Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore national laboratory(LLNL) is a federally funded research facility and development center. The Laboratory is located in Livermore, California, United States, on a 2.63km2 site at the east of Livermore. his paper is a tour paper that analyses Lawrence Livermore’s national website. Since its establishmentwLLNC has grown to become a productive laboratory that has impacted the state and the local area businesses and companies in many ways. The Laboratory plays a vital role in solving current matters in the country through different methods like research and partnerships (Ormand et al., 2018). The paper analyses the institution’s website as the center of the tour and what the website entails. Additionally, the paper analyses the history and the significance of the institution at present and the challenges it faces.
The Laboratory, originally part of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, was established in 1952 when the Cold War peaked. The Laboratory was initially set to handle urgent security needs by deterrence of nuclear weapons. It was later renamed to LLNL in 1971, and the Lawrence Livermore national security assumed management of the Laboratory. In the 70s, LLNL launched a laser research program and has been at the lead of laser science and technology since then. In 1992 major nuclear testing in LLNL were halted, the LLNC shifted their focus to safer measure. This was through ensuring the security, safety, and reliability of the state’s nuclear inhibition without nuclear testing. To address the community’s concern over proliferation. The Laboratory established a non-proliferation, an international security program. The Laboratory’s technology development and analytics capabilities were then focused on the posed threats using weapons of mass destruction by nation-states or terrorists (white, 2018).
The LLNL website contains different sections that serve other functions. The website includes a programs section to show events and programs, a science and technology section covering research, a careers section, a community’s section covering support to the community, and a news section. The news section contains several primary sources to be used for research ad for information. It includes a subsection of news timelines containing significant event and articles. The section also contains Lab reports on the research and work carried out in the LLNL laboratories.
Additionally, the section contains a subsection of publications that have been published by LLNL. The publication includes anniversary books and reports, journals, and science and technology reviews. Lastly, the section contains the media library subsection. This section includes several audios, pictures, and videos of various proceedings in the Laboratory. The science and technology section has a research and science subsections which contain various primary sources of previously done research.
In recent years, safety lapses at the LLNL in California have created a danger for the public and the facility as per congressional Defence Nuclear Facilities Safety Board investigators. According to them, recent changes at the Laboratory have made the systems less effective, i.e., recent changes have downgraded the design of ventilation enough to raise issues concerning the public’s safety from the accidental escape of radioactive material. Additionally, due to the pandemic, LLNL has been one of two national laboratories, which will have to be closed by 21st October if the shutdown continues. This will result in a layoff of 7000 people from the two companies. Due to the pandemic and safety measure issues, only essential workers working on critical government-related research have been allowed to continue their work in the LLNL laboratories. The house unanimously passed legislation to pay government employees who had been laid off.
Government funding research is the research carried out either by the government itself or through grants by the research council to researchers outside the government. A 71% substantial majority of the U.S citizen believe that the government’s investment in both science and technology results in payoff in the long run. The reason for research by scientific institutions is a commitment to solving problems affecting humans (Bornmann, 2012). Through government research and government-funded research, many research findings and reports from different research institutions have been able to solve problems affecting the state like cancer, cardiovascular disorder, military weaponry, and other sectoral solutions. Though it is quite hard to assess the economic impact of science and technology researches, the reality is these researches have not only helped to bring new products that save and improve lives in the market but has also encouraged productivity growth through new services and businesses.
In conclusion, government-funded research plays a critical role in helping solve problems affecting the human population. Most of the institutions the government has founded have provided a great solution to health issues affecting the nation, new products, and services to make life better, key findings, and reports to help us understand various matters. The Lawrence Livermore national laboratory is one search research institution. The institution founded in 1952 has made critical contributions to the government’s nuclear deterrence effort by designing nuclear weapons to meet the military’s requirement, i.e., the laser project.
References
Ormand, W. Erich, et al. 2018 Annual Continuation And Progress Report For Nuclear Theory At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. No. LLNL-TR-756000. Lawrence Livermore National Lab.(LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States), 2018.
White, Paul Scott. National Laboratory Support to DHS Missions. No. LA-UR-18-24024. Los Alamos National Lab.(LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States), 2018.
Bornmann, Lutz. “What is societal impact of research and how can it be assessed? A literature survey.” Journal of the American Society for information science and technology 64.2 (2013): 217-233.