ABSTRACT
The Los Alamos National Laboratory was created as part of the Manhattan Project during the World War II, while Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was created in 1952 by the Atomic Energy Commission and the University of California. The largest funder of activities at the national labs is the Department of Energy, for which the national labs perform nuclear weapons research. The primary program of the Laboratory mil continue to be conducting research, development, and test activities associated with a nuclear design emphasis on all aspects of the phases of the nuclear weapon cycle and attendant national security tasks. The lion's share of research programs at the weapons laboratories falls under the broad category of Department of Energy nuclear defense programs. The weapons labs have produced every design of nuclear bomb deployed in the country's arsenal. As the environmental crisis becomes an ever more pressing problem and energy shortages grow acute, cost-efficient renewable energy technologies will become a vital national goal.
