LLNL - The True Story -

Anonymously contributed: The 1994 Salary Freeze Be aware that the last time salaries were frozen in 1994, some contractors "continued to give salary increases that were not always in accordance with Departmental (i.e. DOE) policies". Both these contractors "did not fully comply with the Secretary's pay freeze in 1994". Two of those Labs were Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Also note that only 8 of the 31 contractors were audited in detail. http://www.ig.energy.gov/documents/CalendarYear1997/CRB-9702.TXT This speaks for itself on many fronts....

Remind Secretary Chu of what the best and brightest mean. I found a recent comment on this Blog that says it nicely. Cut and paste this excerpt and email him The.Secretary@hq.doe.gov Excerpt: The administration continually touts the "best and brightest" mantra, and why this is so critical to the national security mission for the country. But the contrary message in Friday's announcement is "we can't afford to pay them." Furthermore, this is a continuation of a disturbing trend. For the last several years, the LLNL salary package for scientists and engineers has been in the 1-3% range (data can be found on SPSE.org), while inflation has run in the 3-4% range nationally, and substantially higher in the Bay area. In the past, justifications have been the benefits package and comparisons to other high tech companies. Pre-transition, the UC benefits were superior to what is typical elsewhere, but post-transition this is no longer the case. Staff hired under LLNS ...

Folks! We can sit back and say "we are glad we have a job" or we can let our senators and congress person know what we think. Has inaction ever given you any results? Your action is as easy as cut n paste: Have the guts to go to this link. It allows to send 1 email to your 2 senators and 1 congress person in 1 shot: http://letter2congress.rallycongress.com/698/ use this letter as a sample (just cut and paste)or make your own: DOE Secretary Chu announced a two-year freeze on salaries for all exempt and non-exempt employees at the national laboratories, as well as other DOE sites and facilities. Per DOE instructions, the freeze becomes effective Jan. 1, 2011 and applies to all merit increases reimbursed under the contract for the next two years. The freeze does not apply to bonuses who, we all know, go to upper management not employees. In these hard times, the rank and file are asked to sacrifice. Why is not executive compensation and/or bonuses cut or frozen? The impact of ...

E-LINE: Message to Laboratory Employees – Update on DOE Salary Freeze As I noted in my e-line message to you on Dec. 17, Secretary Chu announced a two-year freeze on salaries for all exempt and non-exempt employees at the national laboratories, as well as other DOE sites and facilities. The following information outlines the details we have received thus far. We are working with DOE to obtain additional details and clarification and will share the information as it becomes available. Per DOE instructions, the freeze becomes effective Jan. 1, 2011 and applies to all merit increases reimbursed under the contract for the next two years. This includes all: -- Exempt and non-exempt (salaried, weekly and hourly) employees. -- Salary range structure movement is also frozen. The freeze does not apply to: -- Approved fund for promotions and adjustments. -- Increases in wages provided for in existing collective bargaining agreements. -- Variable/non base pay (commonly referred to as a bonus). Ne...

Borrowed from a recent comment elsewhere in the BLOG: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/12/20/national/w000707S29.DTL

Anonymously contributed: Comment: It seems there are a lot of people in the GS PAD office sucking up the overhead and not bringing in the money. Yes they brought in some, but the size of the PAD is large, and I am guessing they have not brought in enough to even cover the costs of having a PAD. If LLNL needs lobbyists to bring home the bacon, they should probably hire professionals. Anyway, maybe they have brought in huge sums I have not heard about, but I doubt it. Time to get rid of some overhead.

Anonymously contributed: From: Public Affairs Office Sent: Friday, December 17, 2010 12:18 PM To: E-line Subject: MESSAGE ABOUT FEDERAL PAY FREEZE E-line: Message about federal pay freeze Last month, President Obama announced a two-year pay freeze for all civilian federal workers as part of the broad sacrifice required to bring the national deficit under control. Today, Secretary Chu announced a similar freeze on salary and bonus pool increases for site and facility management contractors who run day-to-day activities at DOE sites and facilities, including the national laboratories. The details of implementation are not yet available. I know this is difficult news to receive, particularly at this time of year. I will keep you informed as we learn more. -George Miller, Director

Anonymously contributed: No one mentioned the pay freeze yet? Department of Energy Announces Two Year Pay Freeze on Site and Facility Management Contractor Employees http://www.energy.gov/news/9917.htm Released on a Friday just before the quietest week of the year with many people already on vacation. LANL was on a snow day today and their employees will first hear this from the media rather than their management. The NNSA labs are getting around a 20% increase in NW funding this year and can hardly keep up with the necessary hiring for upcoming programs. How can the Secretary state that the labs can hire the best and the brightest when there is a pay freeze in place? Sandia is dealing with large numbers of retirements in 2010 and 2011 due to retirement benefit changes. New engineers don't have the golden handcuffs and are fine with leaving for the significantly better benefits at Google and other places.

Anonymously contributed: The lab has announced that the Security Police Officers will be wearing new uniforms, coming to a gate near you in February. This DOE mandate was made because: One uniform style will be cheaper if bought in bulk quantities for the entire complex. They won't be having to change uniforms and insignias on contract turnovers (maybe they are trying to tell us something. I understand the buying in bulk to save money. It would have been nice for DOE/NNSA/Congress to have considered what the contract change cost Livermore and Los Alamos. This uniform change will save an estimated $500,000 in eight years. Jeez, at that rate, they might be able to recoup the extra cost of a single year's contract change cost by the next century. That's just for one lab, probably two hundred years to recoup a single year's difference for both labs.

Anonymously contributed: 9 skilled craftsworkers were laid off back in February of 08 without the option of bargaining these layoffs as union members in the midst of one of the worst recessions in history. These craftsmen were hired and trained for 4 years at the taxpayers expense, as all of the 9 were recent graduates of the apprenticeship program, and trained in the workings and procedures of operations at the lab, for the ultimate benefit of the lab. We as junior employees were of course paid less, less expensive to employ, and were always available for emergencies. Many of us were already Journey-level in other trades making us even more valuable due to our diverse experience and training.This of course mattered little to the new management when the axe fell. We, believing that UPTE would help us resolve this issue, put our faith in UPTE and helped to install them at the Laboratory with our votes and support. Now it comes to our attention that support for our cause may be shelved f...

Drunk NNSA Secure Transport Drivers Atta boy D'Ago, keep up the good work! Notice how he avoids the bad press. "The Energy Department referred questions to its National Nuclear Security Administration, which had no immediate comment." Nah.... http://bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view.bg?articleid=1298197

Anonymously contributed: "Open campus" = no security threat. No Pu = no security threat. You need to understand that it was never about protecting employees, but protecting nuclear material. No nuclear material = no protection. You aren't that special. Get used to it.

Anonymously contributed: Layoffs of 100 Security Police at LLNL in November. I heard a rumor and that may be all it is but I heard they laid off 100 of the 152 security police at LLNL in November. Seems like a lot of security to dump for now reason in a time when terrorism looms everywhere and for any reason, especially when LLNL is going to be open campus very soon. What a joke that is.

Anonymously contributed: U.S. wants $85 million for nuclear complex Nov. 19, 2010 WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Washington called for investing more than $85 billion during the next decade to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, the White House said. The White House said the National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency tasked with ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, lost 20 percent of its purchasing power during the administration of George W. Bush. The White House said it was committed to modernizing the arsenal the agency that supports it. U.S. President Barack Obama called for $7 billion to fund the NNSA for 2011, which represents close to a 10 percent increase from the previous year. Another $600 million would be tacked on to the funding measure for 2012, which the White House said was part of an $85 billion proposal for the next decade. The funding measure proposed by the White House is more than $4.1 billion than a plan provide...

Anonymously contributed: More Nuclear Material Removed From Livermore Lab Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010 The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has sent 80 percent of its highly secured "special nuclear material" to five other government sites, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration said yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 1, 2009). The material has been sent to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, the Idaho National Laboratory and the Nevada National Security Site. The deliveries were part of a U.S. effort begun four years ago to consolidate high-security nuclear material at the five facilities by 2012. Removal of the sensitive material from Lawrence Livermore is set to wrap up that year. “The removal of 80 percent of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s highest security category nuclear material demonstrates continued progress and is the result of some ver...

Anonymously contributed: Open Enrollers: Legal Insurance is a Scam! We had legal insurance for years, thinking that having a lawyer to speak to on demand would be fantastic. It's embarrassing for me to admit how long it took to figure out why I never, ever "had a case." If I thought I had a case, it might cost THEM money! I could have gone to Small Claims Court many times and found restitution with "the elders of my community" for problems we had with the title of our house, extortion by banks, stubborn mistakes on credit reports - the list is long. But the on-call lawyer never even once suggested this, even though Small Claims wouldn't have cost them anything! Unless you know you're going to need a lawyer in 2011, this is not worth the money.

Are they or arent they? Will funding be available after what happened in the elections? http://cleantechnica.com/2010/10/11/theyre-hiring-green-jobs-galore-as-lawrence-livermore-national-laboratory-announces-300-new-openings/

It has been a pleasure moderating this BLOG for almost 3 years now. I made every effort to keep it "clean". However, (No! No! I am not bailing out), reading every comment became very time consuming and like everyone else who has a job, a family and other social obligations, I cannot keep doing that. I trust the contributors to this blog and challenge them to make "clean" comments. Therefore, this BLOG is becoming un-moderated as of end of day today. I will accept posts but any comments against them will be un-moderated. Let us see how this works! Thank you for visiting!

Chinese Computer Trumps US One as World's Fastest (CNBC, Oct 28, 2010) http://www.cnbc.com/id/39886462 --- Oh, well. At least the once crown jewel NNSA weapon labs have the Chinese totally beat when it comes to expensive, bloated upper management and inane bureaucracies. They'll never overtake us in those two critical areas of US national security!

Anonymously contributed: Found out today that my LLNL/LLNS Anthem Blue Cross EPO coverage for LLNL/UC retirees premium is going up 25% to over $500 per month. "Official" UC retirees have a host of plans to choose from, none with a cost over $400, and several at much lower cost. Thanks, LLNS. Thanks, DOE. Thanks for abandoning us, UC. Hope the lawsuit succeeds.

This is a long piece on the Knoxville News Blog, but very insightful on why Oak Ridge National Lab is doing so much better than LLNL... ------ Frank Munger's Atomic City Underground Has ORNL outsmarted other national labs? In a recent interview with Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, I asked him about the Spallation Neutron Source and suggestions that the big-ticket project wasn't living up to expectations. I also asked him about other questions/allegations that are floating around about ORNL and the lab's more successful programs. Mason made some intriguing comments about ORNL's success, basically embracing suggestions that the Oak Ridge lab may have had an "unfair advantage" in dramatically growing its research programs over the past decade. ''If you look at the budget growth over the last several years, since 2000 . . . we've gone from being about $650 million a year in 2000 to this year (FY 2010) we'll be close to $1.6 billi...

This HSPD-12 thing at NASA is really bogus. see: http://nasawatch.com/archives/2010/10/justice-departm.html#comments Note that the solicitor general made an, err, "mistatement" which he does not intend to retract. The student's story at the top would be funny were it not so sad. These things are not just happening in DOE. It's good to see the NASA employees are taking NASA to court.

Anonymously contributed: I question whether the information contained in the Cancer Incidence Among Employees of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 1969-1980 Peggy Reynolds, PhD and Donald F. Austin, MD, MPH study accurately reflects cancer-related deaths of LLNL employees who have retired since the study was published. I have personally known many previous LLNL employees who have died from cancer-related deaths. Perhaps an online database/list should be compiled listing the following information: employee names, years they worked at LLNL, what their job classification was, what program they worked on, when they passed away, what caused their deaths and whether or not the U.S. Department of Labor's Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA)has recognized their deaths as related to their work at LLNL.

LLNL NewsLine Changes to Defined Benefits contributions October 7, 2010 Employees who selected the Defined Benefits retirement plan (TCP1) could begin making contributions to that plan some time during calendar year 2011. Director George Miller made the announcement during his quarterly all hands meeting Wednesday. Miller announced the Defined Benefits (DB) Plan remains healthy, with a funding ratio of 122 percent assets to liabilities – the result of prudent stewardship under both UC and LLNS management. However, since 2008 the plan’s asset performance has been almost flat, due to a weak economy, a volatile stock market and declining interest rates. At the same time, liabilities, as expected, continue to increase, due to an aging workforce with increasing years of service. “As a result, liabilities will likely exceed assets,” Miller said. In order to maintain the funded status of the DB plan, for the long term, the Lab is requesting DOE approval to begin TCP1 contributions in 2011. Wh...

Anonymous said: Miller said that to keep TCP1 well funded, contributions will be needed in 2014. He cites interest rates as the cause for liabilities growth. What interest rate is he referring to? Interest rates have been at an all time low!

From Global Security Newswire Lawmakers Back Nuclear Weapons Budget Boost Monday, Oct. 4, 2010 A continuing budget resolution to keep the U.S. government operating through early December provides a $624 million boost in nuclear weapons funding for the new budget year beyond the amount appropriated in fiscal 2010, the Associated Press reported Friday (see GSN, July 22; Tim Korte, Associated Press/Alamogordo Daily News, Oct. 1). President Obama last week signed the resolution to fund federal activities for the first two months of fiscal 2011, which began Friday, Federal News Radio reported. The resolution continues only through Dec. 3 (Jolie Lee, Federal News Radio, Oct. 3). The funding boost for the National Nuclear Security Administration represented a victory for the Obama administration, which sought the money as part of a planned elevation in nuclear weapons spending over five years, according to AP (see GSN, Feb. 19; Korte, Associated Press). The resolution enables a significant bo...

From LLNL News OnLine LLNL ES&H reorganizes September 28, 2010 The Laboratory’s Environment, Safety & Health directorate has been restructured, effective Oct. 1. The ES&H directorate is part of the Director’s Office, and provides many of the trained ES&H personnel to Lab programs, as well as service, programs and facilities necessary for the Laboratory to successfully meet its objectives in environmental protection, occupational health and employee safety. The restructuring is the result of discussions between ES&H and Lab programs regarding optimization of ES&H support to the programs. Most of the changes instituted by the restructuring will be transparent to the general Lab population, but will increase efficiency and cost effectiveness within ES&H. Changes include a transition of the Hazards Control Department and the Environmental Protection Department into the following distinct organizations: the Worker Safety and Health Functional Area, the Radiation ...

Has anyone been randomly selected for a POLYGRAPH test? My husband is so focused on work he won't know any of the answers to financial questions and it will be a water-board experience! (The finances are MY job.) He's so honest it's maddening - the type who will show up for jury duty in a storm - yet he's been re investigated 4x in 10 years because of the level of his clearance. In 50 days he will have outlived his father, who died of a heart-attack age 61 from job-related stress. I have to do my best to get him out of this. ADVICE, ANYONE? Anonymous

Anyone heard official (or unofficial) reaction to the PSOs, in uniform and with their automaic weapons and Glocks at the San Jose Airport to pick up another PSO from a trip? http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_16181816?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

http://dailyme.com/story/2010092000004225/livermore-lab-nears-launch-fusion-quest.html Any comments on the article that appeared in the paper today?

Anonymously contributed: Couple Accused of Passing Nuclear Arms Secrets" http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/18scientist.html?_r=1

Anonymously contributed: While we in LANS/LLNS are grumbling about the shortfall of funding in TCP-1 be aware that the UC retirement system is in serious trouble. http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/23973 The following excerpt: With the university facing rising costs for pension and retiree health benefits, Yudof formed the task force in February 2009 and charged it with developing recommendations for competitive pension and retiree health benefits that would be financially sustainable over the long term. The university already has a $21 billion unfunded liability for its retiree health and pension benefits. Within five years, that unfunded liability is projected to grow to $40 billion — twice the current size of the entire UC budget."

Anonymously contributed: Raises soon, and are the health insurance rates going to go up? How many have received a raise and lost take home because of the increased costs? I've lost ground for two years.

You can blame anything you want for the decadence of the NNSA Labs but you cannot ignore the impact of war costs! That is the real killer. Scroll to page 4 of this file: http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/1006SDTFreport.pdf

Something to cheer about! http://albuquerque.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2010/08/23/daily19.html

LANS @ LANL Where is the money? Found out today that their will be hardly any monies for M&S spending in FY11. The overhead tax rate on programs went up another 9% to cover the Pension shortfall and higher medical premiums. Will not hurt Mikey and others in power as they get a nice salary from the Lab payroll and then another few hundred thousand from their parent companies such as LLNL and Bechtel. Plus a nice PBI Bonus. Oh and don't forget the Executive Pension and Medical Plans and other perks. Its all smoke and mirrors folks. The outsourcing of the Labs has been a dismal failure. Management is covering it up with skewed metrics and falsifying audit reports. I am surprised that any science gets done at all. Whats up at LLNL?

Anonymously contributed: Any advice on knowing when to quit LLNL? Particularly for postdocs/flexterms, how do you decide it's time to move on to someplace where it might be easier to do science with less restrictions? Will my boss even care? How much notice do I have to give? Any horror stories?

Anonymously contributed: How is the lack of space charges working out for you? Space hoarding? Forced moves of technical staff from Q areas in nice buildings to open area offices in ratty buildings? Moves of non-technical staff into nice Q buildings that they have no need to occupy? Zero available lab space for new projects?

Anonymously contributed: Friday, August 13, 2010 By John Fleck Journal Staff Writer Los Alamos National Laboratory, with the approval of its federal managers, has repeatedly sidestepped federal nuclear safety rules at its plutonium laboratories, according to an internal Energy Department investigation. The rules require detailed analysis of nuclear safety risks, so accidents can be avoided by fixing problems. But because of delays in conducting the studies and completing the required repairs, the lab has repeatedly been granted permission for temporary fixes so operations can continue, according to a report from the Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General. Such permissions are allowed, but "are intended to be temporary measures" until problems can be fixed permanently, according to a report from the Inspector General, made public Thursday. No nuclear accidents have resulted from this and other related problems identified by the Inspector General's report. L...

Anonymously contributed: Explosives at the LANL TA-55 Plutonium Facility Let's see how LANS skirts this issue. Houston, we have another problem. DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD July 9, 2010 MEMORANDUM FOR: T. J. Dwyer, Technical Director FROM: B.P. Broderick and R.T. Davis SUBJECT: Los Alamos Report for Week Ending July 9, 2010 Plutonium Facility: On Thursday, Plutonium Facility management declared a potential inadequacy of the safety analysis (PISA) and initiated a hazardous material response based on the discovery of potentially explosive ammonium nitrate powder inside the facility. For years, facility personnel had observed a white powdery substance being generated and accumulating between the first and second stages of high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters in the standby glovebox exhaust filter plenum that services the 200 Area of the facility. White powder has never been observed in any other Plutonium Facility HEPA filter plenum, including the primary 200 Are...

Anonymously contributed: From: Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor July 12, 2010 Lawrence Livermore Backs off Plans to Subcontract for Pro Forces Todd Jacobson Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has scrapped plans to open up security work at the lab to subcontractors for the first time, saying that the fixed price contract approach favored by the National Nuclear Security Administration wouldn’t give the lab the flexibility and cost savings it was seeking. The lab said in May of 2009 that it was considering subcontracting for security work, moving away from years of protective force management by the M&O contractor. The move drew interest from protective force companies eager to compete for security work at one of the two NNSA sites that have kept protective forces work in-house. Security at the Pantex Plant is also performed by the M&O contractor, B&W Pantex. The lab’s plans hit a snag when the NNSA balked at its push to utilize a time-and-materials contract, and i...

Anonymously contributed: I found this piece in the latest Bulletin of Atomic Scientist of interest. While I don't agree with everything in it, it does seem to capture the issues revolving around the future of LANL and LLNL. Its rather lengthy, but its conclusion appears to be reasonable... "In order to best define the role of the labs during the next 20 years, a roadmap guiding the transition to zero is needed. How long is the long run? Should the laboratories recruit and train another generation of scientists, or will the current cohort be sufficient? Is new knowledge needed to perform verification, or is current technology adequate? Related to these questions are the challenges of maintaining morale in organizations that are losing their main mission and of sustaining political support for the cost of running the laboratories during the transition period." Whole article at: http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=1JT5hveLdZFFpNpVtK6T9_EjkNTzZoNPouQeZGN5dvv1rfkV07cZh4J3gKrdf...

Anonymously contributed: I have not read any topics on de-inventory and how it will effect more layoffs. We (security) are losing at least 150+ personnel. We are being told that layoffs will be according to Lab rules. i.e. Lab seniority, etc.

Anonymously contributed: From Global Security Newswire Mullen Affirms U.S. Blueprint for Iran Strike Monday, Aug. 2, 2010 The United States has a blueprint in place for military action aimed at preventing Iran from building nuclear weapons, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday (see GSN, July 30). “Military options have been on the table and remain on the table. It’s one of the options that [U.S. President Barack Obama] has,” the Jerusalem Post quoted Adm. Michael Mullen as saying. “I hope we don’t get to that, but it’s an important option, and it’s one that’s well understood" (Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post, Aug. 2). Pressed on NBC's "Meet the Press" to say whether the Defense Department possessed a plan for use of force against Iran, Mullen said "we do." Mullen's direct reference to military action was unusual for the Obama administration, which has more typically warned that "all options are on the table," the London Gu...

Anonymously contributed: This points out that we're losing science in this area and there is no obvious way to regain it. http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12966&page=1

Anonymously contributed: http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/07/scientists-informally-intervene-in-cases-of-sloppy-research.ars

Anonymously contributed: For IAP and Johnson Controls: See: http://www.edd.ca.gov/jobs_and_training/warn/eddwarnlwia10.pdf

Anonymously contributed: I was one of at least 20 workers fired this week (June 19) from the LANS Waste Disposition Project (WDP). This program supports the disposition and transfer of nuclear waste from Area G to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Apparently there is at least a $5M shortfall of money, however we were not informed of any details or reasons for our terminations. There was no warning, just to get our personal belongings and leave the premises, immediately. I have been a contractor for 35-years and while I have been terminated for various reasons I have never been treated so inhumanely and unprofessionally by an "organization". We literally worked weekends and 24-hour shifts to move waste to WIPP and handled extremely dangerous and hazardous materials. We were the workers doing the "dirty jobs" behind the elegant science and technology that never gets any recognition. There were no management meetings or information leading up to our terminations ...

The BP story is an interesting one. "A confidential survey of workers on the Deepwater Horizon in the weeks before the oil rig exploded showed that many of them were concerned about safety practices and feared reprisals if they reported mistakes or other problems." from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/us/22transocean.html?ref=us We don't have a profit motive, but do people hesitate to report their own mistakes or insignificant injuries for fear of reprisal? Like whatever happened to those dudes in the electrocution interview video? That obligatory confession in the face of a firing squad sure scared me!

Anonymously contributed: In testimony before congress George Miller made this statement: "The Workforce. The Stockpile Stewardship Program's most valuable and irreplaceable assets are the unique individuals who sustain it. Confidence in the stockpile ultimately depends on confidence in the stockpile stewards at the NNSA laboratories and production facilities. We must attract top talent to the program and sustain over time specialized technical skills and expertise, which provide the basis for judgments about the stockpile and stewardship actions taken, through mentoring and hands-on experience." Given that we now have a two tier retirement system and any new employee will be in tier 2 and the lab has a penchant for term employees, will the expertise be lost because there will be no disciples to pass on the secrets?

Dan asked: Hi, I want to know if its a good idea to consider getting a "Flexible Term" position on the business side. It's something I am very qualified for. But I am not quite sure what Flexible term implies versus the alternative. Sandia does 9/80 and holiday shutdown. At least they use to as of 5years ago when I was working there. Does LLNL have 9/80 and holiday shutdown? The posts make it seem like LLNL is not a good place to work because people are generally unhappy (morale is down, work atmosphere is not enjoyable). That was the sense I got. I fear leaving my job and ending up in a worse situation. My current job is not that bad just that I'm hoping to have a much shorter commute and the above mentioned benefits. I'm thinking smaller population (LLNL) not as much corporate big company type stuff to deal with as a 100K+ employee population/Retail. The LLNL medical benefits don't seem as good as what I have currently. I have the best PPO plan and my m...

Anonymously contributed: New Sports Cars for the LANS Prenup Boys While Mikey just went out an upgraded his black Audi TT coup, Bret Knapp (Associate Director for Weapons) is flaunting his brand new $100,000 2011 Cayenne Porsche at the taxpayers expense. Knapp behavior fits the following Shaw quote to a tee. "Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power." - George Bernard Shaw

Anonymously contributed: Note from Scooby: What is MUSD? Please explain acronyms as much as possible. TY What is really happening with the MUSD Budget. Word is coming out that MUSD spent ~$2M of its $25M budget on actual maintenance and will not account for the balance of the funds. Since we do not have an accounting of the funds we can't evaluate the purpose and value gained by the remaining $23M. If this is true, and it yet needs to be validated, why will continue to see PADs and Directorates decentralize and locally optimize the facility capabilit5ies. Case in point, WCI and NIF did not join the centralization of facility management. Comp followed suit, now GS is pulling out. This would leave the Facility Department supporting support Departments and not directly linked to funding PADs. One would think that NIF, with its Landscape craze as a high priority represents the a continuing trend. Maintenace money not spent on maintenance, and not account for by the Washington Group mor...

Anonymously contributed: Interesting insight into the fee structure on the UC side of LANS/LLNS http://www.universityofcalifornia. edu/regents/minutes/2010/joint52.pdf Highlights.... The (UC) President recommended that he be authorized to expend, for the following purposes and in the following amounts, from the University’s net share of Los Alamos National Security (LANS) and Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS) LLC income earned between September 30, 2009 and December 31, 2010: 1. Supplemental compensation and other payments (including accruals) approved by the Regents for certain LANS LLC and LLNS LLC employees, from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011 – $2.0 million ($2.2 million in 2009-2010). 2. An appropriation to the Office of the President budget for federally unreimbursed costs of University oversight of its interest in LANS LLC and LLNS LLC, paid or accrued July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011, including but not limited to an allocable share of the costs of the Regents, t...

Anonymously contributed: LANS TA-55 Work Outage Project Manager. LANS has decided that running the Plutonium Facility (TA-55) in "shutdown mode" is standard operating procedure (SOP). So they will be paying someone up to $191,200.00 to "run" the facility in that mode. I expect they will hire an entire staff to "run" the facility in this mode. You can't criticize LANS Management ingenuity. You can expect they will now receive PBI (aka money) for running in that mode! It all fits, zero work, zero safety incidents, maximum PBI money! Job Number: 219953, Date Posted 7/7/2010 SMS-INP is seeking a Technical Project Manger 4 who will provide technical project management and coordination for all TA-55 outages. This individual will work closely with all programmatic organizations, construction projects and facility operations to optimize the overall effectiveness of planned facility outages. The Technical Project Manager will lead a diverse integrated project t...

What has improved? - Safety - Security - Compliance - Bureaucracy - Landscaping What has not improved, declined or even worsened? - Productivity: declined, due to a higher % of resources spent on compliance. - Morale: worsened; people, young and graying, walk around hunched over, knowing it wont getter any better. With sub 1% raises and bad job market, everyone is here waiting for a miracle. - Good ol boy's culture: in 2007, the expectation that the Bechtel boys will come in and straighten out the UC guys and instill "private" industry culture of efficiency and productivity was a consolation. Guess what, the Bechtel boys joined the UC boys in their tradition of mediocrity. So, the good old boys culture is well and alive. The only difference is that taxpayers are paying and extra100 Million to manage LLNL and 2000 of our colleagues are no longer here! - Cost of doing business: Rising! Why? I thought Bechtel was here for their business know-how and paid to...

Contributed by thief: As the screws are slowly turned on the federal budget....has anyone heard any decent layoff rumors recently?

An Article by Russ Wellen in http://www.ips-dc.org http://www.ips-dc.org/blog/seed_of_destruction_nuclear_pits

http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201006/losalamos.cfm

Anonymously contributed: He's Back . . . Never forget who lead the transition to the private contractor of the once great LLNL: ". . . There are so many people who ensured the transition went as smoothly as possible in a period of unprecedented change for our Laboratory. Thanks go not only to my team and the many employees who supported them, but also to the team at the University of California Office of the President who worked closely with us throughout the transition to sort through benefits, contracts, communications and legal issues and to the Laboratory Site Office who helped identify and resolve issues dealing with changing from a public to a private entity. And of course I am forever grateful to have had the pleasure of working with Tom Gioconda and his LLNS transition team, which led us to the finish line. Transitioning a contract that has been in place for 55 years is a very challenging task at best and I can't imagine what it would have been like without Tom at ...

Anonymously contributed: After three years of stunning leadership, Steve Liedle exits stage left. But don't worry folks, the universe will be balanced. He is being replaced by Tom Gioconda, also of Bechtel. Hopefully, the words of the Who won't be valid: "Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss"

The poll shows 13 YES and 25 NO. The question is: did or is any of the 25 who said no are going to do something about it?

Anonymously contributed: If you peruse the job openings you may find this one: Posting Title: NIF Landscape Manager Job #: 009061 It is only a 50% time job, but I don't think the boys in B111 have a Landscape Manager. If NIF doesn't work, they'll look good while going down.

Lab report shows US energy use fell in 2008! http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2009/07/27/daily25.html?ana=from_rss

Anonymously contributed: Yeah, it's pretty lackadaisical. From experience, not only is posting taking several days, but some posts, that are not particularly controversial, and certainly not abusive, are just being tossed. Some threads whose interest one might think is minimal will show a new post, while others, more current and of interest, show none for many days, then 3 or 4 show up all at once, several days late. I don't know what's going on, but this is no longer much of a useful blog. Oh well... Maybe the administrator needs to rethink whether he really wants to do this.

Anonymously contributed: The Lab Chiefs can no longer be trusted to be objective or trustworthy in their profit focused roles. At one time both Labs were credible peer review agencies (literally adversaries) of each other. The Lab Chiefs are so wealthy and unopposed that even a minor finding by the JASONS makes them nervous that it might destabilize their cash cow. http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2010_05/JASON

Hello! More than 50% of the comments I have been getting are destructive criticism, mainly about how slow I am at publishing posts and comments. Visitors have to realize I am not sitting in a rocking chair with a laptop on my lap waiting impatiently for your posts and comments. If you want this blog to move faster and improve, please contribute your time towards that, otherwise hold your criticism. This blog is not rated, ranked or reviewed for performance. If you count on it for entertainment, you are in the wrong place. If you experiencing memory difficulties, go back and read "BLOG purpose". I will not respond or post anything complaining about slow, boring, useless etc... this blog is. After all, you are free to visit or not to visit this BLOG. Thank you for visiting and contributing!

Anonymously contributed: "U.S. Declassifies Nuclear Stockpile Details to Promote Transparency," By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service, Washington, May 3, 2010, at http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=59004

Anonymously contributed: Did anyone notice that LLNS has decided to scrap its plan this year to provide $10M in bonuses to the workers, those who make it possible for LLNS managers to make their big salaries? I didn't believe it when I first heard it anyway. Heard that money will help fund NIF problems.

Anonymously contributed: Management has decided that job classification is now sensitive data and is to be hidden from employees. This means that financial reports and the lab estimators will not show if someone is a plumber or a physicist. Not sure how others think about this change. I find this scary and concerning. Does lab management think I can not be trusted? I think management is concerned that the PSTS reclassifications will cause employees to look up peers and use the classifications of peers to ask for reconsideration of their own classification. I wonder if management is uncertain they can stand behind their decisions and so want to obscure the information. And I wonder if management truly believes that employees won't find out the information anyway. I think this is a short sighted decision that will backfire on them. In the meantime those employees who truly need the information for doing work will have to find work arounds.

Two anonymous contributions on pension contributions: 1) Since LLNL is looking at employee contribution for next year what percentage did the LANL employees have to start contributing and what's the increase every years after that. Is it going to start at 2% and then go to 16% like was dicussed during the transition. We all want to know at LLNL how much we should bend over. 2) I hear UC has started deducting 4%from everyone's paycheck and they're going to follow CalPer's plan of increasing that 5% to 7% and up as time goes on. This took affect 4/15/2010. LLNS should start shortly. With LLNS retirement plan being $408M short I'd say 4% would be a good start and then as years go on maybe we can get it up to 16% as was talked about during the transition at which time they said, "not at this time". What a CYA statement. Someone please tell LLNL what LANS started at and what their project pay cuts are.

Anonymously contributed: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/04/28/laser.fusion.nif/index.html?hpt=Mid

Anonymously contributed: Looks like DOE executives aren't above joining in with the growing "for-profit" Bechtel/BWXT LLC sleaze fest!.... - More Global Warming Profiteering by Obama Energy Official Surprising documents made available to this author reveal that Assistant Secretary of Energy Cathy Zoi has a huge financial stake in companies likely to profit from the Obama administration’s “green” policies. Zoi, who left her position as CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection — founded by Al Gore — to serve as assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, now manages billions in “green jobs” funding. But the disclosure documents show that Zoi not only is in a position to affect the fortunes of her previous employer, ex-Vice President Al Gore, but that she herself has large holdings in two firms that could directly profit from policies proposed by the Department of Energy. pajamasmedia.com/blog/ more-global-warming-profiteering- by-obama-energy-official/

Anonymously contributed: White House Says Door Not Closed to Nuclear Warhead Replacement Thursday, April 22, 2010 By Martin Matishak Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON -- A key White House official yesterday reaffirmed that the Obama administration had not closed the door on replacement of nuclear warheads, but that it was more likely to use less-controversial means for maintaining the U.S. strategic arsenal (see GSN, April 15). "If necessary, if we have to do replacement in order to maintain [U.S. nuclear] forces, then the president has that option available to him," Gary Samore, senior White House coordinator for WMD counterterrorism and arms control, said yesterday during an event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "I don't think it will be, frankly," he added. "From what I understand ... refurbishment and reuse will be perfectly fine for the foreseeable future. But if I'm wrong, and replacement becomes necessary, the president has t...

Anonymously contributed: Jury Clears Lab of Trade Secret Theft http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_14915314

Anonymously contributed: I didn't realize that Obama even knew Ed Moses, but I'm glad he has confidence in him. Next thing you know we'll be getting limitless energy from banana peels and BS, too. http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/16/nuclear.testing/

DO you think LLNS really cares about your safety? - Yes : 5 - No: 2 - Only if it benefits them: 17

NNSA Announces Special Tools & Processes for B53 Dismantlement Prhttp://www.yourindustrynews.com/nnsa+announces+special+tools+%26+processes+for+b53+dismantlement+program_48047.htmlogram The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today announced that its Pantex Plant has developed a new process and special tooling that will accelerate dismantlement of the B53weapons system. NNSA’s SS-21 process fully integrates the weapon system with the facility, tooling, operating procedures and personnel involved in the dismantlement program to form a safe, efficient and effective operating environment. D’Agostino said the B53 is very large and difficult to take apart. “You don’t attack these things with a screwdriver and a crescent wrench,” he said. With the design and fabrication of tooling and procedures complete, the project team is expected to receive authorization to begin disassembling the B53 after NNSA completes an extensive safety review that includes approval of a Documented S...

Anonymously contributed: Lab Retirees: Funds Raised, Legal Action To Start By The Independent The UC Livermore Lab Retiree Group has raised enough money to begin legal efforts to try to regain membership in University of California health plans, group leader Joe Requa announced. He said that a formal contract will come first. “Lawyers work on court time, which seems to run much slower than real time, so there may be a short delay before that (legal action) happens,” he wrote in an email. The financial target was $150,000, which attorneys told the retiree group would be needed to support the initial phase of the legal effort. The target has now been reached, prompting Requa to joke that he should be able to proclaim “mission accomplished” as President Bush famously did seven years ago ¬ only to see the Iraq war continue for years more. The legal effort will also be a continuing one and in time may require still more funds, Requa said. “Unfortunately, we just won one battle. I expect the...

Contributed anonymously: Here's a familiar story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB127093422486175363.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsFifth "It's time to finally put the performance review out of its misery. This corporate sham is one of the most insidious, most damaging, and yet most ubiquitous of corporate activities. Everybody does it, and almost everyone who's evaluated hates it. It's a pretentious, bogus practice that produces absolutely nothing that any thinking executive should call a corporate plus." Why not let's form a committee, redesign the process, and make it "better" instead! Oh, I guess we just finished doing that...

Anonymous said... Joint Statement from Los Alamos Director Michael Anastasio, Lawrence Livermore Director George Miller, and Sandia Director Tom Hunter Los Alamos, New Mexico, April 9, 2010—The directors of the three Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Laboratories—Dr. George Miller from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Dr. Michael Anastasio from Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Dr. Tom Hunter from Sandia National Laboratories—today issued the following statement on the Nuclear Posture Review: “A key responsibility of the three Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Laboratories—Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories—is to provide technical underpinnings that ensure the safety, security, and effectiveness of the United States’ nuclear deterrent. The recently released Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) provides the Administration’s policy framework and path forwar...

Anonymously contributed: The long awaited Nuclear Posture Review was released today. The report and briefing slides are at; http://www.defense.gov/npr/

Anonymously contributed: An interesting article at: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/04/03/alarm_over_shor tage_of_nuclear_experts The gist of the article is the fact that the population supporting the weapons complex is getting older and is not being replaced. "To narrow the gap, the Obama administration is proposing to boost a series of programs - including cash bonuses and tuition reimbursement - to persuade a new generation of students to earn degrees in nuclear physics, engineering, and other related disciplines and choose a career in weapons work, according to budget documents. The nuclear security agency has also established guidelines requiring contractors that run its weapons laboratories - currently on the order of 30,000 - to recruit and train more workers." I'd like to see that guideline, what are the penalties to the labs if they can't recruit people? Will LLNS and LANS not receive bonus money because they can't convince peo...

The following was an anonymous comment in a recnet post and deserves to be its own post: DOE oversight is broken. The worthless bureaucrats keep adding more and more meaningless requirements in order to perpetuate their existence. This white-collar welfare in the name of safety and security results in the cost of doing business as a DOE organization being much more than the private sector. We just had numerous people working all last week doing paperwork for a 15-minute repair that was about as risky as changing the doorbell button. We have to protect against nonsense security risks. Eventually they will kill off all work. The only good thing about that will be that these parasites will then die also.

Contributed anonymously: Probe Sought of U.S. Lab Security Plan Wednesday, March 31, 2010 A pair of Republican lawmakers on Monday requested a review of an Obama administration plan to alter security and safety management rules governing U.S. national laboratories, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 17, 2009). Situations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California in recent years have demonstrated the need for security and safety reforms at such facilities, the lawmakers said (see GSN, March 26, 2009; Associated Press/Albuquerque Journal, March 31). imo, if there's a need for continued reforms at these (or any other sites), DOE/NNSA has hired the wrong contractor. And, as you know, the DOE/NNSA hires other contractors to tell the site contractor what they're doing wrong & how it should really be done.

Anonymously contributed: http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100331_3885.php

Anonymously contributed: With NNSA merging the contracts to run Pantex and Y-12 into one contractor, I really wonder why this is not done for LANL ($79 million max fee a yr) and LLNL ($53 million max a yr). The front company LLCs - LANS and LLNS - are basically the same people, but as separate contracts are getting over a combined $100 million to run both labs. The same thing UC did for $10 million a year. Where is the taxpayer outrage at this bilking of the US Treasury. I bet you could merge the two Lab contracts and set the combined fee at $60 million a year, and LANS/LLNS would still bid to run LANL and LLNL, saving $720 million over ten years. ----- Saturday, March 27, 2010 Contract will cut Pantex costs $875M savings would be spread among plants By Jim McBride Top National Nuclear Security Administration officials announced their contract acquisition strategy for Pantex and other facilities Friday and said the contract reforms would save an estimated $875 million over a decade. Pa...

Anonymously contributed: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/27/us/27nuke.html In a challenge to the White House, the nation’s nuclear weapons laboratories have warned Congress that federal programs to extend the life of the nation’s aging nuclear arsenal are insufficient to guarantee the viability of the weapons for decades to come. I can't see that this warning from the Labs will have any influence on Obama since he's already cut any funding for RRW/WR1 & is pushing hard for ratification of CTBT. The JASONS have stated their opinion & so have the Labs. POGO accuses the Labs of "defending their turf" - Isn't that exactly what POGO is doing? Why is it the "experts" on NEs are always from someplace other than our Labs? Maintaining older NE's that do not provide the best safety & security technology makes no sense to me.

Contributed by the Pooper Scooper: I recently posted about the changeover from discipline based job classification to the MTS classification at LLNL. See http://dogchurch.blogspot.com/2010/02/mts.html Feel free to link to it from your LLNL the True Story blog.

Anonymously contributed: I see someone complained that the term "fanboi" was insulting and you removed a post involving that term. I was quite surprised to see that. Especially given snide comments from others about "best and brightest indeed" and another thread mentioning the term "hayseed". Last time I checked, fanboi was merely a term for ardent enthusiast and not an insult. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fanboi I'm not about to demand that someone using the term "hayseed" be purged either. I'm over 21 and not going to get my little feelings hurt. In fact, it made for a good tongue-in-cheek reply to that comment. Naturally it is your blog and your rules. I've done my bit to help keep it alive, but have no interest in staying around if some people are allowed to make personal attacks and then go running to you for "moderation". Is the playing field even or not?

Anonymously contributed: So, any predictions on what Mikey is going to say about tcp1 Tues at LANL? 1 or 2 or 3% contributions?

Anonymously contributed: A long but worthwhile read... Debate Heats Up Over Conventional, Nuclear Deterrence Trade offs Friday, March 19, 2010 By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100319_6793.php

Anonymously contributed: http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_14681243

Is LLNS managing LLNL well? 68 responded. Thank you. 62 or 91% said no.

Anonymously contributed: LLNS asking for documents they already have on file in your personnel records to prove who your dependents are because they're to lazy to do the search themselves. Along with this they threaten you with cancellation of your medical insurance unless you comply by April 16th as of they were the IRS. What a waste of $80M a year, plus perks and raise for ULM. What did these !!! ask you for.

Anonymously contributed: Cost to Test U.S. Global-Strike Missile Could Reach $500 Million Monday, March 15, 2010 By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Defense Department could spend as much as a half-billion dollars to flight-test a new conventionally armed ballistic missile with a sophisticated capability to destroy targets virtually anywhere around the world, Global Security Newswire has learned (see GSN, July 1, 2009). Obama administration officials are touting the emerging technology as a partial alternative to nuclear weapons. Conventional "prompt global strike" arms could be used against targets thousands of miles away that must be dealt with quickly, from al-Qaeda safe havens along the Pakistani-Afghan border or an impending North Korean nuclear-armed missile being readied for launch. The only hitch is that the premier weapon system for the Pentagon's conventional prompt global strike mission -- the Air Force's Conventional Strik...

Anonymously contributed: What do you think? http://trivalleycares.presstools.org/node/34886

Did anyone know that? No mention of it in newsline. http://www.nnsa.energy.gov/2861.htm

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100309_8124.php

Anonymously contributed: From LLNL News On Line: NNSA 10th Anniversary celebration: Share your story March 8, 2009 This month marks NNSA’s 10th Anniversary and NNSA is looking to employees to celebrate in style. NNSA is working to highlight the agency’s accomplishments and success stories from the past decade, and is collecting stories from the people who work every day in support of the mission. In 500 words or less, share some of your favorite memories, stories and accomplishments that you have experienced at NNSA over the last decade. The best essays will be featured during the upcoming 10-year Anniversary celebration. Send your short essay and contact information to Jennifer Wagner [jennifer.wagner@nnsa.doe.gov] by Friday, March 12.

Anonymously contributed: What do managers really think? For managers only, tell this blog how you really feel about LLNS. Scooby's note: Mention your PAD.

Anonymously contributed: Democratic senator challenges energy chief on Yucca Mountain decision Washington senator vents to DOE chief Is Dr. Chu just another politician? At a Senate hearing, Chu got his latest earful from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. She demanded to know "who was consulted in making the decision that Yucca Mountain was not viable. You say that Yucca Mountain is not a workable option, but what seems to be missing is why," she told Chu, asking him repeatedly what science was used to back up the Obama administration's decision to end plans for the underground waste repository. Murray said billions of dollars have been spent at the Hanford nuclear reservation in her state to clean up and begin packaging liquid nuclear waste for eventual disposal at the proposed Yucca site, but no consideration was given to residents there and other places where highly radioactive waste awaits removal. "This is really disturbing to me," Murray said. "This leaves ev...

From Global Security Newswire: http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100304_9802.php

Anonymously contributed: In the past couple of years, one of LLNL's achievements was the build out of an enterprise-class data center in B112 under the O& B PAD. Fully redundant power, industry standard everything! Only one side of it has been fully populated. When the time came to to populate the other side, ULM decided to do it on the cheap by ordering the undoing of the power redundancy from the populated side to accommodate the unpopulated side. This is to allow more tenants to move in with little cost. The result is that we will have a grade C data center. Imagine telling doing an A+ job and being told that C+ would have been OK! That is what happens when bureaucrats (instead of Managers) make decisions.

Interesting view from The Strategic and International studies http://csis.org/blog/selling-counterintuitive-funding-nukes-eliminate-them

Anonymously contributed: Read this George: Warren Buffet writes in the Berkshire-Hathaway annual letter to shareholders this year that: "We would rather suffer the visible costs of a few bad decisions than incur the many invisible costs that come from decisions made too slowly – or not at all – because of a stifling bureaucracy." Compare this to the DOE/NNSA/LLNS and LANS, who would rather suffer the many invisible costs from decisions made too slowly--or not at all--because of a stifling bureaucracy than incur the visible costs of a few bad decisions. This in a nutshell is what has gone so wrong at the Labs and their owning agencies, by Congressional demand.

Here is a message from the PAO: read second sentence: does it make sense? You cannot be wearing yyour seat belt when exiting your vehicle! E-LINE: MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR: VEHICLE SAFETY ISSUES CONTINUE Laboratory colleagues: Last year we had the first and only fatality on site in the history of the Lab. You will remember that one of our colleagues was not wearing his seat belt when exiting the running vehicle he was driving onsite. We continue to hear about situations where employees are involved with dangerous moving vehicular situations. There have been several recent incidents of employees exiting running vehicles. Thankfully, no one was injured but there were near misses. I have made the error of exiting running vehicles myself. I can say from my own personal experience that changing 40-plus-years of ingrained habits requires constant attention and vigilance. It takes great self-awareness to break bad habits. Personal and work safety includes an enormous spectrum of activities a...

Anonymously contributed: I'd like to hear about the raises again. Did anyone quit over the poor raises, or are they taking it in stride? Are people working less, or putting in resumes to other corporations? Anyone file an administrative review over a zero raise? Any luck?

Where was the LLNL when it came to this? http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_14461347?source=rss Looks like we missed the boat again people. We've basically done nothing good for the immediate needs of the country since Starwars, and we most certainly could never accomplish what we did then in the same period of time. I’m so disgusted with this place it’s unreal.

ANonymously contributed: This is posted on L-hire. Can someone tell me whta a 10% Group Leader is? Is that the same as asking a judge, mayor, Captain, etc.. to work part-time? T he National Ignition Facility (NIF) Computing (NIFC) Division within the Computing Applications and Research (CAR) Department has an opening for a 10% Group Leader in the Test Group. The successful candidate will manage NIFC computer scientists and technicians supporting software and/or hardware controls verification and validation for the NIF. The candidate will participate in NIFC Division hiring, performance evaluations, peer grouping and salary management. Candidate must currently have a technical assignment in support of the NIF Project. Candidate will report to the NIFC Division Leader.

Anonymously contributed: Does the Secretary of Energy have a bit too much free time? Cal physicist helps confirm Einstein theory David Perlman, San Francisco Chronicle Science Editor Monday, February 22, 2010 A UC Berkeley physicist and a Nobel prize-winning colleague now in President Obama's Cabinet report they have confirmed one of Albert Einstein's most revolutionary theories 10,000 times more accurately than ever before. Einstein's theory of general relativity has already been tested and confirmed to a degree as a true picture of reality by scores of experimenters, ever since he proposed it to the world nearly a century ago. In the immediate decades after the theory's publication, legend had it that only 12 people in the world could understand it, although physicists have long revered it. Even today, relativity remains an arcane subject for most of us, but it does have relevance to all science and even to everyday life - for meticulous timekeepers, for space explore...

Anonymously contributed: Here's an interesting article from WSJ. "Another possible factor in the decline of successful young scientists is the institutions and funding mechanisms that discourage the sort of risky research that produces major innovations. Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University who has studied the funding bodies that support the arts, such as the National Endowment for the Arts, notes that these institutions frequently become more risk-averse over time. "They become more beholden to special interests and fall under greater political scrutiny," he says. The end result is an increasing unwillingness to support projects that might fail. Mr. Cowen notes, for instance, that the NEA has gone from directly funding "whomever they wanted, with very little scrutiny"—this led to many success and scandals, such as the furor over Robert Mapplethorpe—to a recent focus on Shakespeare, classic jazz and the teaching of poetry in high school. Whi...

Institute for Policy Studies article: http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/doe_fy_2011_budget_request

Anonymously contributed: I ran across these on the Director's Office "Topics and Questions" website on the internal LLNL website, and thought they might be of interest. ----- Q: I heard rumors that NNSA may raid our TCP1 fund to help fund other sites’ defined benefit plans? Is this true and is it legal? A: No, NNSA cannot touch the LLNS Defined Benefit Retirement Plan (TCP1) funds. The plan is governed by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which means that all of the plan’s assets must remain in the plan (that is, the plan’s assets cannot be “raided”). Regarding the status of the other NNSA sites’ defined benefit plans, NNSA is looking for funds throughout the complex to make contributions to under-funded plans. These other funds could be operating funds from all sites in the complex, which could affect our Laboratory’s operating budget — but not the LLNS Defined Benefit Retirement Plan (TCP1). Q: Will employees in TCP1 have to start making contr...

ANonymously contributed: Global Security Newswire Nuke Spending Boost Needed to Disarm, Biden Says Friday, Feb. 19, 2010 U.S. nuclear-weapon laboratories require a dramatic funding boost to help maintain the reliability of the nation's nuclear deterrent as the Obama administration pursues further arsenal reductions and ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden said in a speech yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 18). The administration plans to seek more than $5 billion in additional funding over five years for sustaining the U.S. nuclear complex and deterrent, starting with a $624 million increase in fiscal 2011. The $7 billion request submitted this month would increase nuclear weapon-related spending by 13.5 percent in the next budget cycle, according to the Associated Press. Despite 10 years of budget reductions at the National Nuclear Security Administration, the semiautonomous Energy Department agency that oversees the U.S. nuclear stock...

Wow! http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_14420433?source=rss&nclick_check=1

The SPSE said this last year about the 200 reclassification (Thank you SPSE!): The first ever reclassification of professionals at the Lab is in progress and is expected to be implemented early in 2010. The Scientist and Engineers Classification Project https://compensation.llnl.gov/se-classification-project.html (internal Lab link) started last year with an announcement in the October 20th Newsline. The project started with recommendations from the Compensation Review Board that were released in August of last year. After months of work by a select committee of 200-series employees charged with defining new job classification levels within the 200 series (Scientists and Engineers), the final model https://compensation.llnl.gov/docs/se-docs/SE_Classification_Final_Model_Approved.pdf (internal Lab link), approved by LLNS and DOE, has been released. The purpose of this reclassification project is ostensibly to provide a clearly defined career promotion path for scientists and engineers. ...