LLNL - The True Story -

Anonymous said: It is over! people! Face the truth

By H. JOSEF HEBERT WASHINGTON (AP) — After more than a decade of work and $3.5 billion, engineers have completed the world's most powerful laser, capable of simulating the energy force of a hydrogen bomb and the sun itself. The Energy Department will announce Tuesday that it has officially certified the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, clearing the way for a series of experiments over the next year. Scientists hope the experiments eventually will mimic the heat and pressure found at the center of the sun. The facility, the size of a football field, consists of 192 separate laser beams, each traveling 1,000 feet in a one-thousandth of a second to converge simultaneously on a target the size of a pencil eraser. While the NIF laser is expected to be used for a wide range of high-energy and high-density physics experiments, its primary purpose is to help government physicists ensure the reliability of the nation's nuclear weapo...

Well?

We have an enormous management burden at the lab. 2600 or so non-management employees and contractors were laid off, but the numbers show very few managers were laid off. The management size relative to workers has increased dramatically. The costs and budget shortfalls at this point are NOT a function of us bringing in less money. We can solve the shortfalls, even probably have a surplus, by eliminating this huge costly management burden. Given the size of the RIF, management should have been reduced about 40-50%. Instead, we have a relative 40% increase. The budget gimmicks of shifting costs around avoid this fundamental problem. We are all sinking because of the apparent willingness to fire the people who work on projects, but managers are protected no matter the cost. Well, those costs are now here to roost. One manager laid off, given their gross overpayment, saves 2-3 people working on projects. If managers are pushed out of management into the working ranks, their pay must be re...

Anonymously contributed: (Moved here from the NIF topic): What do people think about the news that Congresswoman Tauscher is heading to the State Department? Tauscher Signals Leftward Shift on Arms Control washingtonindependent.com/ 34879/tauscher-signals- leftward-shift-on-arms-control

Nuclear Security Official Hints at Leaner, Less Costly Weapons Complex By Walter Pincus Tuesday, March 24, 2009; A11 The best status report on the U.S. nuclear weapons program and its future was delivered last Tuesday at a session of the House Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water development, where the head of the program declared, "We must stop pouring money into an old, Cold War complex that is too big and too expensive." The speaker was Thomas P. D'Agostino, who heads the National Nuclear Security Administration, which runs the nuclear weapons complex and is a carryover from the Bush administration. As he had done before, D'Agostino pressed Congress to fund "urgent" change, while acknowledging that President Obama will favor a reduction in the nuclear weapons stockpile. For example, he noted that over the past two years, the projection of the number of new plutonium triggers that will be needed to keep the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile reliabl...

Anonymous said... How come no one is talking about Ed Moses getting kicked out of Forrestal recently? March 20, 2009 7:17 PM Blogger Neko said... Do you have any proof? March 20, 2009 8:23 PM Anonymous said... What would constitute proof? Start asking around; you should be able to collect enough to substantiate the allegation. Perhaps Ed was foaming at the mouth when he understood the NIF (and TSF) hits coming in 2010. March 21, 2009 4:20 PM Anonymous said... What is Forrestal? March 21, 2009 6:23 PM Anonymous said... Perhaps Ed was foaming at the mouth when he understood the NIF (and TSF) hits coming in 2010. I hope this doesn't mean he'll have less money to run the place then he does now because I'll tell you they have not allocated enough to even do required maintenance no longer if they have a mishap or have to replace vital parts. I'll bet they are under funded by at least a factor of four or more. March 21, 2009 8:09 PM

10 BEAM said... I was visiting a buddy of mine in 391 today and he told me that the old nova target bay area is being retro-fitted for a accelerator I thought he was kidding but I witness the engineer's discussing how to remove the space frame that held the target chamber. I hope the boys from RECHTEL do not screw this up 10 BEAM March 19, 2009 7:52 PM

I know I did. Had nothing better to do than stand out in a parking lot for more than an hour.

Remember Lowell Wood? Looks like he's still coming up with "unique" ideas. Now he's decided to fight malaria by aiming lasers at mosquitoes. Here is story in the Wall Street Journal... Rocket Scientists Shoot Down Mosquitoes With Lasers March 17, 2009 5:31 AM

The week of March 16th: In the calendar of the Friends Committee on National Legislation House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, hearing on the Nuclear Weapons Complex, with National Nuclear Security Administrator Thomas D'Agostino, David Overskei, Nuclear Weapons Complex Infrastructure Task Force, Philip Coyle, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Everet Beckner, National Nuclear Security Administration (possible).

As LLNS is approaching its two year point, which senior manager will be next to announce he/she is deserting this sinking ship?

Results from last Months Poll: 115 people voted and 109 of them do not think their job has gotten easier. Of the 6 people who voted that their job was made easier because of the layoffs, I wonder how many are ULM?

Anyone know what happened at JASPER?

LIVERMORE, Calif. - Construction of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's largest and highest-energy laser system, was essentially completed on Feb. 26, when technicians at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where the laser is located, fired the first full system shot to the center of the NIF target chamber. "IF" - The Rest of the Story

Nuclear-Warhead Upgrade Delayed; Government Labs Forgot How to Make Parts Nuclear Warhead Article March 9, 2009 3:05 PM

Anonymous said... As predicted, the true cost of layoffs becoming apparent. GAO report on problems remanufacturing warheads Apparently this story has been covered by local papers around Oak Ridge for some time. Has now hit the national and international news. Nickel summary - we've lost the ability to make components for Trident warheads due to loss of documentation and people leaving the complex. And the computer models were worthless when faced with trying new alternate materials on the old design. GAO Report March 9, 2009 3:04 PM

E-LINE: Cherry A. Murray named dean at Harvard University The Harvard Corporation has announced that it has selected Cherry A. Murray, principal associate director for Science and Technology, to be dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, George Miller announced this morning in an administrative memo. Murray also will become the John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The appointment is effective July 1. Murray has had oversight of the Laboratory's scientific and technical programs and the quality of science and technology Laboratory-wide since she joined the Lab in 2004. She served as the deputy director for Science and Technology from 2004 to 2007 and then was named as key personnel for the contract proposal, becoming the principal associate director for Science and Technology under the LLNS management in 2007. Murray has been a dedicated proponent and architect of the Laboratory's strategic scienc...

Anonymous said... OT crafts jobs were canceled and made to pick up all the wood & tools ! Anyone care to Guess? March 6, 2009 6:37 PM

Anonymous said... Yup, enough rain water is to be captured off the roof of the central cafe to water all those lush plants EM loves to look at. Buuuut, just in case it isnt enough they are tapping into our water supply from Hetch Heychy to keep the tanks full to make it look good!! March 6, 2009 6:49 PM

Anonymously contributed: Pining for the good old days? Let's remember some golden moments. Alchohol onsite. Old Rad Lab punch made from reagent-grade ethanol. Popular until someone barfed in the stairwell in B-111. A Lab Director trying to hop the fence and getting caught. The Star supercomputer. One of the lead scientists in MFE who was a notorious womaniser and loved to flim-flam Congress with outrageous promises about progress on fusion. Using bolts and a steel girdle to "repair" quake-damaged buildings. Ones with asbestos in them. Not knowing how to operate high-power switches properly ends up launching one of the main lab transformers into low orbit. Forged x-ray laser data. Associate Directors openly defying the Director's new IT policies. Having machinists manufacture awards for Directorates. An employee getting approval for more disk drives to soup up his onsite porn server. Credit card abuse. Another Director whose testimony in congress indicated he knew noth...