LLNL - The True Story -

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