Another Los Alamos managed project over budget and behind schedule.
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Coming on the heels of the recent LANL radiation safety incident this can only be bad news.
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http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/10/26/north/213m-project-not-working.html
Comments
What a sad state of affairs at this once prestigious lab.
NNSA has a site office at Los Alamos, wonder what they do?
October 27, 2012 6:37 PM
There is no one at the Los Alamos Site Office who has any technical competence in any field; weapons, science, safety, security, they are all totally incompetent pencil-pushers. They actually rely on the Santa Fe - based anti-nukes to tell them what to look for and care about. Absolutely atrocious, and no one seems to care, especially not DC-based NNSA. THe failures at LANL are in my opinion almost completely traceable to LASO incompetence. They wield their authority like a hammer, require nonsensical actions, and refuse to recognize the value of real competence at LANL. They relish their authoritative interactions with LANL underlings whom they can intimidate, and stay away from the upper management.
NNSA will have new leadership, but the problems will be enduring - unless there is a major change in the contractor. The UC influence that permitted the scandals, that in turn led to the creation of NNSA, is still strongly present today.
The solution to the current mess is not as simple as shuffling personnell in NNSA, which looks a lot like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
October 28, 2012 9:58 AM
Interesting questions, but not relevant to addressing the key issue. If you want true and lasting change, look at what Gates did in the Air Force weapons case. He fired the top two leaders, as well as a couple dozen high ranking officers, about half of them General officers.
Being Lab Director is about more than buying the most expensive house in the county and holding all- hands meetings to present slide shows of summer trips. At least it used to be about more.
Seven years to build a fence that doesn't work.
With credibility like this, wonder what else doesn't work?
Since Bechtel took over management of the labs for a fat annual profit in 2006 things have really changed, haven't they?
Just wait until Brett Knapp is crowned LANL Director in a couple of years after Charlie leaves with his fat pension and run back to California for the good life.
He is doing the best he can. It is not his fault that he has neither background nor experience in the issues that keep popping up. He was the result, after all, of an exhaustive search process.
Just imagine what it would be like under someone else, and then be sure to properly thank those that selected him.
October 29, 2012 11:01 PM
Thank God I'll be retired when this "clown" takes over. The Pueblos and surrounding communities will love this bigot!