Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico Facilities and Safety Information Document [NOTE: Volume I, Chapter 1]

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) began in 1945 as the ''Z'' Division of what was then Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory on Oxnard Field, which was owned by the Air Technical Service Command, as a base of operations to store materials and house personnel. Oxnard Field was transferred to the U.S. Engineers, Manhattan District, on July 21, 1945, who converted several wood frame structures to serve functions that were transferred from Los Alamos. Development of the SNL/New Mexico (SNL/NM) site began in 1946 and 1947 with construction of the first four buildings in what is now Tech Area I. Construction of another 14 permanent buildings in Tech Area I began in 1948. SNL constructed a high-explosive assembly area in Tech Area II, a half mile south of Tech Area I, and started plans for several outdoor testing facilities for Tech Area III, about seven miles to the south of Tech Area I, in 1952. By 1953, SNL completed and put into operation the first group of Tech Area III facilities, which included a rocket sled track, a large centrifuge, a vibration facility, and an instrument control center. Tech Area IV and Tech Area V were developed later to provide facilities for pulsed power and high-energy experiments. As the need developed for outdoor testing facilities remote from the public and other work areas, SNL added many facilities on U.S. Air Force and other federal property in the area known as Coyote Test Field (Sandia National Laboratories, 1997b). Most recently, DOE leased U.S. Air Force facilities in the Manzano Area for SNL to use for storage of low-level radioactive waste, mixed waste (a combination of radioactive and hazardous waste), and transuranic waste (Sandia National Laboratories, 1997a)