Anonymously contributed:
Energy Secretary Steven Chu is reorganizing the department’s nuclear weapons complex cleanup efforts, placing the department’s Office of Environmental Management under the jurisdiction of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Since the creation of NNSA, there has been tension between separate management structures of EM and the NNSA, which at times played out in confusion at Los Alamos National Laboratory about competing cleanup and weapons missions.
From Chu’s announcement, emailed to staff this afternoon:
While we have made enormous progress, there is still much left to do, and we will only succeed through teamwork and continuous improvement. In the critical area of project management, we must always strive to raise the bar on our own performance. As a next step in the process, I am pleased to announce some organizational changes the Department intends to make to align the program’s needs more closely with the agency’s resources, while enhancing project oversight. In the coming weeks, we intend to transition the Office of Environmental Management, the Office of Legacy Management, and the Office of the Chief of Nuclear Safety so that these offices will report directly to the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, Tom D’Agostino. This reorganization will capitalize on the expertise that exists throughout the Department on project management, nuclear materials and waste, and nuclear safety and security.
22 comments:
This a clear example of Secretary Chu's lack of leadership within DOE. The competition for money and resources between Defense Programs (DP) and Environmental Management (EM) has been healthy competition and existed for years. Chu has effectively given the EM Program to the devil himself.
Eliminating Inez Triay and giving her organization to D'Ago is "teamwork"?
Eliminating Inez Triay and giving her organization to D'Ago is "teamwork"?
July 12, 2011 5:22 PM
"Eliminating Inez Triay" is the best thing that ever happened to anyone who had to work for her.
"Eliminating Inez Triay" is the best thing that ever happened to anyone who had to work for her.
Ah, yes...the world's first human-cell phone implant patient.
Also note that "as ususal" Los Alamos was blamed for this DOE organizational change. Good ole Los Alamos. There are several ironies here. Triay came from Los Alamos and so did her successor (Dave Moody) at WIPP. My general impression is Triay became so powerful "OK and hated" is that Chu removed her. What wasn't justified was to give the entire EM Program to D'Ago who will now have more power that Chu himself. This raises the question, "what does Chu do"? Mark this up as "another bad decision" by Chu, representing the most disfunctional agency in the U.S.
Anonymous said,
The best thing that could happen to tax payers and the politicians trying to strike a budget deal would be to disolve DOE. Then there
would be no need for the dog and pony show regarding the budget. Chu
needs the same ticket he gave to Triay.
DOE really picks some real "winners" to handle their programs, don't they?
More bad news for the NNSA weapon labs just came out of Washington DC this Friday:
***
House Approves $1 Billion Cut to Nuclear Agency Funding
Friday, July 15, 2011
By Martin Matishak
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday approved spending legislation for the next budget cycle that would cut nearly $1 billion in proposed funding for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration's weapons and nonproliferation programs.
"WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday approved spending legislation for the next budget cycle that would cut nearly $1 billion in proposed funding for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration's weapons and nonproliferation programs.
To the
July 15, 2011 8:57 PM poster.
It it is not bad news yet,
it still has to go through the Senate. The Senate was more involved with the START treaty so things could change. In the current budget climate this cut could happen. But hey we are now spending 200mill year to a for profit company! Can someone please tell what was the gain?
How bout eliminating EM and its mission? In the new, austere fiscal environment, it is an unnecessary luxury.
No one will notice the difference whether employees worked or stayed home.
How about a permanent 6 day yearly furlough to save $58M for a minor contribution to the $14T debt?
How about that for all federal workers, military, social security recipients and contractors?
A 6 day unpaid furlough?
The diminished federal work will not be noticed.
California workers and schools have had multiday furloughs for two years and truthfully, you can't tell the difference.
THe rust belt, auto industry, silicon valley have lead the way in compensation reduction.
Time for federal and state workers and beneficiaries to balance their books.
"But hey we are now spending 200mill year to a for profit company! Can someone please tell what was the gain?" - 9:24 PM
Sure, a nice, luxury super-yacht currently sailing off the California coastline with the name "Bechtel Bounty" on its side. The soft leather captain's chair has the initials "R.B" on the back of the chair.
Sure, a nice, luxury super-yacht currently sailing off the California coastline with the name "Bechtel Bounty" on its side. The soft leather captain's chair has the initials "R.B" on the back of the chair.
July 16, 2011 6:23 PM
Don't forget Pattiz's $50M mega-yacht "Vixen". With a name like that, no telling who's running around naked on that boat. Scary!
"Vixen"? Reminds of of Senator Gary Hart during his infamous run for the Presidency and that picture of him with a young lady in his lap (not his wife) on the boat, "Monkey Business".
I wonder if Bechtel will try to pick up another part of the NNSA complex to go along with their management of LLNL, LANL and Oak Ridge's Y-12?....
-
Time Running Out On Sandia Management Contract
Contract Expires September 2012
July 17, 2011 - KOAT TV, Albuquerque
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Officials said the clock is winding down for the federal government to decide whether to renew Lockheed Martin's contract to manage Sandia National Laboratories or hold a bidding competition to pick a corporate manager.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that the contract for the nuclear weapons lab expires at the end of September 2012.
Records suggested that the federal government has run out of options to easily grant the company a one-year extension.
A joint venture of Boeing and Fluor had already gone public with its desire to bid on a Sandia contract. Other possible contenders are believed to be waiting in the wings.
-
How bout eliminating EM and its mission? In the new, austere fiscal environment, it is an unnecessary luxury.
July 16, 2011 3:23 PM
Funny! The EM Program is cleaning up all the crap (mostly dumb experiments) that our "esteemed scientists" have thrown all over the Labs. Yeah, let's go ahead and let all the crap pile up! There's at least 20,000 drums of it at LANL, not to mention all the other burial sites.
"...Yeah, let's go ahead and let all the crap pile up! There's at least 20,000 drums of it at LANL, not to mention all the other burial sites..."
And it won't make a bit of difference if the waste sits there another 20 years.
As now, nary a good citizen will notice.
These sites were picked for waste storage because they were isolated wastelands in the first place.
I don't personally care one way of the other, but it seems a great place to reduce spending significantly.
"that our "esteemed scientists" "
"Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured."
Christopher Hitchens
These sites were picked for waste storage because they were isolated wastelands in the first place.
I don't personally care one way of the other, but it seems a great place to reduce spending significantly.
July 19, 2011 1:27 AM
TA-54 (Area G) is less than 5-miles from White Rock. That's isolated? You would care if your land was adjacent to to this mega-dump.
TA-54 (Area G) is less than 5-miles from White Rock. That's isolated? You would care if your land was adjacent to to this mega-dump.
July 19, 2011 4:02 PM
What stupidity. Your "5 miles" us as good as the next continent. "Adjacent" it is not. Get real, and get some knowledge of local geography, geology and storage techniques. Fear-monger.
Based on "... some knowledge of local geography, geology and storage techniques." it follows that WIPP is a far better site, and that's where those barrels are headed.
Post a Comment