Nuclear laboratory in California received high marks from government

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California received a surprise visit Thursday from U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work, who described the facility as a national treasure.

“Livermore is central to making sure that stockpile is safe and reliable,” Work said.

Touring the lab for the first time since he took office as the DoD deputy secretary, Work said Livermore is one of three such treasures that work with the nation’s nuclear program -- in addition to Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories in Washington, D.C.

The deputy noted the words of President Barack Obama, who said the United States needs to have a safe, effective and reliable nuclear deterrent.

The California facility, he added, is “responsible for the surety of the weapons we have in our stockpile … they do tests, designs and are training the next generation of nuclear weapons specialists.”

Work added that the Department of Energy’s Livermore employees are “unbelievably talented.”

Work and Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, were briefed by the lab’s senior leaders and took a classified tour of Livermore’s key sectors of interest to DoD, including weapons and complex integration in the National Security Weapons Vault, the National Ignition Facility, home of the world’s largest laser.