and present, offered comments:
“He was also a true professional in everything that he did. Our projects had far better results because of
his involvement.”
“Rick was very genuine. He had a warm personal presence and a no-nonsense approach to work that
earned him respect and trust from his peers. Rick demonstrated common sense and intuition. He remained
calm in the face of adversity.”
“I will miss his positive attitude, enthusiasm, helpfulness, and just a fun person to be around.”
“He was a great mentor to me. Rick was an awesome gentleman who knew his stuff, guided folks well
and got along very well with all.”
ARRR! — Rick was known for his playful nature. He went to great
lengths to make people smile, even if it meant dressing the part
for International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
(Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories)
FAMILY MAN — Rick is remembered by colleagues not only for the
positivity he brought to the workplace, but also for his dedication to
his family. (Photo courtesy of Rick Glaspy’s family)
SANDIA LAB NEWS July 20, 2018 Page 8
Sandia to celebrate 40 years of solar power research
NNSA breaks new ground
DUST IN THE WIND — Unearthing the first shovelsful of earth for the foundation of the
new NNSA Albuquerque Complex on Eubank Boulevard, just south of the Center for
Integrated Technologies, are (left to right) Greg Bloom from Sen. Tom Udall’s office; Bob
Nanney and Tyler Stephens, both of Caddell Construction; Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM;
Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty, Undersecretary for Nuclear Security and NNSA Administrator;
Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-NM; Cheree Peterson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Lt.
Col. Larry (Dale) Caswell, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and Dawn Harder, NNSA federal
project director. (Photo by Randy Montoya)
ONE BRICK AT A TIME — At a July 2 groundbreaking ceremony, Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty,
Undersecretary for Nuclear Security and NNSA Administrator, describes plans to build
the new NNSA Albuquerque Complex as Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-NM, and Sen.
Martin Heinrich, D-NM, listen. After approximately 2½ years of construction, the
330,000-square-foot building will house 1,200 NNSA employees and contractors and
will meet LEED standards.
(Photo by Randy Montoya)
puter-controlled, mirror-like devices that concen-
trate sunlight into a single beam that is directed to
a receiver on the 200-foot tall solar tower, with a
total thermal capacity of five megawatts. The facil-
ity also has a solar furnace, a high-flux solar simula-
tor, a dish test facility, an optics lab, an engine test
facility, concentrated photovoltaics, a rotating plat-
form and a molten salt test loop.
Besides testing and proving a variety of concepts
for concentrating solar power plants, the facility is
used for a variety of other defense and space appli-
cations that require high heat flux and tempera-
tures for materials testing or aerodynamic heating
simulation, as well as large field optics for astro-
nomical observations or satellite calibrations.
— Kristen Meub
In 1978, Sandia began a unique program of
research on concentrating solar power at the newly
constructed National Solar Thermal Test Facility.
Forty years later, the facility is still the only one of
its kind in the United States.
Sandia will mark the solar tower’s 40th anniver-
sary on July 31 with an event that will include tours
of the test facility and talks by Sandia researchers,
leaders, sponsors and industry representatives.
The facility’s primary goal is to provide experi-
mental engineering data for the design, construc-
tion and operation of components and systems for
industrial-scale concentrating solar thermal electri-
cal plants for large-scale power generation.
How it works
The facility’s heliostat field comprises 218 com-
MIRROR IMAGE — Aerial photo of the solar tower
taken in April 1978, while under construction.
(Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories)
SUNSTRUCK DIGNITARIES — Vice President Walter Mondale visited Sandia's solar research facilities on January 10,
1978. Foreground from left, Morgan Sparks, Mondale, Herman Roser, Governor Jerry Apodaca, Senator Pete Domenici.
(Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories)