This tech base award has close links with the Viral Identification Characterization Initiative (VICI) ER LDRD. The tech base extends developed code to enable a capability for biodefense, biosurveillance, and clinical diagnostics. The code enables the design of signatures to detect and discover viruses, without relying on prior assumptions as to the species of virus present. This approach for primer and signature design contrasts with more traditional PCR approaches, in which a major weakness is the unlikelihood of viral discovery or detection of unanticipated species. There were three crucial areas of the project that were not research and development, so could not be funded under the ER LDRD, but were a reduction to practice of the existing VICI algorithm that were necessary for the success of overall computational project goals. These areas, funded by the 2007 Tech Base award, were: (1) improvement of the code developed under the VICI LDRD by incorporating T{sub m} and free energy predictions using Unafold; (2) porting of code developed on the kpath Sun Solaris cluster to the Yana and Zeus LC machines; and (3) application of that code to perform large numbers of simulations to determine parameter effects.

The Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) is a single, highly integrated technical program for maintaining the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The SSP uses past nuclear test data along with current and future nonnuclear test data, computational modeling and simulation, and experimental facilities to advance understanding of nuclear weapons. It includes stockpile surveillance, experimental research, development and engineering programs, and an appropriately scaled production capability to support stockpile requirements. This integrated national program will require the continued use of current facilities and programs along with new experimental facilities and computational enhancements to support these programs. The Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC) is a cornerstone of the SSP, providing simulation capabilities and computational resources to support the annual stockpile assessment and certification, to study advanced nuclear-weapons design and manufacturing processes, to analyze accident scenarios and weapons aging, and to provide the tools to enable Stockpile Life Extension Programs (SLEPs) and the resolution of Significant Finding Investigations (SFIs). This requires a balanced resource, including technical staff, hardware, simulation software, and computer science solutions. In its first decade, the ASC strategy focused on demonstrating simulation capabilities of unprecedented scale in three spatial dimensions. In its second decade, ASC is focused …