Deep inside Sandia National Laboratories sits the Z Machine, a facility capable of generating some of the most extreme electrical power on Earth.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Deep inside Sandia National Laboratories sits the Z Machine, a facility capable of generating some of the most extreme electrical power on Earth.
The machine produces massive amounts of electrical power that are transmitted through materials designed to explode. Its primary purpose is to test the radiation and output generated by those explosions on other materials.
The machine is so powerful that the waves it creates can be measured in the nearby Sandia Mountains.
“When you fire Z in this facility, it creates an extreme shock that actually creates a mini little earthquake in the environment around us,” said Greg Rochau, director of the Z Machine Center.
Tests conducted on the Z Machine create densities close to those found at the center of the sun. However, Sandia scientists said the facility is not yet capable of producing every condition needed for national security missions.
When asked why researchers would want to create conditions even denser than those at the center of the sun, Chris Seagle, senior manager of material physics, said those extreme conditions have important applications.
“It is very extreme densities that are reached in the center of the sun, and also in weapon systems. And we need to get it…right now, the machine is not capable of generating all the conditions that are relevant for the National Nuclear Security Administration mission,” Seagle said.
To more effectively test nuclear explosions without detonating a bomb, Sandia hopes to build a Z Machine roughly 10 times larger than the current facility.
“At some point, you kind of run out of real estate, and you got to build a bigger one,” Rochau said.
Sandia is presenting the concept to the National Nuclear Security Administration. If the project advances, the agency would ultimately be responsible for seeking congressional funding.
For now, the larger Z Machine, like many ideas at the lab remains theoretical.
Sandia officials said a bigger facility would support the laboratory’s national security mission.
“Nuclear deterrence is critically important for our country in order to help ensure our safety and security, and that means we have to be able to ensure that our weapons are safe, secure, and reliable. And the work that we do here every single day helps support that,” Rochau said.
