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loslos alamos alamos science science and and technology technology magazine magazine JUJULYLY 20 20 09 09 Wired for the Future Cyber Wars Have SQUIDs, Will Travel 1663 A Trip to Nuclear North Korea About Our Name: during World War ii, all that the 1663outside world knew of los alamos and its top-secret table of contents laboratory was the mailing address—P. o. Box 1663, santa Fe, new mexico. that box number, still part of our address, symbolizes our historic role in the nation’s from terry wallace service. PrINcIPaL aSSocIatE DIrEctor For ScIENcE, tEchNoLogy, aND ENgINEErINg located on the high mesas of northern new mexico, los alamos national laboratory was founded in 1943 to build the first atomic bomb. it remains a premier scientific laboratory, dedicated to national security in its broadest the Scientist Envoy INSIDE FroNt coVEr sense. the laboratory is operated by los alamos national security, llc, for the department of energy’s national nuclear security administration. features About the Cover: artist’s conception of a hacker’s “trojan horse,” in cyberspace. los alamos fights an mosArchive unending battle against trojan horses, worms, and la other forms of malicious software but is spearheading LosA research to play offense rather than defense in the Wired for the Future 2 During the Manhattan Project, Enrico Fermi, Nobel Laureate and leader of SUPErcoNDUctINg WIrES MIght traNSForM ENErgy DIStrIBUtIoN ongoing cyber wars. F-Division, meets with San Ildefonso Pueblo’s Maria Martinez, famous worldwide for her extraordinary black pottery. from terry wallace cyber Wars The Scientist Envoy 6 thE UNENDINg BATTLE For coNtroL Since the middle of the His direct experience with both plutonium metallurgy nineteenth century and the and international diplomacy have allowed him to days of Mendeleev, Darwin, communicate with the North’s weapons scientists, Pasteur, and Maxwell, obtain accurate information about the country’s scientists have helped to plutonium capabilities, and report his findings to the have SQUIDs, Will travel 12 better society. Their theories United States government. In an exclusive interview thE WorLD’S BESt MagNEtIc-FIELD SENSorS For MEDIcINE aND hoMELaND SEcUrIty and discoveries underlie all of today’s technologies, with this magazine, Hecker recalls his experiences in and increasingly, society is turning to them to help nuclear North Korea. dialogue find long-term solutions to tomorrow’s environmental, Today, Los Alamos’ scientific staff members social, and security challenges. continue to support numerous nuclear nonproliferation Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory activities, for example, monitoring seismic activity readily shoulder this responsibility. Evidence for to detect underground nuclear tests. They design that can be seen throughout this issue of 1663, systems to safeguard nuclear facilities, as exemplified a trip to Nuclear North Korea 18 which highlights efforts to develop superconducting by the work of Howard Menlove, the world’s expert ForMEr DIrEctor SIg hEcKEr oPENS DoorS IN yoNgByoN transmission lines, perfect new medical imaging on measuring neutrons from radioactive materials. technologies, and safeguard computer networks. Each Menlove designed instruments to monitor operations of those efforts has the potential to contribute greatly and nuclear materials at North Korea’s Yongbyon spotlight to society and national security. reactor. In the area of diplomacy, George Eccleston But scientists also form a unique community. was a technical expert at the Six-Party Talks, a role All hold a rational view of the natural world and, now filled by Los Alamos scientist Kevin Veal. regardless of their native tongue, speak the universal As the premier national security science hoW to BraKE aN EPIDEMIc 25 language of mathematics. They relate to one another Laboratory, Los Alamos is a continuing source MEaSUrINg thE VarIaBLE STARS so that, on occasion, scientists can play a special role, of diverse and important contributions. Those that of the unofficial envoy, called upon to help society contributions, whether technical, social, or confront a difficult situation. diplomatic, will arise from the talents of one of our North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons is nation’s great assets—its scientists. one example. Since 2004, former Los Alamos Director Sig Hecker has gone to that country several times in the capacity of technical advisor to verify North Korea’s ability to make and purify plutonium. 1663 los alamos science and technology magazine july 2009 1663 los alamos science and technology magazine july 2009 The complicated network of transmission a very chilly –300°F, to become superconducting. To lines that brings electricity from energy sources to the cool an underground cable (current ones typically are user has dramatically changed its topology since the only a half mile long), liquid nitrogen enters the cable 1970s. Power plants that traditionally served local at 68K and warms to about 72K as it flows along the WIRED areas became part of a large interconnecting network of cable to the other end. It is then taken out of the cable hubs and spokes, with power plants and transmission and recooled. This scheme, which uses the specific heat lines fanning out to multiple population centers, many of liquid nitrogen for cooling, requires recooling after of which are connected to multiple power plants. The no more than a mile, making it uneconomical for long, interconnectedness has tended to make the grid more overhead cable runs. reliable because failures in individual power lines don’t Ashworth has demonstrated an alternative scheme bring the system down. that requires a cooling plant only once every 40 miles. for the future The trouble is that investments in transmission lines Each plant takes in air, cools it, and produces liquefied Superconducting Wires Might Transform Energy Distribution have not always kept up with the addition of new power nitrogen at 77K and 4 times atmospheric pressure. In plants, especially in congested areas. No one wants one design, the liquid nitrogen would run through a a power line in the backyard, so new lines can take perforated flexible-metal cooling tube alongside the the recent successes of underground 7 to 10 years to site and string. The National Energy superconducting wire. All would be encased in a long superconducting power lines and the Regulatory Commission reports that 25,000 miles of cryostat (vacuum-walled piping). The pressurized liquid new high-voltage lines are planned for construction nitrogen would spray out of its piping, vaporizing as it advent of second-generation, potentially over the next 10 years, but historically, only a small cools the nearby wire to superconducting temperatures. cost-competitive superconducting fraction of lines planned are actually built. If renewable The vapor would then exit from engineered vents every wires may well be a prelude to a bigger sources of electricity (wind farms and solar arrays) few miles. The conceptual difference is the use of the revolution in our nation’s power grid. increase as expected, most will be located far from liquid nitrogen coolant’s latent heat of vaporization, major population centers and will require at least as well as its specific heat, and that difference makes another 12,000 miles of new lines. overhead lines feasible. Steve Ashworth, leader of the applications team Says Ken Marken, head of the STC, “Steve’s out-of- at the Los Alamos Superconductivity Technology the box thinking is what’s needed if superconducting Center (STC), sees opportunity in these challenges. technology is to be a major player in the next 20 years.” steve Ashworth has invented a cooling Superconducting wires, which are just now being Because superconducting lines could transmit scheme produced in kilometer lengths (just over a half mile), power with a significantly lower visual impact than can carry massive amounts of electric power with conventional high-voltage power lines, Ashworth thinks almost no energy loss. Ashworth wants to run these they would be more acceptable to the public and would wires overhead to minimize the environmental impact reduce—by years—the delay for obtaining permits. of new high-power lines that must run for hundreds Even more important, bringing one large wind-power of miles. Superconducting wires would carry generating facility online a year earlier, and using it to much more current and much lower voltage replace a coal-fired generator, would eliminate up to and so could be strung on much shorter, 4 million tons of CO2 emissions. A superconducting grid less intrusive poles than are used for could help power a green revolution. conventional high-power lines. However, superconducting First Trials wire has to be cooled below Almost 100 years ago, 90 degrees Kelvin (90K), mercury was found to be superconducting at 4K (–453°F), and since then, scientists have finessed hundreds of elements and compounds into exhibiting superconductivity. Starting in 1986 a class of compounds called copper oxide Three high-temperature superconducting power lines enter an underground right of way on Long island, New York. switched on in April 2008, the lines carry almost 600 megawatts of power, as much as all the 1663 los alamos science and technology magazine july 2009 1663 los alamos science and technology magazine july 2009 2 3 perovskites were found to become superconducting at The Long Shot Los Alamos’ Yates coulter checks the quality and temperatures about 100 degrees higher than mercury Another possible high-temperature superconductor uniformity of long tapes for a number of compa- does. That meant cooling costs would be 1,000 times was yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO), discovered lower, a giant advantage in any application. These new in 1987. This was the first compound found to be nies. his cassettelike machine passes each tape, “high-temperature” superconductors promised to fulfill superconducting at temperatures above that of liquid inch by inch, through two external magnetic fields, the dream of lossless power transmission. nitrogen.

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