LLNL - The True Story -

I don't know how many have received the invitation to the UPTE presentation in Los Alamos, so I thought I post it here: To a reprise of UPTE’s presentation to the National Academy of Sciences Committee to Review the Quality of the Management and of the Science and Engineering Research at the Department of Energy’s National Security Laboratories: “Effects of Privatization on the DOE/NNSA Labs’ Science and National Security Missions” Date: Thursday, April 7 Place: Best Western Hilltop House Hotel 400 Trinity Dr at Central, Los Alamos Time: 5:30 pm

Anonymously contributed: An Update on the NAS review from Nuclear Weapons Monitor March 23, 2011 Nat’l Academy Panel Takes Aim at Fee Issues in Lab Visit What, exactly, is the National Nuclear Security Agency getting for the money it spends on its management contracts at Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories? That was the implicit question behind an exchange Tuesday between former Lawrence Berkeley lab director Charles Shank and Paul Hommert, current head of Sandia National Laboratories. Shank co-chairs a National Academy of Sciences panel looking at science and engineering management at the nuclear weapons laboratories, and during a meeting at Sandia yesterday, Shank said the panel's members were trying to figure out what the government was getting for the money it spends on management contracts at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, more than double---and in Los Alamos' case nearly triple---the $25 million a year it pays Lockheed Martin ...

Anonymously contributed: From Weapons Complex Monitor March 17, 2011 Nat'l Academy's Weapons Lab Panel Hits The Road The National Academy of Sciences panel tasked with studying the health of the National Nuclear Security Administration's three nuclear weapons laboratories and the impact privatizing management has had on the institutions will hold public meetings at all three of the labs it is studying over the next month or so. The panel, which is chaired by former Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Director Charles Shank and UCLA professor Kumar Patel, will host a meeting next week at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque and will visit Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories in April. At the March 22-23 Sandia meeting, the panel will hear testimony from a handful of lab officials, including current lab director Paul Hommert as well as retired lab director Tom Hunter and Sandia Site Office Manager Patty Wagner. The panel will visit Los Alamos April...

Anastasio Reorganizes LANS With 3-months left at LANS, Anastasio forms a "Bechtel" Principal Associate Directorate (PADCAP) and "selects" a Bechtel Manager without posting the position. It appears the "lame duck" Anastasio has begun his pardons and favors. Come one, come all from Bechtel to join PADCAP. SUBJECT: Organizational Restructuring Today, I am announcing a new senior leadership position - Principal Associate Director for Capital Projects (PADCAP) - and a restructuring that will shift the project management functions from the Project Management & Site Services (ADPMSS) directorate, together with the directorate for Environmental Programs (ADEP) in its entirety, to the new PAD organization. I have selected Paul Henry as the PADCAP. Paul is a Bechtel senior manager who brings 32 years of construction and enterprise management experience to the Lab. He will relocate from Pueblo, Colorado, where he has served most recently as project manager on the...

Anonymously contributed: In an unprecedented communication, LANS has announced a 2-percent pay increase to all LANS employees. Make sure you give full-credit, appreciation, and accolades to LANS Management for making this happen! Great Financial News! If you have not noticed already, employees’ take-home pay in effect increased by 2 percent in 2011 as a result of the Tax Relief Act of 2010, which lowered workers’ Social Security (FICA) tax withholdings from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. The employer portion remains the same at 6.2 percent.

Anonymously contributed: Livermore lab watchdog group appeals decision to allow research on bioterror agents By Suzanne Bohan Contra Costa Times 03/11/2011 11:01:09 PM PST Tri-Valley CAREs, a Lawrence Livermore Laboratory watchdog group, on Friday appealed a district court's ruling that Lawrence Livermore Laboratory can study deadly pathogens such as anthrax. The appeal, filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, challenges a September ruling of the U.S. District Court in Oakland that permits the Department of Energy to proceed with research at secured facility called Biosafety Level-3, or BSL-3. The Energy Department oversees the national security lab. The research involves the study of microbes such as anthrax, plague, Q fever and other deadly pathogens. The group is requesting that the appeals court reverse the earlier ruling and require a comprehensive environmental assessment before the research with the microbes continues. Tri-Valley CAREs describes the work as "biow...

Anonymously contributed: Congress Seen Cutting Obama's Nuke Budget Friday, March 11, 2011 – Global Security Newswire Recently defeated budget bills suggest fiscal 2011 funding for the maintenance of U.S. nuclear weapons will ultimately fall below levels sought by the Obama administration, the Albuquerque Journal reported on Thursday (see GSN, March 3). President Obama requested $7 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration's weapons stockpile activities in the current budget cycle, which ends on September 30. Congress has yet to approve a final budget for the current fiscal year and the federal government is operating under a continuing funding resolution set to expire next Friday. The fiscal 2011 spending budget passed by the House of Representatives would provide $6.7 billion for nuclear stockpile work. Though the amount is less than what Obama sought, it would provide a 7 percent increase over fiscal 2010 funding levels. A separate Senate budget proposal would ...

Does anyone know?

LANS Pension Numbers and Balances Anonymously contributed: I recently checked my retirement contributions being "held" by LANS. Until recently, I was showing $26K in pension contributions (prior to LANS) with interest. To my dismay I checked my balance to find it zeroed, i.e., $0. I called Hewlett and after waiting 15-minutes they informed me that there was "glitch in the system". I would highly recommend that those that are on TCP-1 verify the accuracy of information "regularly". I have absolutely no confidence or trust in LANS or Hewlett, especially with my money. Zero! None!

Anonymously contributed: Does anyone else think that the new LLNL Security Officer "US Army clone" combat fatigues look silly? They look like clowns not security/law enforcement professionals. The Lab isn't a military base located in remote desert, it's suppose to be a civilian run research facility located in the suburbs. What a waste of money, especially since half of these officers will be let go when the SNM leaves and security is downgraded at the site in the next year or so.

Anonymously contributed: Expanded city limits linked to economic development efforts. By James Brice (livermore.patch.com) March 2, 2011 A plan to bring the campuses of Lawrence Livermore and Sandia California national laboratories inside the city limits of Livermore moved closer to reality Tuesday with a unanimous vote of the city’s planning commission to recommend the proposal to the City Council. The annexation plan would expand Livermore’s southeastern boundaries to cover 15 land parcels covering 1,022 acres east of Vasco Road, south of Patterson Pass Road and west of Greenville Road. The property includes the 627-acre campus of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the 390-acre site of Sandia California National Laboratory. The land is now in an unincorporated area of Alameda County. The labs' campuses are owned by the federal government. Two privately-owned parcels covering five acres composed of a private residence and vacant lot, and Greenville Road right-of-way be...

Anonymoulsly contributed: Dublin City Council Supports Hosting Lawrence Berkeley Lab The City Council asks the mayor to provide a letter of support for the proposal for a lab at Camp Parks. By David Mills (dublin.patch.com) March 2, 2011 The Dublin City Council has joined the campaign to bring another laboratory to the city. The council Tuesday night directed Mayor Tim Sbranti to provide a letter of support for a second Lawrence Berkeley National Lab campus in Dublin. The letter backs a proposal by Argent Development Group to build the science research lab on land at U.S. Army Reserve's Camp Parks. City Council members were adamant that Dublin is the perfect place for the facility. They said Dublin is home to two other labs in addition to being next door to the Lawrence Livermore Lab. They also noted that the new West Dublin/Pleasanton BART station and the transit hub and housing planned around the station would provide transportation and housing for lab workers. "We can offer...

Anonymously contributed: Note from Scooby: Hey contributor: who is this message from? 1000 more to go. I say lets Get-R-Done ASAP Nationally across the board. To: all-employee Subject: Update As I promised to do in my column earlier this week, I want to update everyone as to the actions we're taking to inform Congress about what impact serious Federal budget cuts would have on the national laboratories. I spent most of this week in Washington, D.C. with several of my fellow lab directors, visiting members of Congress. We delivered the message that thousands of jobs would be lost, and America's competitiveness and capacity for innovation in scientific research would be seriously jeopardized in both the short and long term if cuts proposed by the House are enacted. We plan to continue making those points with lawmakers between now and March 4, when the continuing resolution currently funding the Federal Government runs out. To bring the point home, the laboratories undertook a bu...