LLNL - The True Story -

Anonymously contributed: Let the Debate begin. From the New York Times Editorials, 10/30/11... "...In his push to win votes for the New Start treaty, Mr. Obama gave away far too much to balking Republican senators. He promised to invest an extra $85 billion over 10 years for the nuclear labs to maintain and modernize the arsenal, including overhauling thousands of older bombs that should be retired. He proposed spending $125 billion over the next decade for a new fleet of nuclear-armed submarines, 100 new bombers, a new land-based intercontinental ballistic missile and two other missiles. Senior military officials acknowledge that hard decisions must be made — including possibly eliminating one leg of the nuclear triad. In July, Gen. James Cartwright, then vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for a reassessment of where nuclear weapons fit in today’s world. All Americans need to be part of that discussion, as does the Congressional “supercommittee,” charged...

FROM PAO: Penrose "Parney" C. Albright has been named the director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Norman J. Pattiz, chairman of Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS), which manages the lab for the U.S. Department of Energy, made the announcement today (Oct. 27). The appointment takes effect Dec. 1. Albright also will serve as president of LLNS. Appointed with the concurrence of DOE, Albright is the 11th director of the Lab since it was established in 1952. He replaces George Miller, who is stepping down after six years as director and a 40-year career of service to the nation and the Laboratory. "We have selected a leader who brings a fundamental understanding of the importance of science and technology to national and global security," Pattiz said. "In selecting a leader for Livermore Laboratory, we have found someone who has credibility in the national security arena and a history of addressing a broad range of complex technical...

Anonymously contributed: How about we start an occupy Livermore movement? There is one at Los Almaos now and more people will be joining. You do not have to be on the left or the right you just have to feel that something is deeply wrong in Washington and the United States. The labs have been turned over to private hands and what has been the result other than a few people getting rich and the ability to our mission eroded. What did the American taxpayer gain? Nothing. Now imagine what happened at the labs but much worse for the rest of the people. The military people cannot get proper equipment to protect themselves yet private contractors get billions with no value added to our military. You are forced to put your money in dodgy stock plans since the interest rates are kept near zero. Businesses and labs lose money and lay off people yet managers are paid way more than they ever had, is this the free market, is this the capitalists way, hell no? We are becoming a nation of pirat...

Anonymously contributed: Age and pay discrimination are alive and well @ LLNL-LLNS. The good old boys & girls continue. Due to the secrecy of wages/salaries at LLNS I had no gauges as to where I stood w/ my peers. I just recently found out where I stand and I am very disappointed and offended. I am a 60+ year young, 20+ career employee and have an Engineering degree. No I do not want to retire, I like my job but I want to be treated fairly. I began in the Plant Engineering Crafts Shops and moved into the coordination field. I have had a great deal of training and performed many, many types of work from grunt to medium level management tasks and activities. I am only a 5XX after 20+ years. I have been held back from advancement (5XX > 3XX Series) and been given negligible pay raises compared to my peers while performing the same work tasks. In other words, in my humble opinion, I have the same Skills, Knowledge & Abilities (SKAs) or more w/o the benefit of mo...

http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/20/doe-refuses-to-let-author-of-solyndra-legal-memo-be-interviewed/#ixzz1bMh6hs4I

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/280715/busted-doe-altered-solyndra-related-documents-andrew-stiles

Unverified news: Poster reveal your source, Scooby News broke today that the DOE has been caught red-handed in the act of re-wording previous press releases issued back in April about the corrupt Solyndra-gate affair. Shades of Orwell's 1984!

In Bechtel's Deputy Lab Director "rotation scheme" at LANS/LLNS, Ike Richardson is being transferred from one salt mine at Los Alamos to another mine in Australia. Does anyone know exactly what Ike accomplished during his short stay at LANL?

Welcome back Scooby! Keep in mind your providing an important National service. We missed you and appreciate your time and effort....

DOE's NREL energy lab in Colorado just announced it is implementing a 10% RIF. The cause for the RIF? Congressional gridlock hurting their expected funding. We'll likely see something similar to this at the NNSA labs. ** ‘Green jobs’ farm in Colorado sheds jobs after receiving $200M in stimulus funds ** 10/4/2011 President Barack Obama’s “green jobs” initiatives suffered another major blow late Monday, as the nonprofit National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado, announced a plan to lay off roughly 10 percent of its staff through a voluntary buy-out plan. According to the Denver Post, the lab plans to eliminate between 100 and 150 of its 1,350 jobs. The Obama administration supported the NREL in 2009 with roughly $200 million in stimulus grants. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu visited Golden in May 2009 to promote the NREL as a beneficiary of those funds. ...The lab’s mission is to handle U.S. Department of Energy research and development programs. NREL spokes...

Can someone explain in simple English what is actually happening to the 401(K) plan? Looks to me like we lose, again. It's hard to tell if we have the option to keep our funds with Fidelity-there is some verbage about "if you do not want your existing balances and future contributions to transfer to the similar investment options... contact Fidelity Investments before 4:00 pm..."

Well, the entire blog is "crap" just to be clear. However, the obvious absence of the blog owner for so many days (weeks) indicates a lack of attention and commitment on his part. I for one would be happy if the blog went away, but to the extent it pretends to provide a venue for "current" LLNL issues, it is failing badly with no explanation. Can anyone explain why a blog owner cannot connect briefly in order to at least post a note as to why he is not able to attend his blog?? At least with the old LANL blog, when Frank was found dead in a hotel room, Doug was able to explain what was going on, and Doug was probably the worst blog owner in history.

Folks, take a chill pill. Or launch the blog of your choice. Clearly the moderator is out of the loop right now. Maybe they are enjoying a nice cruise. A bit of spam here is hardly a crisis and probably no more crap than some of the 'normal' commentary.

Interesting how this blog can go so long unattended. No offense, Scooby, but could you clean up your act once in a while? Not all your corespondents are complying with the rules for posting. And you aren't complying with your own rules. This blog now seems like a sad, unattended vacation house with mouldy shutters and rotted wood, with 2 foot high weeds at the front door. Pretty sad. Say, any chance you'll be giving it up for good? Nah, too much to hope for.

Fatality at LANL One Dead in Pajarito Road Rollover Crash By Carol A. Clark Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 11:04 am (Updated: September 18, 2:47 pm) A person was killed Saturday morning in a rollover crash on Pajarito Road, which is restricted and on Los Alamos National Laboratory property. In typical "no information LANS policy", nothing been conveyed to LANL employees on this incident.

I wonder what part Dr. Chu had in the sleazy Solyndra deal that has recently been uncovered? March 20, 2009 – Solyndra, Inc. announced today that it is the first company to receive an offer for a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Solyndra, a Fremont, California-based manufacturer of innovative cylindrical photovoltaic systems, will use the proceeds of a $535 million loan from the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank to expand its solar panel manufacturing capacity in California. “The leadership and actions of President Barack Obama, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and the U.S. Congress were instrumental in concluding this offer for a loan guarantee,” said Solyndra CEO and founder, Dr. Chris Gronet.

Saw this on another topic- would like to have a topic on the formation of a technical staff union at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, which is an NNSA lab that does work for the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program. The KAPL staff had recent benefits slashed under new management. How bad do things have to get at the weapons physics labs before this option is on the table? or will we just keep taking it form LLNS/LANS/NNSA in stride?

Any word or serious rumor on the next LLNL Director. Isn't George Miller due to retire at the end of this month?

There is a writer doing a story on Hanford for Seattle Weekly and he is wondering if someone might be willing to talk a bit about Frank Russo's history at LLNL? Let me know and I will put you in touch with him.