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Saturday, February 14, 2009

Nuclear work in danger

Anonymously contributed:

You might want to look at the LANL blog....


Nuclear Work in Danger
By John Fleck, The Albuquerque Journal

The Obama administration wants to kill major nuclear weapons design and manufacturing programs left by its Republican predecessors and ratchet down the amount of non-weapons science done at Los Alamos and other nuclear weapons labs, according to a document obtained by the Journal.

The memo calls for canceling the Reliable Replacement Warhead, a proposal to design a new U.S. nuclear weapon.

Other proposed changes:

• Cancel plans to expand Los Alamos National Laboratory's capability to make plutonium warhead parts.

• Cancel spending to upgrade the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, a major non-weapons science project that federal officials have argued is critical to supporting non-weapons science at Los Alamos.

• Cut in half money allotted to Los Alamos and the other nuclear weapons labs, including Sandia National Laboratories, for "laboratory-directed research and development" — money the labs use to pursue promising research of their own choosing.

• Consider delaying new supercomputer purchases.

Details of the memo were first reported by the Washington, D.C., trade publications Inside the Pentagon and Nuclear Weapons and Materials Monitor.

Money saved by the cuts would be shifted to U.S. efforts to halt the international spread of nuclear weapons, according to the document.

Overall, the proposal calls for a 1.5 percent increase in 2010 funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the U.S. nuclear weapons program. More than 20,000 people in New Mexico, primarily at Sandia and Los Alamos national labs, work for NNSA.

Officials at the agency and the labs declined to comment Friday, citing the internal nature of the current deliberations.

The document, part of the administration's internal deliberations over the 2010 budget, is the clearest indication made public to date of the course the new Obama team plans to set on U.S. nuclear weapons policy.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a holdover from the Bush administration, spoke out last fall in favor of the Reliable Replacement Warhead. During the campaign, Barack Obama had raised objections to the project, but in a way that left the door open to some modest research efforts.

The memo suggests an effort under way now to close that door, going out of its way to ensure that both direct funding for the RRW program, as well as indirect funding in other research programs that would support RRW work, is zeroed out in the soon-to-be delivered Fiscal Year 2010 budget now being prepared.

"The RRW program, both explicitly and implicitly, is canceled," the memo says.

The memo appears to freeze Los Alamos National Laboratory's plutonium manufacturing capability at a maximum of 20 nuclear weapon cores, known as "pits," per year. Recent policy discussions have considered expanding beyond that level.

The memo is silent on one of the most expensive nuclear weapons projects at Los Alamos, the multibillion Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement complex. The big new plutonium laboratory would replace a building that is half a century old and that has been branded a hazard by federal nuclear safety auditors.

A Congressional funding committee in 2007 concluded that, if RRW was not going to be built, there was no need for the new nuclear lab. Lab and NNSA officials disagree, saying other important work, including nuclear safety and non-proliferation work, will also be done in the new laboratory, and the unsafe old building must be replaced.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

And all you democrats though the Obamantor was going to save your jobs. You are SOL people. Enjoy the lines at the unemployment office.

Anonymous said...

All those people who voted for Obama - hope that Cool-Aid tasted good.

Don't act suprised now, you were warned loudly and clearly yet chose to elect this guy and all his friends in Congress. Now the piper is handing you the bill and it's a doozy.

So the Labs might be shut down. Amerika wants change after all. Sit back and enjoy the self-destruction - you all deserve every bit of it.

Anonymous said...

Stop whining!
The man has been president for 3 weeks now. It took Bush 10 months to give a press conference!

Anonymous said...

Let me see if I've got this about right...

The Obama Administration and the Congress are about to spend the unheard of sum of $800 billion in 'job stimulus' to save American jobs, but at the same time they are going to destroy the high tech jobs within the government's very own National Labs that work with national defense?

How does this make any sense at all?

Anonymous said...

Whine? I'm laughing so hard my sides hurt.

Since you folks did not care what Clinton did, why care what Bush did? The man is gone now and you all have to face the reality you brought down upon yourselves. Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

"And all you democrats though the Obamantor was going to save your jobs."

No, I voted for Obama because of the dearth of Republicans that would stand up and say "bullshit" on the follies of the last eight years. Of course, bless them, they now have a new found sense of fiscal responsibility.

09/30/2008 10,024,724,896,912.49
09/30/2007 9,007,653,372,262.48
09/30/2006 8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2005 7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2004 7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2003 6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2002 6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2001 5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000 5,674,178,209,886.86

Anonymous said...

we have the largest nuclear arsenal in the history of the world and no one is even close enough to be in second place. we need more nuclear weapons why? Obama is trying to do what the reschlublicans were supposed to have done for the last 8 years. cut out wasting taxpayer money.

Anonymous said...

February 15, 2009 2:07 PM

All you people were fools. You couldn't even come up with a great idea.

Obama, I am ashamed of you and your party. As a matter of a fact I am ashamed of both parties. Here's why.

Instead of giving the ~$1.6T dollars to the banks and construction worker that'll make the rich richer we should have killed a few birds with one stone. We should have taken the $1.6 T and paid off everyone's mortgage, with of course a few caveats. One, is in order to have your mortgage paid off you would have to relinquish all credit cards and agreed you will only have one card that'll be paid at the end of each month. Two, you would not be allowed to take a second on your home for any reason, nor are you to obtain any further loans of any sort. Thirdly, when you sell your home, the loan has to be paid in full. However if you maintained your property and it sold for more than the government paid you, you could keep the equity tax free. But you did none of the above.
The least you could have done was given a 0% loan to all those with a mortgage, along with the above stated caveats; and saved the nation. What you've done now is assure the mutual destruction of our livelihood for the next three generations. Bravo Zulu, diwah.

I seems by your actions you people in DC couldn't bare the thought of American's being debt free, forever. What a concept and accomplishment that would have been. How much money would people have each month to spend if you would have allocated the funds my way? -- How many jobs would have been lost? Zero? -- How much better would everyone's life been? How about wonderful, happy and finally in financial order; without fear of unemployment.

IHMO the people we have running this country suffer from a bad case of "cranium rectum inversion" and aren't worth the air they breath. You guys in DC get paid big bucks and can't even think straight. Your daily actions remind me of a cartoon I saw the other day where there's a monkey sitting on a tree limb sawing away with a smile on his face as if he's accomplishing something. The problem is, he's sitting on the side that's about ready to fall and hit the ground. In your case, I guess the fall won't hurt since your last two acts of defiance against the people i.e. the bailout and the stimulus package; has proven you're already brain dead.

What a joke you people in Washington, DC are. Should we be calling you buffoons or baboons? With out most recent election, maybe it's both ?

What ever it is you're a disgrace to America and all our forefather stood for.

Then when you can't face these facts please go here and enjoy the facts. It's SOSDD as usual.

http://www.citizenlink.org/Stoplight/A000009104.cfm

Anonymous said...

"Nuclear work in danger"

And this is news to the people who work at LLNL? What did you expect? If you haven't figured it out by now, then you really aren't qualified to be working at one of our "crown jewel" national labs.

Anonymous said...

For those of you less than 50 years old, it's time to get serious about your future at the Lab. Not only is LLNL's weapons work going in the tank, the entire complex is about to be severely downsized.

Don't wait till the end. It won't get better.

Anonymous said...

There was an interesting special on today about this: http://www.agi.it/world/news/200902161053-cro-ren0014-art.html

Apparently Pakistan left their bordes open like we do and the people thought Al-Qaeda would never get that strong. Now they're on the inside causing havoc with many terrorist acts to the point where they may be taking over their country very soon. That'll give Al_Qaeda access to ~200 nuclear weapons. Hello! And just think, the good old USA is still leaving our border open to everyone. What do you think is coming your way for this act of stupidity? Oh, I almost forgot. Obama's going to take them to starbuck and negotiate with words; asking them to please leave us alone. Can't we all get along? I wonder when the liberals will ever learn.

Anonymous said...

Does anybody remember the current layoff and notice policies for indeterminate 200 series?

If the Obaminator's ideas carry through, it would be for the 2010 budget, which would cause morelayoffs in the Jan-Mar timeframe of 2010. With 4 months notice and 6 months severance, people who might have retired in 2011 might go out at the same level in 2010. Perhaps in time to go to a national science lab to to real work.

A trifecta....

Anonymous said...

With ever more uncertainty, I can picture a rush to the exits...I don't think the Obamaniac needs to actively kill nuclear science, neglect will do it just as well.

Anonymous said...

You said:"The Obama Administration and the Congress are about to spend the unheard of sum of $800 billion in 'job stimulus' to save American jobs, but at the same time they are going to destroy the high tech jobs within the government's very own National Labs that work with national defense?"
My question is: whay do you suggest?

Anonymous said...

Not sure why people are trying to blame Obama. The stage was set years ago and those in charge are still the same.

Anonymous said...

"Does anybody remember the current layoff and notice policies for indeterminate 200 series?"

From Section K of the procedures dated 10/20/08 -

For both 200 and non 200 series it's a minimum 30 days notice with up to 2 weeks pay in lieu of notice may be given.

That was part of the major rewrite of the layoff policy after the layoffs. Remember, NNSA was not allowing 200 series of more than 10 years of service to get a generous payout, they had to serve time in the Sunshine building.

The selection criteria of SKA for 200's vs seniority in the 4 digit code for non 200's remains the same.

The next round of layoffs will be cheaper and easier. NNSA and LLNS did their homework.

Anonymous said...

Not sure why people are trying to blame Obama.

They want to blame Obama to shift focus off Bush who has just been ranked as the fourth worst president this country has had. Its the typical republican game plan. Blame everyone else and never take responsibility.

Anonymous said...

February 17, 2009 12:15 PM

There's no shifting of the blame. You've elected the most anti-gun liberal pinhead this nation had to offer and now you'll suffer the consequence for doing so. It's the SOSDD. By the time this socialist gets done with America you'll think Al-Qaeda has come in the backdoor and your pocketbook will reflect his cabinets presence. Oh and by the way Big-O is going to take the troops out of Iraq but he's going to put them in Afghanistan simply because Pakistan was as stupid as we are and left all points of entry into their country wide open. Now they have so many terrorist inside their borders they're about to lose their country to the idiots whereby they'll have access to almost 200 nuclear weapons. It was a great special on TV yesterday. I guess the adoption of liberal ideology and war tactics does serve a purpose after all.

http://www.citizenlink.org/Spotlight/A000009104.cfm

Anonymous said...

Who does not get it? We are all screwed!

Anonymous said...

"There's no shifting of the blame".

Thats right. Bush made a mess of things and both the republican and Dem parties sat on their butts. These post are so off topic and have no basis in reality, just the mindless hate and a lack of knowledge!

Anonymous said...

So February 17, 2009 6:41 PM... what would you do instead?

--------
More Troops Headed to Afghanistan
Obama Boosting U.S. Force by Nearly 50% to Address 'Deteriorating Situation'

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

President Obama has ordered the first combat deployments of his presidency, saying yesterday that he had authorized an additional 17,000 U.S. troops "to stabilize a deteriorating situation" in Afghanistan.

The new deployments, to begin in May, will increase the U.S. force in Afghanistan by nearly 50 percent, bringing it to 55,000 by mid-summer, along with 32,000 non-U.S. NATO troops. In a statement issued by the White House, Obama said that "urgent attention and swift action" were required because "the Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda . . . threatens America from its safe-haven along the Pakistani border."

--------

Anonymous said...

The right wants to blame Obama... well this is the future and its not this president's fault.

------
"Worst Is Yet to Come:" Americans' Standard of Living Permanently Changed
Feb 17, 2009
by Aaron Task

There's no question the American consumer is hurting in the face of a burst housing bubble, financial market meltdown and rising unemployment.

But "the worst is yet to come," according to Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, who believes American's standard of living is undergoing a "permanent change" - and not for the better as a result of:

* An $8 trillion negative wealth effect from declining home values.

* A $10 trillion negative wealth effect from weakened capital markets.

* A $14 trillion consumer debt load amid "exploding unemployment", leading to "exploding bankruptcies."

"The average American used to be able to borrow to buy a home, send their kids to a good school [and] buy a car," Davidowitz says. "A lot of that is gone."

Going forward, the veteran retail industry consultant foresees higher savings rate and people trading down in both the goods and services they buy - as well as their aspirations.

The end of rampant consumerism is ultimately a good thing, he says, but the unraveling of an economy built on debt-fueled spending will be painful for years to come.

----------

$787 billion to slow the bleeding and easy the landing, but the end will still be the same.

Middle class ($75K to $150K a year depending on where you live) in this country are in for a different lifestyle. Republicans who want to do nothing and think this is a normal recession better wake up. Its easy of you're a rich Republican making more than $200K a year to say lets do nothing and cut my taxes. Well you can't "lets cut taxes" your way out of this mess. You're going to have to cut services and things - such as a NNSA that is much larger than 1000 to 2000 deployed weapons would demand.

Anonymous said...

Taxes need to be cut by at least 40%. All the government should ever see from our checks is 10% of out gross, It should be the end of paying for all the BS that's not necessary. Close the damn borders and start the deportation for at least the next 10 - 20 years. That'll be a good start.

Anonymous said...

"Taxes need to be cut by at least 40%." (7:31 PM)

Whoops, there goes your job at an NNSA national lab. No federal revenue == no national lab employees. But I guess you're too dense to figure that one out.

Anonymous said...

February 19, 2009 10:48 AM

I agree with 7:31. Taxes are way out of whack, but that's what all good socialist countries do don't they. Welcome to Obama's world and the dorks that put him in office.

Anonymous said...

"Welcome to Obama's world and the dorks that put him in office".


The current LLNL tax system to support corrupt science at the lab came under the Bush administration and is managed by those dorks who were trained under the Reagan star war years.

Once again you seem to assess blame to wrong people.

Anonymous said...

February 20, 2009 7:29 PM

I think you have your biased wires cross my man. It has been and always will be the "democrats" who promote "taxation without representation, socialism and gun control". They, are the buffoons of the nation and quite frankly I view them and their followers as the "enemy from within". It now to the point, if I find out you're an Obama backer the conversation is over and there will be no further discussions of any sort and any ties are severed.

Anonymous said...

Good Grief !

They let you whackos work with nuclear weapons?

Anonymous said...

Which whackos are you referring to, the Loony Left or the Raging Right?

Both sides screwed the lab into the ground. The left hated the weapons so they killed programs. The right axed funding on the pretense of budget cuts. Now the whole shebang has gone critical and there's no stopping it. LLNL is dead - end of story.

Anonymous said...

"Good Grief ! They let you whackos work with nuclear weapons?" - 4:17 PM

Well, you have to understand that the high standards at the nuclear weapon research labs fell a long way after for-profit management took over and NNSA was given reign to start mis-managing the weapons complex.

All that's left at these labs today is what you might call the dregs of science who have no other job options.

Comforting thought, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

February 22, 2009 11:03 PM

Your BS answer has nothing to do with the fact we have a socialist in the whitehouse along with a long list of liberal pinhead anti-gun scum bags running the show for the next four years or more. I think the whackos he needs to look hard at are the people who elected the Obamantor into office and the reasons he was elected. It was perfect timing to elect a president from the hood who's sole goal is to help those who either refuse to help themselves or those who think the government owns them a life simply because they were hatched. Either way socialism is for sure deeply embedded into the government now so you should all feel very happy as they attack the rich in hopes to bring them down so as to assure they middle class is dissolved, while at the same time continue to raise taxes on everything to assure the government never runs out of money. You will pay their way and like it. Enjoy your new form of government but don't bother complaining when they have 70 cents of every dollar you make going to their cause. You did it to yourselves. The people who support taxes are just like those who support gun control. You can't see how they're nibbling away at your freedoms simply because you're blinded by their false hopes and supportive social programs. You're like child drawn into the car by a child molester just by offering them some candy. Yep, you're going to get screwed one way or the other if you don't smarten up.

Anonymous said...

February 22, 2009 11:03 PM

You can't see how they're nibbling away at your freedoms simply because you're blinded by their false hopes and supportive social programs.

VERY well put! WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!!

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