LLNL

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a United States federal research laboratory located in Livermore, California, about 40 miles east of San Francisco. It is one of the national laboratories overseen by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and is managed and operated by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) under contract with the DOE. Established in 1952 as a laboratory for nuclear weapons research, LLNL has since expanded its mission to include energy, bioscience, materials science, high-performance computing, and fundamental science.

LLNL’s primary purpose is to ensure national security by maintaining the reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile without underground testing, while pursuing advances in nonproliferation, defense, and related fields. Core programs include stockpile science and modernization, inertial confinement fusion research, high-energy-density physics, computational science, and energy and environmental research. The laboratory operates major facilities, most notably the National Ignition Facility (NIF), a large-scale laser system used to study fusion and weapons physics.

Beyond weapons research, LLNL conducts work in computational science, climate and energy security, bioscience, and materials science. The laboratory emphasizes safety and security in its operations and engages with universities, industry, and other national laboratories to advance scientific knowledge and technology in service of national interests.