Electronic EngineeringElectronic
Livermore and Berkeley
engineers designed,
installed,
and operated the
instruments used to make diagnostic measurements of nuclear
explosions, including elaborate instrumentation complexes for
data transmission and radiation detection.
Electronic Engineering designed and developed the electronic equipment for the thermonuclear reactors and devices, superconducting magnets systems
to measure temperature and magnetic fields, and environmental
control facilities.
For many tests, Electronics designed,
installed and operated the instrumentation in the test bunkers,
mobile trailers, and aircraft.
The division developed seismometers for recording movements resulting from underground nuclear
explosions, earth movements, and pressure studies under the
industrial Plowshare progran.
The Berkeley Electronics Engineering Division developed the
neutron counter instrumentation for use in the Atlas Missiles.
Berkeley then turned it over to the Livermore Laboratory for completion.
Electronics also devised automatic counters for air-
sampling for Health Chemistry.
The Livermore Electronics group
developed
fast data-reduction and telemetry systems
tion data.
They designed analog computer systems
to
replace
expensive and large coaxial cable for transmitting nuclear reacto measure
shock and vibration data, oscilloscopes, and automatic film scanners. For the Pluto Program, they designed and installed instruments and controls for high temperature tests of materials and
the "Hot Box" at NTS (See R Division).
At
Livermore,
for the analysis.
tests.
the Division utilized LRL’s
evaluation,
computer complex
and design presentation of weapon
In conjunction with the Test Division,
Electronics
created fast response weapons detectors, including a system used
for reading photographs of oscilloscope tracers, photodiode and
Cerenkov detectors,
R Division~
and computerized
film.
Livermore
The Livermore R Division developed nuclear reactor for a ram-
jet engine--Project Pluto--
and development.
ANGIE and ZOOM,
and conducted basic
reactor research
R Division used the computer neutronic codes,
measured criticality of assemblies,
and corre-
lated theoretical calculations with experimental data.
At NTS,
LRL constructed a research facility for the study of the neutronic characteristics of critical assembly at high temperatures.
This device was named the "Hot Box." and helped to normalize
codes and extrapolate operating conditions for the first engineering test
reactor,
Tory II-A.