Saturday, July 5, 2014 at 8:36 am
Monitor Staff, Wire Reports
Los Alamos National Laboratory says it made mistakes in packing waste that has been linked to a radiation leak at the government's underground nuclear waste dump, but it remains unclear if the violations or its use of organic cat litter to absorb moisture played a role in the accident.
In a letter released by state regulators Thursday, lab officials told the New Mexico Environment Department that their internal probe of the handling of the toxic waste from decades of nuclear bomb building has uncovered several violations of its Hazardous Waste Facility Permit. The lab says it failed to follow proper procedures in making the switch from inorganic to organic litter and in its lack of follow up on waste that tests showed to be highly acidic.
http://www.lamonitor.com/content/lab-admits-violating-nuke-waste-permit
29 comments:
The Los Alamos Monitor is reporting that about 100 LANL subcontractors involved with the packaging of WIPP waste have recently been laid off. The money used to support them will now be send to WIPP for the clean up efforts. Even worse, the state of New Mexico will soon begin levying heavy fines against LANL for the delays in the promised cleanup efforts at LANL. And yet, with all this failure, Charlie McMillan remains.
At the very least, perhaps he should be asked to forfeit his 2 million dollar per year salary to the WIPP cleanup effort. The employees he overseas on the TCP1 pension have already seen $120 million in "rainy day" funding at NNSA go up in smoke as it is transferred to the WIPP cleanup efforts. Care to chip in, Charlie?
I have to admit that I'm surprised at how little government attention this is getting. In the UC days, DOE, NNSA, and congress would all have been in quite a snit.
It is taking awhile for the news media to catch wind of this one, it is gonna be big. This will be right in front of LANL's face until WIIP is reopeaned, maybe in the next 4-5 years.
It will be fun to watch LANS squirm for the foreseeable future.
It is taking awhile for the news media to catch wind of this one, it is gonna be big. This will be right in front of LANL's face until WIIP is reopeaned, maybe in the next 4-5 years.
It will be fun to watch LANS squirm for the foreseeable future.
It is taking awhile for the news media to catch wind of this one, it is gonna be big. This will be right in front of LANL's face until WIIP is reopeaned, maybe in the next 4-5 years.
It will be fun to watch LANS squirm for the foreseeable future.
It ironical that the one area (Transuranic Program) that LANS was paying the least attention to is the one that bit them in the ass. Ouch! LANS got arrogant and assumed that "the boys" they hired from Savannah River Site (SRS) knew what they were doing. By the way the only nuclear facility (WETF, PF-4, TRU, RLW) at LANL that is OPERATIONAL is the RLW program. Outta boy LANS, hecka of job!
At the very least, perhaps he should be asked to forfeit his 2 million dollar per year salary to the WIPP cleanup effort. The employees he overseas on the TCP1 pension have already seen $120 million in "rainy day" funding at NNSA go up in smoke as it is transferred to the WIPP cleanup efforts. Care to chip in, Charlie?
July 9, 2014 at 10:39 PM
Sure, here is a 1/4 of my Southwest Airline points used to visit my friends "at Livermore". Use them wisely buddy!
At the very least, perhaps he should be asked to forfeit his 2 million dollar per year salary to the WIPP cleanup effort. The employees he overseas on the TCP1 pension have already seen $120 million in "rainy day" funding at NNSA go up in smoke as it is transferred to the WIPP cleanup efforts.
July 9, 2014 at 10:39 PM
1. Provide evidence citing a $2M salary.
2. Provide evidence that LANL employees ever had any interest in or right to the DOE/NNSA pension monies involved in the WIPP issue.
3. Or just STFU.
1. While the base salary of the "lab director" likely is well below $2M per year, the total compensation probably is higher than that number. When all the standard items are included such as bonus, deferred compensation, above grade benefits, and funds from related job functions such as "president", it is useless to look at the base salary number. In the present case at LANL, it could be a bit lower, since Charlie might not have been a hard negotiator.
2. As reported in the press, the funds were for all of the NNSA M&O sites that had defined benefit plans. That covers pre-transition LLNL and LANL. So, the funds may not have come entirely from LANL TCP-1. In any event, the make up funds from NNSA were needed some years due to poor stock market performance. Since the markets are doing very well this year, the monies may not have been needed.
So, in a way, both 10:39 PM and 9:28 PM are each partly correct.
1. Those who insist on calculating Charlie's salary that way need to use the same logic in calculating their own.
2. DOE/NNSA has no control over the funds dedicated to the contractors' Defined Benefit Plans. Pre-transition pension funds for LLNL and LANL were completely under UC control. So the "press" got it wrong.
10:52 AM is a funny poster!
1. Sure, no problem. Only, the average employee will enter zeros for all the other categories and their salary is their total compensation.
2. Wow! If what you say is correct, then NNSA has put no funds into TCP-1 since transition. That would be a new story.
July 10, 2014 at 9:28 PM needs to sign his/her name to get full suck-up points from Charlie. He/her should do this soon, since Charlie may not be around much longer.
I find this constant harping on Charlie McMillan rather childish. I don't give a hoot if he has Italian belts, colors his hair or gets 2M$.
He is not the problem, you can put anybody at the helm of LANS, and it will be the same story. The corporate interests of our companies are what is driving the madness, not Charlie.
To me it is the same as blaming Obama or before George W for any ailments, even bad weather.
He is not the problem, you can put anybody at the helm of LANS, and it will be the same story. The corporate interests of our companies are what is driving the madness, not Charlie.
July 12, 2014 at 6:29 AM
Agreed, but, McMillan is in-charge, the commander-in-chief, el heffe, comprende?
McMillan is in-charge, the commander-in-chief, el heffe, comprende?
July 12, 2014 at 8:01 AM
You are very naive. The LANS Board is in charge. Mcmillan is a figurehead "President." The political and corporate dynamic on the Board controls everything that happens at LANL.
You are very naive. The LANS Board is in charge. Mcmillan is a figurehead "President." The political and corporate dynamic on the Board controls everything that happens at LANL.
July 12, 2014 at 8:15 AM
Ha ha ha... Norm Pattiz and crew? The only thing Norm is worried about now is how many pair of silk Venticinque ties he's buying on Rodeo Drive this morning. Norm can't even spell "nuclear" let alone pronounce it.
The only thing Norm is worried about now is how many pair of silk Venticinque ties
Here we go again.....
Give us all a break, save up some money and buy all the things you don't like other people to have.
"He is not the problem, you can put anybody at the helm of LANS, and it will be the same story. The corporate interests of our companies are what is driving the madness, not Charlie."
You are partially right but the person who could help the most is Charlie. The corporation knows this and that is why has his paid enough money to go along with it. In a way it is like a bribe. I would guess most of the upper management know that what a disaster the contract change has been but the money is too good to speak up against what is happening.
Ha ha ha... Norm Pattiz and crew?
July 12, 2014 at 8:25 AM
Nope. Albert, Drell, Mies, Cochran...Lots of heavy hitters there.
The NNSA labs have become a soul-sucking disaster for most employees since the LLCs took over and this will not change no matter how many official reports are produced documenting this mess.
You can't change the broken management culture. The easier solution is to simply leave the lab as soon as possible to salvage your sanity. Begin looking for better opportunities as the economy continues to improve. What price for your sanity?
Nope. Albert, Drell, Mies, Cochran...Lots of heavy hitters there.
July 12, 2014 at 1:00 PM
A bunch of ole farts being rolled-in on wheel chairs.
Sid Drell? Isn't he at an Palo Alto ole-folks home eating crackers and soup?
Drell is a well known anti nuke activist. He has accomplished much of his pacifist agenda through the LANS/LLNS board of governers by disabling the labs and putting incompetent people in top spots.
Drell is a well known anti nuke activist. He has accomplished much of his pacifist agenda through the LANS/LLNS board of governers by disabling the labs and putting incompetent people in top spots.
July 13, 2014 at 6:32 PM
Besides McMillan, who else incompetent has been put in a top spot?
You don't really work here, do you?
Yeah, denigrate the questioner, instead of answering the question. Real classy.
Besides McMillan, who else incompetent has been put in a top spot?
July 14, 2014 at 8:11 AM
Is Nick Salazar, NM Sate Senator still on the LANS Board? This guy is so old that his constituents are trying to run him off. LANS is just using this guy for "window dressing" diversity on the Board. As soon as I saw his name as a Board member, I knew the Board itself was a "sham". By the way, LANS still has this guy employed at LANL.
Nick Salazar cant spell WIIP, much less understand any of the issues, he is a very old politician, that LANL has used to their benefit for many years, As has been said before the Board is not credible.
Anonymous said...
Yeah, denigrate the questioner, instead of answering the question. Real classy.
July 14, 2014 at 8:44 PM
That was the answer. Get it?
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