LLNL - The True Story -

  W80-5 “just came up,” will go on SLCM-N, weapons directors say By Sarah Salem Exchange Monitor January 28, 2026 ARLINGTON, VA – The W80-5, a new variant of the W80 warhead family, is on a “more aggressive schedule” to go on the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N), weapons directors said on the final day of Exchange Monitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit. Rita Gonzales, Deputy Laboratories Director for Nuclear Deterrence at Sandia National Laboratories, and Bradley Wallin, Deputy Director of Strategic Deterrence at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, both spoke on a panel about the new warhead the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is developing. “This one just came up and we’ve been working on it for less than a year at this point, but really looking at accelerating that program as well and looking at some creative ways where we might be able to deliver that capability to the Department of War earlier than antici...

 From an anonymous contributor: Is NIF falling behind more promising fusion technologies? In 2012, NIF failed to reach ignition and the “LIFE” program was mothballed. In 2026, NIF “still consumes significantly more energy than it produces, indicating that practical, commercial fusion power is still a long way”. TAE Technologies is doing aneutronic fusion research that may cost 10x LESS per GW than a post NIF fusion power plant, and do so with significantly reduced neutron radiation damage lowering reactor maintenance. If the NNSA brings back underground nuclear testing at NTS in 2026, will funding for NIF increase, decrease, or be unaffected?

Odds of another Government shutdown just went way up https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/us/democrats-congress-reaction.html The odds are like 75% now. This will be fun, so we go through the whole thing again?

  Our Nuclear Weapons Need a New Home by Franklin Miller & Frank Rose, Real Clear Defense, January 23, 2026 https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2026/01/23/our_nuclear_weapons_need_a_new_home_1160419.html "The Energy Department is the Wrong Place to Manage Our Nuclear Stockpile. Nuclear deterrence is once again central to U.S. national security. The relative calm of the post-Cold War world has been replaced by an era of dangerous competition with two nuclear armed adversaries. China is rapidly expanding and diversifying its nuclear forces. Russia is modernizing its strategic and non-strategic arsenal while integrating nuclear signaling into conventional operations. Emerging technologies—from cyber operations to artificial intelligence and space-based systems—are compressing decision timelines and increasing the risk of miscalculation. Yet the U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise is organized for a different era. At precisely the moment when speed, accountability, and delivery ...

  With all the foreign national scientists at LLNL and LANL should we be worried about the ICE abusing their powers to intimidate people?

  From ARS TECHNICA: Is Orion’s heat shield really safe? https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/01/nasa-chief-reviews-orion-heat-shield-expresses-full-confidence-in-it-for-artemis-ii/

  Scientists at the labs better start worrying. You will soon have nothing to offer the labs. Nvidia’s CEO Just Dropped a Hard Truth: “Smart” Is About to Become Worthless. AI can generate everything. Only humans with discernment can decide what’s worth keeping. In other words all you "I am so smart scientists" are about to worthless since, brains, knowledge and skill will be free for all to use, at hundreds of times faster and better than what any scientist can do What will matter will be leadership and management skills who can than ask the AI what to do. They will not have to ask humans anymore.

  Does war with Venezuela change anything for the NNSA labs? Does China take Taiwan now?  Are we back to war with Iran? What about Cuba and Mexico?

I would like to bring this up as it is another claim whereby certain individuals show signs of harm that are not present in the overall population. We have previously discussed this in the context of organophosphate exposure. This particular claim seems to pertain to either radiation or chemical exposure, if true. https://www.8newsnow.com/news/national-news/ohio-mom-alleges-radiation-led-to-daughters-death-sues-revived-nuclear-plant/

  AI and job loss. I just was watching some business podcasts talking about the changing landscape as AI grows. Most of these podcasts are optimistic saying that profits will grow, more creativity, how if you have tech skills you will be even be more valuable. There is even talk about a nee golden age in science and tech and there will be more job opportunities as new kinds of science fields will emerge that could not exist without AI. That being said, these same podcasts said that most advancements will be in the private sector and that academic or government are not really going to be be able to take the same advantages. Basically AI will be able to replace what are called BS jobs. Companies want to get rid of these for profit reasons but government jobs and academic jobs have no real motivation to do this. I just was watching some business podcasts talking about the changing landscape as AI grows. Most of these podcasts are optimistic saying that profits will grow, more creativi...

 This is another interesting story if anyone is following the issues previously discussed on this blog regarding aviation safety. There are evidently claims that fumes from engine oil or hydraulic fluids can enter cabin air. This could sicken the pilot or first officer, cabin crew, and also passengers, there are signs of both acute toxicity and long lasting neurological sequelae capable of leading to death. https://nypost.com/2025/09/14/us-news/pilots-crew-breathing-fumes-suffer-brain-nerve-damage-report/ Besides the New York Post article from September there is also a cover story on the Wall Street Journal, today December 22nd which goes into additional details, but is behind an internet paywall.

Nuno Loureiro, professor and director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, dies at 47 https://news.mit.edu/2025/nuno-loureiro-professor-director-plasma-science-and-fusion-center-dies-1216?fbclid=IwdGRzaAO1WRFjbGNrA7VXg2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHjaLv_9gTTgK1SfImjkpdwtiItKADAJr5kdnTste0KC8sD6AhjHddUDCTrgc_aem_Q2QOj1PHgVwz_loIGUE2bw

Short article from The Huffington Post: Trump Media & Technology, the parent company of Truth Social, is set to merge with TAE Technologies, a fusion power company, in an all-stock deal worth more than $6 billion. The merger would create one of the first publicly traded nuclear fusion companies in the world. Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman and the current CEO of Trump Media, will be the co-CEO of the new company, along with TAE Technologies head Michl Binderbauer. The companies aim to create the first “utility-scale fusion power plant” in 2026. “Fusion power will be the most dramatic energy breakthrough since the onset of commercial nuclear energy in the 1950s,” Nunes said.  https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brown-university-shooting-rob-reiner-death_n_693fda79e4b0775c50782f40/liveblog_69441584e4b045d9788d3d1a?origin=home-latest-news-unit

  What approach is the NNSA taking, if any, to LLNS pension “spiking” in all forms, if and when it is found? Has LLNS been audited for evidence of this practice by any other Agency? Calpers criticized for passive approach to pension 'spiking' “…Part of that law was aimed at halting spiking, the practice where workers on the eve of retirement cash out, for example, years of unused vacation and sick pay to inflate their final year's salary…” https://finance.yahoo.com/news/calpers-criticized-failing-halt-pension-203823680.html