Kirtland | The National Nuclear Security Administration Hands Over Keys to Former Albuquerque Complex

The National Nuclear Security Administration, Sandia Field Office Deputy Manager David Pugh handed over the keys to the former NNSA Albuquerque Complex to Col. Elizabeth Keller, deputy commander, 377^th Air Base Wing, at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., Aug. 29, 2023. In 1947, when the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission took over the nation’s atomic energy program from the Army’s Manhattan Engineer District, the AEC was assigned the mission of nuclear weapons research, development, testing, production and storage. During a major expansion of the weapons program in the late 1950s, the organization moved into surplus barracks at Sandia Base which became the Albuquerque Operations Office.  The barracks, which were constructed in 1951 and 1952, housed the employees of the AEC (now Department of Energy) for 64 years until the nearly 1,200 DOE and NNSA employees moved to a new facility on Kirtland last July – the John A. Gordon Albuquerque Complex. Now that the buildings have been returned to the Air Force, Kirtland plans to use some of the buildings for current mission activities and demolish the buildings that are uninhabitable. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1^st Class Spencer Kanar.)