LLNL - The True Story -

The following is a comment on "federalizing" post: I moved it here as a post to allow readers to comment: Are you seeing the same phenomenon at LLNL? LLNS has become like civil service because there's no monetary gain for doing a good job and no growth to be had. LLNS job seems to be focused on demoralizing the old employees so they'll leave, only to hire two inexperienced people at half the pay and then expect them to do the same quality work. Dream on LLNS, dream on. Heck, most employers can't find people with good work ethics as it is. The only reason LLNS is getting good work out of people now is because most of those doing the work are the old people. Once they're gone, which should be able 5 - 10 years, you'll get to witness a demise in productivity. The new employees are of a different breed in many, many ways especially in their mannerism, dress code and daily acts of defiance against authority, task schedules or for that matter even giving the emp...

Question asked by (name pending contributor's permission): Has anyone heard any facts/rumors about what the possible raise packages will be?

The blog entry "Seeking retiree's support" is out of date. We now have a New Web Site . We are working with three law firms and are collecting contributions for purchasing legal action. Our lawyers have done a preliminary analysis of our situation and believe the case should be pursued. You will find the information posted on your blog In one of last year's status reports. Under the Status Reports heading on the left hand side of our main page, you will find a first in last out pushdown stack providing a history of our activities. There are also newspaper articles and other documents that may be of interest. Anyone who would like to join our efforts can do so by clicking on "tell me yes" on the web site or sending their name and email address in an email to llnlretiree@comcast.net. Our only way of reaching retirees is by word of mouth since we can't obtain a list of retirees. Joe Joe Requa jrequa@comcast.net llnlretiree.com

From Global Security Newswire Obama to Seek $5B Nuclear-Weapon Complex Spending Boost Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 The Obama 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 $600 million increase in fiscal 2011, Vice President Joseph Biden wrote in a Wall Street Journal commentary published yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 19). The funding boost is necessary even as President Barack Obama pursues the nuclear-disarmament agenda he laid out last April in Prague, Biden stated (see GSN, Jan. 28). "As long as nuclear weapons are required to defend our country and our allies, we will maintain a safe, secure and effective nuclear arsenal," he wrote. "Among the many challenges our administration inherited was the slow but steady decline in support for our nuclear stockpile and infrastructure, and for our highly trained nuclear work force," according to Biden. "For almost a de...

Anonymously contributed: Just what we need - a bigger, fatter bloated Security cow . If unions are so bad for nuclear security why not just do away with them? Federal Diary: Federalizing security contactors might make our country safer. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/28/AR2010012804005.htm

Contributed by: anonymous In case you missed it here’s a good article recently in the Wall Street Journal: How to Protect Our Nuclear Deterrent http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704152804574628344282735008.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Some rehash of the JASON study & reiteration of the degradation of our National Labs. “The United States must continue to attract, develop and retain the outstanding scientists, engineers, designers and technicians we will need to maintain our nuclear arsenal, whatever its size, for as long as the nation's security requires it.” “The study team said it was "concerned that this expertise is threatened by lack of program stability, perceived lack of mission importance, and degradation of the work environment." The 2010 Nuclear Posture Review will be released soon & will generate renewed interest in the issues cited in the WSJ article. The tragic death of Frank Young comes at a time when, imo, we most need a renewed push on the...

The LANL Blog is shutting down. Doug Roberts reported that Frank Young has died, at that Doug was shutting the blog down. Frank's involvement on the blog was fueled by his search of being contaminated while working at the lab. He never found his answer, and now he never will. We've lost a porthole that looked into the sinking ship that was once proudly known as LANL. http://lanl-the-rest-of-the-story.blogspot.com/

Or NIF for the layman. http://www.newsweek.com/id/222792

Top 10 Recipients of Federal Contract Awards for FY 2010 FY 2010 Rank Parent Company Name Dollars % of total 1 Lockheed Martin Corporation $1,717,259,591 8.324% 2 Los Alamos National Security LLC $1,552,664,849 7.526% 3 Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC $1,036,264,902 5.023% 4 Ut-Battelle, LLC $736,105,314 3.568% 5 Battelle Memorial Institute Inc $670,678,244 3.251% 6 Honeywell International Inc $477,616,671 2.315% 7 Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Pantex, L.L.C. $469,238,894 2.274% 8 Merck & Co., Inc. $400,360,817 1.941% 9 Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, Lls $400,226,463 1.940% 10 Bechtel Group, Inc. $362,732,024 1.758% Source: usaspending Just one big fat happy NWC

I have been considering applying for a position at Oak Ridge National Lab. In searching for information online (hoping to get a feeling for the work environment), I found the LLNL/LANL set of blogs, but I have seen nothing similar for ORNL. Given that ORNL is also run by a private entity (UT-Battelle), are there similar problems? Do any readers have any opinions on ORNL? Thank you! Signed: anonymous coward

Anonymously asked: Has the LANL Blog shut down? (LANL: The Rest of The Story)

Salary comparisons at simplyhired.com. Compare salary average of the Lab against other companies! http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-lawrence+livermore+national+laboratory+llnl/l-Livermore,+CA/q_1-Sybase/l_1-DUblin+CA

To the complainers in this BLOG: http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_14193481

Anonymosuly contributed: This from R and D magazine dated Dec 22 2009: "With a staff of about 6,500, LLNL anticipates hiring 5% of that number in 2010." The naysayers who frequent this blog will be slitting their wrists and drinking coo-laid over this.

Scooby's note: This was a comment directed to the post "GM's talk". I have no idea what the commentator is talking about; I was going to delete the comment but then decided to make a post (its own topic). Please stay on topic. Anonymously contributed: Well if that be the case you may all want to read this. We're in a nose dive with no cure in sight. It's looking pretty bad all through 2010 and 2011. Then in 2012, LLNL will need to downsize any way. Enjoy the reading. I hope 99% of you get the big picture of what's to come. http://www.modbee.com/featured/story/1002798.html

It has been exactly one year since this article was published. The author said among Steven Chu's most daunting challenges will be reforming the Energy Department. Has he started? What do you think?

Anonymous said... Heard a good rumor today but I doubt there's any substance to it, but with Miller's talk coming tomorrow it may be a good question to ask. We're hearing LLNL has taken a 25% cut in this years budget. With 8,000 employees, they'd have to cut 2,000 people by April 2010 to balance the budget. Wouldn't that be a kick in the butt... January 6, 2010 6:11 PM

FROM THE LANL BLOG: by Doug: Back in early 2005 when the bid preparation activities for the LANL contract were hot and heavy, NNSA's Tom D'Agostino justified the 10-fold increase in the new LANL contract award fee by stating that "increased efficiencies of operation" by the new Corporate M&O would "more than offset" the additional cost of the contract. Now, five years later we see that the real additional cost of running LANL is on the order of $200 million more than it was back in the days of non-profit operations when the University of California ran the place for a mere $8 million per year. Since LANL is now run by a for-profit corporation, it has to pay Gross Receipt Taxes to the state of New Mexico, which accounts for most of the additional cost of operations over and above the current $79 million award fee. Have we seen any cost savings due to increased efficiencies of operation by the new corporate M&O of LANL? Let's innumerate some of the...

Congressman John Garamendi spoke to LLNL employees on Tuesday 1/5 at 2:30 PM. Your opinion?

Anonymously contributed: I sure hope NIF works and we win back our energy independence. Articles like this make me realize where our money goes: Tallest skyscraper opens in Dubai If NIF does work, LLNS we can hire that fireworks crew(see video) and show the world who's boss. Meanwhile, I'll go put another 60$ of arab gas in the tank. For those who were fired the last few years, I guess they can't share in the NIF glory. Their contributions don't matter anymore.

This Quiz will let you know where you fall on social liberties, economics, foreign policy-- even the culture war. No need to post your results as this is just meant to be fun - I am a centrist social moderate. Right: 0.38, Authoritarian: 0.35