"We have a generation growing up without a Cold War mentality now who fortunately might not understand the importance of this kind of effort," he said. "That's nice that the nuclear clock has stopped ticking, but that has been possible in part by the tool sets developed in this project that affords us a stockpile stewardship that used to involved testing in Nevada, interpolating the results and preparing for the next test."

The University of Utah C-SAFE funding from the U.S. Department of Energy is $46.3 million, covering the period of Sept. 3, 1997 through Sept. 30, 2010.

Along with supporting more than 200 students and faculty members, C-SAFE created a major piece of computer software called Uintah, which is capable of simulating and visualizing large jet-fuel fires (more than 10 meters in diameter) and the explosive response of energetic devices (steel containers filled with plastic-bonded high explosives) embedded in the fire.

Wight said Uintah has been used to simulate a wide variety of processes such as cell membrane physics, human tissue damage from projectiles, rocket motor safety tests, explosive shattering of rock in underground wells for recovery of oil and gas, efficiency of industrial flares, and CO2 capture from coal combustion for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com