LLNL - The True Story -

2012 evaluation plans posted and LLNL plan is 26 pages, LANL plan is 92!! There is lots of reading in here, but the real meat in the meal is when the scores are known. http://nnsa.energy.gov/sites/default/files/nnsa/09-12-inlinefiles/LANL%20FY12%20PEP.pdf http://nnsa.energy.gov/sites/default/files/nnsa/09-12-inlinefiles/LLNL%20FY12%20PEP.pdf

Why is it so difficult at LANL? This one is a zinger. Fence building is not a difficult job at Y-12, but reportedly a most difficult job to get it right at LANL. While it may be something that 'we' know how to design and construct, 'we' clearly is not LANL, according to the recent reports on TA-55. "Putting these fences in is not a very difficult job or difficult project," he said. "But, all things considered . . . I mean, there's a PIDAS system around the Air Force One hangar. PIDAS systems are used widely. So this is something we actually know how to design and construct." John Eschenberg, federal project director for UPF.

Weapons Complex Monitor November 27, 2012 Albuquerque Journal Urges Consideration of NNSA Dismantlement Noting a string of security lapses and project management blunders, the Albuquerque Journal urged a bipartisan commission proposed by a pair of Senators to strongly consider scrapping the National Nuclear Security Administration in an editorial published Nov. 25. “The agency’s track record is appalling,” the Journal wrote. “Not only is it a questionable duplication to the DOE, it has turned the nuclear weapons complex into a bureaucratic quagmire that defies attempts at efficiency. Its inability to move forward with essential projects is itself a threat to our nuclear security.” Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) are planning to offer an amendment to the Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act that would establish an “advisory panel” to study governance options for the NNSA, which has been beset by problems on major projects like th...

Weapons Complex Monitor November 26 Five Los Alamos Guards Dismissed Five Los Alamos National Laboratory security guards have been fired after allowing unauthorized visitors to operate a variety of weapons at the lab’s shooting range, laboratory Director Charlie McMillan confirmed in a message to lab employees shortly before Thanksgiving. The guards, employed by lab protective force subcontractor SOC, are believed to have accessed the shooting range in the lab’s Technical Area 72 earlier this month. An anonymous tip sparked an investigation by the laboratory and SOC, which led to the dismissal of the guards. “After a swift but preliminary inquiry, it was concluded that inappropriate behavior warranted the termination of five protective force firing range personnel,” the lab said in a statement. “The Laboratory will continue to determine involvement by others, including Laboratory personnel.” The lab said that its review of the incident determined that there was no safety or security ri...

LANS lawyered up over fence failure There are some reports that claim a legal battle is brewing over the TA 55 security fence construction project. Always thought that LANS had some good in house lawyers so this must be a really strange deal if they have to bring in outside legal big guns. On the outside it doesn't look like much of a case, since the problems apparently had been widely known for over a year. It could also just be a ploy to divert attention away long enough for the board to find some new leaders.

"Don't Throw MFE under the bus because of recent ICF failures" This is a New York Times opinion piece that takes a blog post from PPPL director,  Excerpts: The fact that ignition in a large American experimental inertial confinement fusion facility did not occur as hoped by Sept. 30 has sadly raised questions about the scientific legitimacy of that pursuit. That the scientists did not meet their goal by that day probably has little bearing on that field’s ultimate success. Importantly, this non-event should not bear any relation to the fate of other vital work centering on an entirely different approach known as magnetic fusion.  http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/in-defense-of-sustained-research-on-fusion/?ref=lawrencelivermorenationallaboratory

Questioned, Unresolved and Potentially Unallowable Costs Incurred by Los Alamos National Laboratory During Fiscal Year 2010 http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/OAS-L-13-02.pdf And the bad news just keeps on coming. Poor Charlie. Another IG report on LANL on his watch. How much more can he take?

First casualty of the LANL problems  The head of the local NNSA site office has been reassigned with no notice. Replacement to be named at a later date, probably when they can find anyone desperate enough to take the position. No one lasts long in this slot, it is just a meat grinder for the unlucky federal worker that draws the short straw.

LANL Security Force Shenanigans Five members of the Los Alamos National Laboratory security force were terminated last week for the improper use of the live fire shooting range located at Technical Area 72, according to a statement released by the lab Wednesday. The lab security force is called Securing Our Country or SOC. The statement went on to say, “After a swift but preliminary inquiry, it was concluded that inappropriate behavior warranted the termination of five protective force firing range personnel. The laboratory will continue to determine involvement by others, including laboratory personnel. “Although the inquiry concluded this was not a safety or security risk, the laboratory takes this kind of inappropriate behavior very seriously. “The laboratory does not tolerate unauthorized use of our facilities or equipment. We hold ourselves and our contractors to the highest possible standards of behavior.” Lab officials declined to discuss what the nature of the behav...

Happy Thanksgiving and best wishes to all.

More LANL security headlines Charlie said not to worry when the TA 55 security fence had issues, because the guards were on the job and all was good. But wait, now it turns out that some of the guards were out taking pot shots at the rocks with their service hardware. This whole sorry mess looks worse than what led to the last contract transition.

This is not really a suggestion for Scooby and his blog, but more for Google and the capabilities that it provides in the blogger tools. It would be nice to be able to have a "sticky" functionality, which allows certain threads to "keep current" and either on the top of the blog, or on a special list, so that it persists. Or a way of having new posts shown at the top of page, but are still categorized within a previously established thread. Some topics particularly around talent retention, employee and retiree benefits, legal actions and NIF should have their own "stickies." Otherwise, the many of the threads become fragmented over time, and some threads that go out of sight (off the front page) go out of mind. I can explore whether some of the other "templates" have something like that, but I thought it was just something to suggest and also bring to the attention of the other readers here as well. The thought was simply to make i...

Hmm, the Alameda County WARN listing only tallies 126 employees. http://acwib.rkswebs.com Comment moved here from the "suggested topics" post: It doesn't matter who's right and who's wrong. 2013 is going to tell the communities an entirely worse story. Maybe that 126 in Alameda county and the balance of the people are from other counties. There are a lot of people that work at LLNL who don't live nearby.

 LLNL files WARN Act as of 11/15/12 This means  205 people to be laid off: http://www.edd.ca.gov/jobs_and_training/warn/eddwarncn12.pdf

FAQs were released. What is your opinion? https://docs.google.com/open?id=0ByP_XBAJjPAyX3RfSmZQdFYyQ1k

LANL culture faulted for "completely preventable" accident The LANSCE radiation contamination report (all 100+ pages of it) is on line. The executive summary draws a special focus to the culture of the facility and the "normative behavior when responding to authority". Ouch. Without directly charging that there were individuals involved in the accident that were non-functional in English ("including proficiency in the English language"), it also strongly suggests that to have been the case. Double ouch. http://www.hss.doe.gov/sesa/corporatesafety/aip/docs/accidents/typea/10-18-2012_lansce_federal_ai_report.pdf

Recent "High Risk" Events at LANL All LANL employees are being formally "warned" in lab-wide briefings from the PADS, that as a result of the Tc-99 Exposure, NUSSUP debacle, and other Security issues that LANL is facing a potential Labwide "stop work". Any more details?

More from POGO on LANL security http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/11/our-nuclear-insecurity-complex.html http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/11/our-nuclear-insecurity-complex.html "The situation at Los Alamos is just as troubling. The National Nuclear Security Administration warned the contractor as early as 2010 that a new security project was in danger of being late and over budget. And now, two years later, the agency is demanding that the contractor fully disclose all of the project's problems and show that the nuclear materials stored at the New Mexico facility are safe. Good idea. But how did the project get this far and so over budget when the agency with oversight power has an office right in Los Alamos that's supposed to oversee the contractor?" November 14, 2012 4:40 PM  

On Newsline today: "Lab revises its workforce management policies" Here we go again!

Employment Conditions are a "right of property in CA" When an employee is hired into a class of employees, and is in that class of employees for over a year, he inherits the conditions of employment as a "right of property." If the employer decides to unilaterally change the conditions surrounding this employement, such a remove seniority as a critera for employment priority during times of layoff, or unilaterally makes an employee at-will after a year or more of not being at-will, this is a breach of the "right of property." This has been argued quite successfully several times against the U of CA, and can and will be done against LLNS should it attempt to do this. Your thoughts? November 13, 2012 4:00 PM   Note from scooby: the following is a comment made while the post was still in the suggestions section: How does an employer change wages and working conditions, such as in a downturn or loss of funding? Is termination the only to...

There are a lot of people with negative comments on this blog. I think we need a discussion on what we expect out of our leaders and what/when did LLNL, LANL, and NNSA have great leaders. Who were they ? There are high levels position being posted. Let's give Parney alternatives, instead of same old same old. This is not working.

 Say Goodbye to your Junk Food Rooms Livermore Lab has signed a contract with with a new vendor to supply the vending machines at the lab. Apparently this contract was let to a company that has a blind person on staff. A state law is on the books stating that vending machines on federal property operated by blind people shall have a non-compete status. A monopoly if you will. So all of those entrepreneurial lab employees that have been running their own junk food supply depots (that are less expensive than the vending machines) must now fold their tents and blink out of existence. So to add to our worries of NIF, TA55, Y12, retirement plans, sequestration and bloated management we now will have to pony up more for our snack fix.  It's only a nick in the death of a 1000 cuts, but just like any other paper cut, it's annoying. But on the bright side, perhaps we will bring in more healthy snacks from home for our own individual consumption.

Charlie on plutonium facility security fence project failures From John Fleck's column in the ABQ Journal. SUBJECT: Personnel Changes on NMSSUP A few days ago, I shared with you some serious construction issues we have encountered on Phase II of the Nuclear Materials Safety and Security Project at TA-55, or NMSSUP. Since then, a team of senior Laboratory managers, LANS board members, and managers from parent organizations have been working with the government to develop a solution to complete the project. I believe changes are necessary to ensure that this project is completed successfully, so I have some important updates to report to you today. We have delivered a revised cost estimate for the project to NNSA. We believe the total project costs will rise from approximately $213 million to approximately $254 million. Because we are not authorized to make this type of change in funding, the project remains in suspended status until Congress or NNSA directs us otherwise. With the ...

Math, LANL style The NNSA report last week indicated that 25 million more was needed to complete the TA 55 security fence failure. In a typical LANL cost estimation expect to see this number double.

From Nature Archive Volume 491 Issue 7423 Editorial Article Ignition switch The US National Ignition Facility has so far failed to generate fusion energy, but repurposing it as a tool to study nuclear weapons and basic science could be its saving grace. On a breezy day in 2009, action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, then governor of California, took to the stage to dedicate the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s most powerful laser. “I can see already my friends in Hollywood being very upset that their stuff that they show on the big screen is obsolete,” the governor quipped in front of the recently completed facility, which uses lasers to squeeze fusion energy from a tiny pellet of hydrogen fuel. “Fusion energy may be exactly what will power future generations on the globe,” he added. Related stories Laser lab shifts focus to warheads Laser fusion nears crucial milestone Superlaser fires a blank More related stories Fast-forward three years an...

from Nature | Editorial Archive Volume 491 Issue 7423 But during the past six years, expectations around the NIF have grown well beyond that credible campaign. In many ways, the lab itself is to blame for the unrealism. Lab officials gave tours to prominent politicians and journalists in which they promised a lot more than just ignition. The NIF, they claimed, was the first step on the road to potentially unlimited fusion energy. In support of their dream, LLNL scientists developed a prototype for an electricity-producing reactor that they hoped would gain financing once ignition was achieved. But problems were mounting even as the lab eagerly promised clean, cheap electricity. Outside reviewers noted that the hydrogen fuel was not being compressed properly. The computer codes used to predict the facility’s performance were themselves operating badly. Privately, most people familiar with the programme had known for more than a year that the NIF could not reach...

from Nature | News Nature isn’t the only one pushing back — the NIF’s funders in Congress also want answers. “We’re disappointed,” says one congressional staff member, who spoke to Nature only on condition on anonymity. Critics say that the lab’s enthusiastic promotion of the idea that laser fusion could generate electrical power led many in Congress to believe that they were funding an energy project, when in fact laser fusion is decades from producing electricity. “The lab overemphasized and oversold the energy aspect of the NIF, at the expense of the very important and successful work it was doing in stockpile stewardship and basic science,” says a senior scientist familiar with the NIF programme. The NIF’s current director Ed Moses bridles at accusations that ignition was over­emphasized. “I don’t think it was oversold or undersold. It just was.” Moses insists that “remarkable progress” has been made in the past 16 months, since the NIF began working with hydrogen-pell...

NNSA report on LANL radiation leak? Since the NNSA report on the multiple failures of the TA 55 security fence was made public, does anyone know when the report on the multiple failures of the LANSCE radiation safety controls will be released?

Anonymously contributed: Who is next? Episode 1is now complete and Obama is back again. Stay tuned for episode 2, when we learn the fate of Chu. How will it turn out?

Anonymously contributed: http://nucleardiner.com/archive/item/sequestration-in-nm

Anonymoulsy contributed: NNSA defends LANL analysis This is a complex letter to DNFSB on PF 4. The bottom line is that this is still a work in progress. http://www.dnfsb.gov/board-activities/letters/doe-response-board-june-18-2012-letter-which-issued-reporting-requirement-c

Anonymoulsy contributed: Global Security Newswire Nov 5, 2012 Specialized Planning Needs Contribute to B-61 Expense Boost: Pentagon Completing planned updates to the U.S. stockpile of B-61 nuclear gravity bombs would require the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico to carry out significantly more engineering activities than the National Nuclear Security Administration has acknowledged, an oversight responsible in large part for the agency's incorrectly low projection of the effort's expense, according to U.S. Defense Department findings reported by the Albuquerque Journal on Sunday. Staffing demands for B-61 modernization activities would probably necessitate more than the 600 specialists anticipated by the Sandia laboratory, according to an abstract of findings by the Defense Department's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office. The National Nuclear Security Administration -- a semiautonomous branch of the Energy Department -- has not described ...

Anonymously contributed: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shocking news report - NNSA budgets not credible! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing in this article is a surprise, but having it all put together in one story is pretty damning. Four major construction projects (LANL, Y-12, LANL again, and LLNL), each over budget, behind schedule, and failing to meet performance specs -- it has been a busy six months for NNSA. Not to mention that there was still time to have the Y-12 nun breach and the LANL radiation exposures. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The B61′s cost and schedule problems compound increasing difficulties the agency faces as a result of repeated instances of similar...

Anonymously contributed:  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9eIrcyRIQxyX0VLTWVPQmxBcmM

Anonymously conributed: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So with only a few days left until the election does anyone want to speculate how things might change or stay the same at the labs. Please keep it civil and on track. I will start off and say that if Obama stays than things at the labs will stay about the same as they have. If Romney gets elected I have no idea.

To Scooby: Your "prove you're not a robot" stuff has really gotten ridiculous. I know for a fact that you can turn it off, so enlighten us as to what problem it is solving. When I come up against a particularly bad case of visual stupidity, I simply enter random keystrokes until I get one I can actually read. Nice way to discourage posting in general and in particular to piss off people who really would like to post. Not very bright. Just another modern inconvenience that people will come to accept, such as staring into a tiny screen to see something that your high-resolution laptop screen would render absolutely stunning, or trying to understand a static-ey. unstable phone conversation that your land line could render clear and static-free, without anyone having to shout. October 31, 2012 7:46 PM Anonymous said... Not this again... November 1, 2012 1:05 AM Anonymous said... Keep hitting the cycle button until you get one that you are fa...

Y-12 guards given cheat sheets by contractor -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not on the same level as the LANL scandals, but still raises questions about culture. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/31/usa-security-nuclear-idUSL1E8LV89B20121031