WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) congratulates Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) TeraScale Simulation Facility (TSF) for receiving a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold level certification last month.
The TeraScale Simulation Facility, which houses two of the world's fastest supercomputers—BlueGene/L and ASC Purple at LLNL, received 56 out of the 57 points pursued in the LEED submittal.
LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system that provides third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance in energy savings, water efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions reduction and other critical areas.
"This is truly a noteworthy achievement for NNSA and LLNL that symbolizes our commitment to transforming the Cold War-era nuclear weapons complex into a modern, efficient nuclear security enterprise," said Brig. Gen. Garrett Harencak, NNSA principal assistant deputy administrator for military application. "The achievement recognizes both the energy saving initiatives and sustainable features of this unique facility in a manner that translates to the LEED rating system."
This achievement puts LLNL almost one-third of the way towards reaching its 2015 sustainable buildings goal. TSF is the third building at LLNL to be LEED-certified and the first to achieve a gold rating.
LLNL's submission pushed the envelope of the traditional LEED model by using computation directorate's other on-site datacenters as comparables. TSF is a one-of-a-kind facility that did not match up with any of the typical LEED building type models; it required a one-of-a-kind research and calculation package to prove to the U.S. Green Building Council that it was worthy of gold status.
For more about TSF see: https://asc.llnl.gov/tsf/ [1]
For more about USGBC see: www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19 [2]
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Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science in the nation's national security enterprise. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability, and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; reduces the global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the U.S. and abroad.
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