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Budget Deal Whacks LANL Nuke Lab
Updated: Friday, 16 Dec 2011, 3:43 PM MST
Published : Friday, 16 Dec 2011, 3:43 PM MST
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - The compromise budget bill approved by the U.S. House Friday slashes funding for and prohibits any site preparation work on a controversial new $6 billion nuclear facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The spending bill appropriates $200 million for the project this fiscal year, $100 million less than the administration had requested. It also notes that "no construction activities are funded for the project this year," and calls for a new report on the country's capability for manufacturing so-called pits, or the cores that power nuclear weapons.
Watchdogs hailed the budget action as a sign Congress was backing it's calls for the National Nuclear Security Administration to slow down on plans to build the facility.
30 comments:
Brett Knapp is finally going to get the opportunity he's been waiting 5-years for; to fire full-time LANL weapon engineers and weapon physicists. Go for it Knapp, go for it.....
Guess we won't need all those new Bechtel construction project managers who have recently been hired and the huge, special LANL directorate that was created last year especially for them to handle big capital projects like CMRR.
Nah, on second thought, just make up for the huge loss in construction related funding by firing more staff scientists and raising overhead taxes on the remaining scientific projects at LANL.
We must do everything we can to keep these highly compensated Bechtel Boys on the lab payroll. They're an irreplaceable asset according to LANS top management.
$200M for planning is about 400 FTE, about the size of the NIF ops budget.
Pretty good size.
$200M for planning is about 400 FTE, about the size of the NIF ops budget.
Pretty good size.
December 17, 2011 9:01 PM
Yeah but NIF is doing great science and getting us to the holy grail of fusion "ignition". All the folks working on CMRR and the Pit Factory are counting beans, polishing pins, filling out forms, handcarrying paperwork, and wearing shoes that grip. Pays the same I guess.
Did anyone notice someone else missing on the LISC (Let's Inspire a State of Confusion) committee formed to make the most difficult decisions in the next few months including RIFing workers. Why I understand that McMillan has completely given all the dirty work to the "Mexican carrying the water", why is our new Deputy Director Elizabeth (Beth) Sellers not involved either? Another example of the LANS Top Two Senior Executives not providing leadership! Who's in charge McMillan, you certainly are not.
How about an acronym/abbreviation contest? Which of these two has accumulated the most direspectful meanings? NIF (Non Ignition Farce, etc.) or LISC (Let's Inspire a State of Confusion, etc.)? I have counted more than a half dozen for NIF, but it's been around a bit longer than LISC.
Anyone?
One of the reasons that Congress gave for cutting the funding for CMRR was the dynamic nature of the cost story that came from LANL WP last year. Perhaps the creation of the new PADdom was an attempt to deflect attention from the responsible party?
Lets face it the CMRR is not going to happen it cost too much and too many people are against it. One of the big problems it has is that a credible argument can be made that we do not need it and that the price just keeps going up and up.
Sooooo.... if CMRR is not going to be built, then why do we have a newly created and hugely expensive Directorate at LANL devoted to this thing?
Time to start the cuts, but begin with this new "Capital Projects" Directorate and the Bechtel PAD who was recently hired at great expense to manage it.
Time to start the cuts, but begin with this new "Capital Projects" Directorate and the Bechtel PAD who was recently hired at great expense to manage it.
December 18, 2011 10:31 AM
You don't get it!
Santa (AKA Riley) is now making his list of congressmen whose campaign socks he'll fill to ensure continued taxpayer rip offs like LANS/LLNS.
“…continued taxpayer rip offs like LANS/LLNS.”
Not to mention the other sites these opportunist and exploiters have their greedy hands in.
Sooooo.... if CMRR is not going to be built, then why do we have a newly created and hugely expensive Directorate at LANL devoted to this thing?
December 18, 2011 10:31 AM
The new Directorate was simply formed to have LANL workers report directly a Becthel Executive. In other words, Bechtel needed to "accomodate" this guy for whatever reason. It was an non-competed job that Anastasio was handsomely rewarded for announcing it just before he left. Incidentally, why are Bechtel employees not required to compete for jobs at LANS/LLNS?
I heard a rumor that if CMRR is not build NNSA will be forced to keep Superblock at LLNL open and SNM at the Lab. Anyone know if there's truth to this?
December 18, 2011 7:44 PM
While it may be that the PAD for construction was not needed at LANL, it is hard to argue that the person put in the position is unqualified. His resume looks like he is a serious construction project manager.
If you want to pick on PAD selections that were not competed and filled by someone that has no known qualifications for their position except a family name then look elsewhere in the organization.
Incidentally, why are Bechtel employees not required to compete for jobs at LANS/LLNS?
December 18, 2011 7:44 PM
Uh, because competing jobs is not required anywhere in the private sector? (You did realize LANS is a private sector employer, didn't you? Or did you somehow think you still worked for UC?)
OK, 9:40 am,so what if this newly hired and highly compensated Bechtel PAD for Capital Projects (which we'll soon not be doing any more of) is qualified for his job. He's qualified for a job this lab won't be needing.
If there is no "business case" to be made for him, as the recent CFO management memo warned about several months ago, then he should be put on the LANL watch-list for future layoff.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander, right?
What's good for the goose is good for the gander, right?
December 19, 2011 1:13 PM
Not if the gander is one of Riley's boyos! Don't confuse them with the scientists and engineers whose collective goose is cooked!
It's so quiet at LANL you can hear a pin drop. Not one job posting for two ~ 2 weeks. Problem is, a ton of bricks is about to fall on the employees and most of them don't have a clue.
Problem is, a ton of bricks is about to fall on the employees and most of them don't have a clue.
December 19, 2011 7:39 PM
You got that right. Most of the LANL workforce is totally clueless about the stuff that's about to "go down". The shocks on their face will begin to emerge once they return from holiday closure and find out exactly what plans LANS has in mind for them. Not gonna be pretty. Budgets are looking dreadful and some heavy cuts are going to be necessary.
LISC - Let's Implement Stupidity and Chaos
The Environmental "Clean-up" Program at LANS is taking a 50% budget cut. This is just after Bechtel reorganized the program and doubled the number of highly compensated managers anticipating a 200% increase in funding. Now what are these highly paid managers going to do? Start firing workers that were were doing all the "backbreaking" work immediately following the Holidays. What a farce!
Someone get a rope!
Just a question from an interested observer. I know DOE and its regulations are a mess, but other sites seem to have wrestled capital projects to ground and started construction, however unsightly the process. Why is CMRR in such a state of purgatory after all this time?
Why is CMRR in such a state of purgatory after all this time?
December 20, 2011 9:56 PM
I can recall CMRR in a struggle for funding all the way back to 1997 and before. It just seems to be "a can being kicked down the street" by Administration after Administration. It's an embarrassment to the Lab and our Nation.
Why is CMRR in such a state of purgatory after all this time?
December 20, 2011 9:56 PM
The Lab cannot baseline the price tag.
Weapons has had trouble with CMRR funding for years. Science also has had trouble with funding for new big buildings. Meanwhile, other locations do seem able to overcome the system and open modern facilities.
The Environmental "Clean-up" Program at LANS is taking a 50% budget cut. This is just after Bechtel reorganized the program and doubled the number of highly compensated managers anticipating a 200% increase in funding. Now what are these highly paid managers going to do? Start firing workers that were were doing all the "backbreaking" work immediately following the Holidays. What a farce!
December 20, 2011 3:33 PM
In our monthly safety meeting in WDP we had 8 Senior Waste Management Managers "lecture" like children on the 9 accidents they have had during the last month. It was interesting to note that Michael Graham was missing; no comment now on the major shortfall. He always attends to give us the budget update. How many Waste Managers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None.
How many Waste Managers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None.
December 22, 2011 6:21 AM
Apparently it takes 8 making 200 G's plus a year.
How many Waste Managers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None.
December 22, 2011 6:21 AM
Apparently it takes 8 making 200 G's plus a year.
December 22, 2011 6:24 AM
Believe me, you wouldn't any of these managers screwing in a light bulb at LANS/LLNS, they would end up hurting themselves or someone else.
LANL will have a two step process: April - incentive to leave
Oct. - no incentive to leave (Riff)
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