LLNL - The True Story -

Hey Scoob. Some posts are deleted, but not others nearly identical in tone and content are retained. Bias is present in the editing. "..It is not the policy, so much as the implementation.." "..blame the christians.." Nero October 30, 2012 7:29 AM Anonymous said... Blog owner typically can filter/censor however they choose and don't have to explain their decisions or even be consistent. The flipside is that systematic bias in filtering will simply drive the legitimate contributors away, reducing the relevance of the blog site, which is probably not what a blog owner wants (though who knows). We have to accept the reality that blog owners are rightful dictators in a small domain, but we can decide what our threshold is regarding when we choose to stop participating in (and therefore supporting) it. I'm very impressed overall about this blog. I've been keeping tabs of sharp rise in the number of visitors accessing this blog. O...

Anonymously contributed: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington Post article

Anonymously contributed: KQED web/radio short news piece on NIF http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/in-livermore-still-waiting-on-nuclear-fusion/ This is the link to the web piece. I heard the radio bit this morning. It does reaffirm the big-science strategy as the main focus by NIF management. The 3 pieces are: (1) LIFE, (2) stockpile stewardship and (3) big science. It is Chu who has to report to congress regarding the alpha heating milestone failure. It will be interesting to see what he says. Whether he also affirms the big-science committment on the part of an NNSA that is supposed to be focused on ensuring the safety, security and reliability of the nuclear stockpile. NIF is not the only NNSA that has somewhat questionable or tenuous connections with weapons. So arguments hitting NIF on this big science strategy may hit other projects as well. October 29, 2012 11:05 AM Anonymous said... Yeah they are matrixed to NIF to "solve" the alpha ...

Anonymously contributed: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Security Failure at Los Alamos National Laboratory Puts Nuclear Materials at Risk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Nuclear Weapons and Materials Monitor and the Albuquerque Journal are reporting that a new and expensive security system at the Los Alamos National Laboratory simply does not work. In response, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is demanding that the contractor at the New Mexico lab fully disclose all of the project’s problems and show that the nuclear materials stored at the facility are safe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We commend the NNSA for holding its contractor accountable. Apparently, the NNSA had warned the contractor, Los Alamos National Security, as early as 2010 that the security project was ...

Anonymously contributed: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is there any truth to the rumor that the Bradbury science museum in Los Alamos is now going to a wing devoted to Bechtel?

Another Los Alamos managed project over budget and behind schedule. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Coming on the heels of the recent LANL radiation safety incident this can only be bad news. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/10/26/north/213m-project-not-working.html

Anonymously contributed: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A subject that never comes up in this blog is the lack of qualifications of the AD's for some of the support technical divisions at the Lab. It seems that the Lab management have sacrificed any hope of making those divisions world class. The obvious reasons are: political correctness to appease affirmative action critics and, and dare I say it, the convenience of having compliant AD's. The impact of this practice will surely be detrimental to the long-term future of the Lab.

Anonymously contributed: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos of Y-12 released --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following link has several photos from the recent Y-12 incident. It makes you wonder just what DOES work after spending hundreds of millions of dollars on security at each of the high profile locations. Hope the fences and sensors are working at full design at other facilities so we don't see more photos like this. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger

Anonymoulsy contributed: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am not sure what the new polling stats about the presidentail elections had to do with this website. But in case you really want unbiased predictions I suggest ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- fivethirtyeight.com

Anonymously contributed: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DoE contractors take a lot of international trips -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lookee here at this. It reports 90,000 contractor international trips over 6 years, with only 100,000 contractors on the payroll. Looks like a lot of contractors get to go on a lot of international trips. Perhaps it is just one of the compensating factors for the salary structure. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'According to the Department's centralized travel database, the Foreign Travel Management System (FTMS), Federal and contractor employees made approximately 109,000 individual international trips at a cost of about $360 million from Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 through FY 2012— a 6-year period. Consistent with the Department's organizational structure and its significant...

Anonymously contributed: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No matter who wins in November, rumors abound for the Administrator of NNSA. The posters here tend to be sporting types, so who is willing to name names and place odds? Just to get it going, here is one: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D'Agostino 100:1

Not taking duplication into consideration (2 people from same program), here are the results: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 600k-2.4M according to 12 people -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 800k-2M according to 4 people ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ more than 3.5M according to 7 people. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I left the poll posted so you can do you own multiplications.

Anonymously asked: ============================================================================================ How is the same level of funding in FY13 as in FY12 working out for you?

Anonymously contributed: =============================================================================================== http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/10/17/4344522/major-victory-for-plaintiffs-in.html

Contributed by Gary Gwilliam ============================================================================================== http://gwilliamlawfirm.com/2012/10/judge-rules-in-favor-of-plaintiffs-in-age-discrimination-lawsuit-against-bechtel-led-lawrence-livermore-national-security-llc/

Who pays for the Director's Ball, I believe this year it is called "Puttin' on the Glitz"? DOE? LLNS? The director personally? Attendees? And who goes to it? Is it by invitation only?

Anonymous said... "What happens if Z Machine reaches breakeven before NIF? It was rumored that they are closer than NIF. Comment: October 13, 2012 6:07 AM" Than the Z Machine will be closed down and the money will be moved to NIF.

Anonymously reported: Ladies and Gentlemen, At my recent All Hands meeting, reviewed recent accomplishments of the NIC team, the status of the Program, and the role of the NIF as it formally becomes a national and international user facility. Several developments have occurred since then, and have received a number of questions and comments from you that deserve immediate conversation. In the All Hands, stressed three key points: • Together, we have built the NIF, a revolutionary scientific tool that is the world's premier High Energy Density (HED) science facility. NIF is now a user facility dedicated to carrying out the broad range of missions it was designed for in strategic security, fundamental science, and energy security. The NIF laser's power, precision and reproducibility, coupled with its outstanding diagnostic, target fabrication, and operational capabilities, enable us to take on missions no other facility in the world can. • Although the NlC ca...

ANonymously contributed: ============================================================================================ Parney does it again.... Did Parney say what I thought I heard? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Contributions are not required for TCP-1 right now. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) LLNS is still going to try to contribute $40M this year (half of what they planned) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) The employees are still required to make contributions in spite of 1) above, and LLNS is going to increase it by 40% in July "because that's what UC is doing". --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So....the employees are going to see an increase in contributions, which are not required now, to offset fu...

Anonymously contributed: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another success story brought to you by NNSA in collaboration with B&W and Bechtel. Same players who are also so important to the LLNLs. It is sad that we are run by engineering companies, who after spending 500 M$ in designing a facility, still come 13 feet short in height. Maybe we can donate a few tape measures. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/2012/10/eschenberg-redesigning-upf-now.html

Anonymously contributed ==========================================================================================: The national nuclear weapons program is failing under NNSA tutelage. ========================================================================================== It is better to place both physics labs back under full UC leadership where proper care and feeding will occur. Like in the old days UC will tell DOE/NNSA what to do. And like in the old days, the right things will get done. Congress - a distracted group of bickering gerontologists, served by NNSA administrators, mediocre yes-men - is running the weapons complex into the ground. No ideas, no leadership.

Anonymously contributed: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- new topic suggestion: "LLNL Blog Role Call" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "For those visiting this site as anon., please give a brief general description of yourself, without being detailed enough to reveal your identity. Name one thing you hope to accomplish by visiting. Optionally, leave one brief sentence summing up your thoughts on LLNL and/or LANL." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ example: "Former IT specialist. I hope to learn more about what is happening at LLNL."

Anonymously contributed: ========================================================================================= DOE IG report on W76 LEP cost over runs ========================================================================================= "The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is refurbishing the aging W76 nuclear warhead with the goal of extending the warhead life by 30 years. However, the W76 Life Extension Program (LEP) has experienced significant delays in startup and in achieving production goals. NNSA may be unable to complete the W76 LEP within established scope, cost and schedule parameters, unless it adopts a more effective approach to reducing unit costs. This concern is exacerbated by the fact that the Program is faced with a relatively flat budget over the next few years, even though its annual scope of work is projected to increase significantly. The Program's budget increases for Fiscal Years (FY) 2013 and 2014, for example, are projecte...

Anonymously contributed: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Another graph of LANL staff

Anonymously contributed: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Scientist Article: World's largest laser misses nuclear fusion deadline --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22325-worlds-largest-laser-misses-nuclear-fusion-deadline.html The quotes in here are employing a great deal of trickery and deception. They are still playing the "stockpile stewardship relevance" card.

anonymously CONTRIBUTED: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NIF falls short of ignition ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Laser Focus World http://www.laserfocusworld.com/blogs/spectralbytes/2012/09/nif-falls-short-of-ignition.html

Anonymously contributed: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Federal officials recommend WSI contract termination, extend B&W Y-12 contract -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two months after an unprecedented security breach, federal officials have recommended ending a contract with security guard company WSI Oak Ridge at the Y-12 National Security Complex. In a brief letter Friday, the National Nuclear Security Administration said it has had “grave concerns” about the ability of WSI Oak Ridge and managing contractor B&W Y-12 to “effectively perform physical security functions at Y-12″ after the July 28 intrusion by three anti-nuclear weapons activists. http://oakridgetoday.com/2012/09/28/federal-officials-recommend-wsi-contract-termination-extend-b-w-y-12-contract/

Anonymously contributed: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ spectacularuva job, ed! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/science/fusion-project-faces-a-frugal-congress.html?hpw&_r=0&gwh=18DEA30D10FD779515763916DA842BD7