LLNL - The True Story -

I wish all the visitors and contributors of this BLOG a happy new year. 2013 will be the 6th year of this BLOG! I hope 2013 will bring a more positive outlook, a fresh attitude of tolerance and optimism to everyone. Together, let us uses this BLOG more constructively! Scooby

The real push back on moving nuclear weapons research and production work out of DOE to DOD has always come from the House and Senate congressional committees over the DOE (and its predecessor agencies). No one wants to give up such a large part of their territory to another committee. Also the committee prestige derived from overseeing the "crown jewels" national labs (LANL, LLNL, and SNL) and their combined Billion Dollar annual budgets. I still think there's a change that some change may come out of this latest congressional mandated review of NNSA. Everyone from the White House to Congress to the Lab Directors to the DOD customers recognizes that NNSA is broken. And as we've all read, even ex-NNSA leadership is saying its broken and not working the way Congress had intended. The only ones that remotely seem happy are the "for profit" contractor entities running the NNSA production sites, since they just have to follow NNSA orders without que...

This article will carry a lot of weight in the on-going debate, since the WWII era concept to create a separate agency just for nuclear issues was a creation of the Manhattan project scientists. Look for special interest groups to oppose the move, then look at what they stand to loose when it happens. The salary, perks and unchecked controls are relics of bygone times. http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/who-should-manage-the-nuclear-weapons-complex

Looks like more and more we will go over the cliff. What does that mean for LLNL, Sandia, and LANL

Happy Holidays everyone. I am certainly having a great time. Now that I have a bit of rest I have been thinking about what has changed over the last 25 yrs. I would say the big changes have been in the last 12 to 20 yrs. There have been many but the clearest to me has been in management and managers attitudes. This has been not just in change of managers (which I have seen a lot of) but also people I knew very well who changed over time in management. Years ago managers had varied styles and views but today it is pretty much the same view. Let me explain the current views. First there is this universal belief that management is very different from the workforce in that they are privy to the realities of the world and that the workforce is sheltered and simply does not understand the ways of the world. To be specific I am told consistently by managers that the non-managers have a naive view of the work world and believe that there is some inherent quantity called excellence, value, tr...

Does LANL get another chance? After the several well publicized failures this past year, will LANL get a contract extension from NNSA? Was one of Tom D's final acts to fix this? Anyone know the answer here? coment: Comment: LANS is doing a good job. Just look at their reward fee and compare it to what UC used to make.

10MJ to 2MJ: NIF and the background behind the justifications and margin for the current design. Many formerly at the lab have described a series of events that ultimately led to the current 2MJ design. From what was known at the time, 10MJ was the energy needed. That kind of energy is easy to deliver using high explosives, for example. But I'm confused as to how a much lower energy delivered by a method (laser) untested could be justified as having sufficient margins. Does 10MJ provide overly massive margins for ignition? Does anyone have open literature references for better explaining the decisions and events leading to the current design?

By Douglas P. Guarino Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON – The Senate on Friday approved a defense authorization bill for fiscal 2013 that would mandate construction of a new nuclear weapons laboratory and storage facility in New Mexico but that lacks many other controversial nuclear security provisions lawmakers considered earlier this year. The 81-14 Senate vote on the of legislation followed House approval of the latest version of the same bill on Thursday by a vote of 315-107. The bill authorizes – but does not appropriate -- $527.5 billion in base Defense Department spending, $88.5 billion for overseas operations, and $17.4 billion for defense-related nuclear programs managed by the Energy Department. The bill now goes to the White House for the president’s signature. Both chambers approved the measure without additional amendments to the conference committee version that resolved differences between the House and Senate defense bills.The legislation lacks many contr...

D'Agostino to resign in January Let the games begin! Who will be the new Administrator of NNSA? And, perhaps more importantly, will it matter one way or the other to LLNL? Comment: Steve Younger will be the one.

4 1/2 months after unprecedented break-in, there's still a hole in Y-12's fence This should be the end for the whole show. Chu, D'Agostino, Cook all should depart before the week is over and Congress should add a last minute rider to the defense bill to move the nuclear weapons complex to DoD. Representative Turner, where are you when the country is in need of quick and decisive action? http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/2012/12/still-a-hole-in-y-12s-fence.html

Sequestration's fiscal cliff or not, LLNL employees report to work NEWSLINE 12/19/2012 The Laboratory will be open for normal business on Jan. 2, 2013, no matter what happens in the last days of 2012 in Washington with the FY13 budget between now and the deadline for sequestration (Jan. 1). Sequestration refers to a series of automatic, across-the-board spending cuts and tax hikes that will take place should the Congress and the Administration reach an impasse on its debt reduction plan. Every line item of the budget is impacted with no exceptions at present. All employees should plan to report to work as scheduled on Jan. 2. Any information on the impact of budget cuts or changes going forward as a result of reaching this "fiscal cliff" will be provided at a later date as soon as the Lab receives more guidance from the federal government reaction, stakeholders and other customers.

Weapons Complex Monitor December 19, 2012 Tauscher Favors More Autonomous NNSA Former Congresswoman and Under Secretary of State Ellen Tauscher weighed in on NNSA governance during a speech at the American Security Project yesterday, suggesting that she supported much of the reform language in the House and ultimately said she’d favor making NNSA an autonomous agency that reports to the Energy Secretary without the baggage of DOE bureaucracy. As a California Congresswoman [her district included LLNL], Tauscher was instrumental in creating the NNSA in 1999, and she said NNSA could be structured like NASA or the Securities Exchange Commission, with a link to the Energy Secretary and “understanding that this is so important that the President has to be involved at times, and maybe with a director that is somebody with a real pedigree that gets appointed, like the FBI director, for 10 years so that there’s not a question of in and out and up and down.”

Weapons Complex Monitor December 18, 2012 The House is expected to unveil the conference version of the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act this evening, and it is likely to include language creating an advisory panel to review governance options for the National Nuclear Security Administration, NW&M Monitor has learned. During Senate consideration of the bill, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Tom Udall introduced an amendment to create the 12-member panel, largely to provide a compromise between Senate Democrats and House Republicans at odds over language targeted at reforming the NNSA in the House version of the bill. While it’s unclear how much of the House reform language survived conference negotiations, the panel would provide a means of pushing the debate into work on the Fiscal Year 2014 Defense Authorization Act. The House language would increase the autonomy of the NNSA in an effort to improve efficiency and productivity while also streamlining directives ...

I wonder if the lab could try to put pressure on scooby because these threads are probably making lab management uncomfortable, especially all of the posts that air out the lab's dirty laundry. Heavy handed methods are used to silence their own employees, but I don't know of an example where they actually had any power to silence people on the outside. But I wouldn't put it past the lab to try. Comment:    Anonymous said... Get a lawyer AND a publicist if it happens. This is the kind of stuff that should hit the news, if the lab is going to try to beat up on private citizens on top of all the lies and deception.

Good stuff here http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/fiscal-cliff-talks-prompt-new-call-curb-us-nuke-spending/ Fiscal Cliff" Prompts Fresh Push for U.S. Nuke Spending Cut WASHINGTON -- Dozens of Democratic lawmakers have revived a call for $100 billion in U.S. nuclear weapons spending reductions over 10 years as Congress pushes to enact $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions by the beginning of January. "Unchecked spending on nuclear weapons threatens to push us over the fiscal cliff," Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and 44 other House Democrats stated in a Dec. 4 letter to the top Democratic and Republican lawmakers in both chambers, citing the term popularly used to refer to the anticipated funding moves. "We know there is plenty of waste in the nuclear weapons budget." The lawmakers singled out plans to refurbish approximately 400 B-61 nuclear gravity bombs, a project expected to cost roughly $10 billion. They also cited the scheduled constructi...

Laser fusion put on slow burn The US National Ignition Facility rethinks its strategy on achieving thermonuclear fusion in the lab, but fails to silence critics. Geoff Brumfiel Nature 11 December 2012 The government's new plan, revealed to Nature, calls for a slower, more deliberate approach to achieving ignition: the point at which more energy is produced by a fusion reaction than is consumed. Many physicists believe that this would be an important proof of concept for controlled fusion. The plan sets a new course for the laser at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. It also promotes the exploration of several alternative ways to reach ignition, including one not involving the laser. And it is more tentative than the previous strategy: it sets a three-year deadline for finding out whether ignition is possible at all, whereas the last one aimed to demonstrate actual fusion... The US$3.5-billion NIF uses lasers to ...

Weapons Complex Monitor December 10, 2012 NAPA Study Of Nat’l Labs Recommend More Strategic Approach A forthcoming National Academy of Public Administration report concludes that the Department of Energy needs to be more strategic in how it manages its laboratories, DOE Office of Management Director Ingrid Kolb said last week at the Energy Facility Contractors Group semiannual meeting. NAPA is expected to release its Congressionally mandated study in January, but Kolb outlined the initial findings last week, noting that one of the group’s main recommendations will be to establish an external commission that would examine how the Department is strategically planning work done at the laboratories. The study was mandated by Fiscal Year 2012 omnibus appropriations legislation. “They particularly wanted to emphasize that the labs should be focused on work that supports national needs,” Kolb said. “They thought we were a little too focused on just the science world, just the NNS...

The Energy Department’s internal watchdog has identified more than $470 million in unresolved and unaudited spending at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, with much of the total dating to 2003. Deputy Inspector General Rickey R. Hass did not allege misuse of funds in the report Monday. Still, he said resolution of the reviews “ensures that costs charged to the government are allowable, makes certain that taxpayer’s money is spent wisely, and has the potential to free significant funds that would be better spent on Los Alamos' mission critical program activities.” The department’s National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the laboratory, did not challenge the findings and pledged to resolve the outstanding cost questions by next year. A department spokesman offered no additional comment. Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/27/nearly-a-decade-later-los-alamos-still-hasnt-accou/#ixzz2Eja2xJgA

Greetings, Far-reaching changes in LLNL personnel policy go into effect this January 1, and Lab management has undergone an extensive campaign to “spin” these changes. In our December 2012 monthly memo ( http://www.upte.org/spse/ Dec2012MonthlyMemo1.pdf ) we discuss the changes and how they will affect you and the future of our Laboratory. We are also hosting one of our Noontime Talks on this subject this coming Wednesday, December 12, in building 453 Armadillo Room 1001. We invite you to attend, and bring your questions and comments. If you cannot attend our talk, please feel free to contact us directly: spse@spse.org 925-449-4846 Thanks, Riki Gay President-elect SPSE-UPTE Local 11

=== LANL Firm To Pay $10M === By John Fleck / Journal Staff - Wed, Dec 5, 2012 The contractor that runs Los Alamos National Laboratory is on the hook for $10 million as a result of construction management problems that mean the new security system at the lab’s primary plutonium site does not work, the lab and the National Nuclear Security Administration said in a joint statement issued late Tuesday. The $10 million will cover “potentially unallowable costs” incurred in construction of the $213 million security system built around the lab’s Technical Area 55 plutonium complex, where the dangerously radioactive metal is used in the manufacture of nuclear weapon parts. The money will come from Los Alamos National Security LLC, also known as LANS, a private company that is a partnership of Bechtel Corp., the University of California and a number of other firms. The company manages Los Alamos, a nuclear weapons research and manufacturing center, for the federal government. Th...

LANL Contractor To Pay $10 Million LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — The contractor that runs Los Alamos National Laboratory says it will pay $10 million to cover some of the costs for fixing a faulty $213 million security system. The Albuquerque Journal reports the money will cover “potentially unallowable costs” incurred in construction of the system, which was built around the only place in the country where nuclear weapon triggers can be made. Citing a joint statement from the lab and the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Journal says the money will come from Los Alamos National Security, the private contractor that runs the lab. Officials have estimated it will take an additional $41 million and another six months to fix the system, which was supposed to be up and running this summer.

National Ignition Facility seeks new cash David Perlman San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday, December 4, 2012 The elusive effort to mimic the explosive violence of hydrogen bombs inside Livermore's giant National Ignition Facility, long delayed, now faces intense scrutiny by a dollar-conscious Congress. The National Nuclear Security Agency in charge of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory says in a draft report to Congress that the lab's scientists should conduct at least three more years of experiments. An estimated $5 billion or more has been spent over the past 10 years to build and run the project called NIF, and current experiments are running at least $450 million a year. Congress had set the end of this year as the deadline for "ignition," as the goal is termed. Now the nuclear agency's report says the extension is needed for NIF scientists to consider two very different and untried technical approaches to the extraordinarily complex physics ...

Senate OKs Study of Nuclear Agency By Michael Coleman Albuquerque Journal Wed, Dec 5, 2012 WASHINGTON – Sen. Tom Udall’s push for a congressional study of the National Nuclear Security Administration gained steam Tuesday when the Senate included his proposal in a bill authorizing defense programs. The New Mexico Democrat’s amendment would create an advisory panel to suggest ways to reform NNSA, the federal agency that oversees New Mexico’s nuclear laboratories. Udall’s amendment was incorporated in the Senate defense authorization bill, which unanimously passed the Senate on Tuesday. The House version of the defense legislation, approved in May, does not include Udall’s amendment, but it could be added in House-Senate negotiations on a final bill. The House version does include a separate amendment sponsored by Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., that calls for an independent study of how best to broaden the labs’ national security missions. “Multiple reports have called attenti...

Could we perhaps break the usual rules on this blog and have somebody post the actual facts related to the "deuterium EOS" issue? What actually happened, or didn't happen that was supposed to? It would be acceptable to accompany the facts with the usual diatribe, but maybe put that in a separate paragraph? Scooby's note: what the heck is  "deuterium EOS:?

There have been reports of Mikey sightings several times lately at the NSSB. Any news on if he has been called back to help Charlie? By this point even the blind can see that Charlie was not up to the job, but it is hard to imagine what could be offered to entice Mikey to return.

Art Wong's Q&A today on changes in LLNL's Workforce Mgmt Policies --anything of note asked? answered? not answered/ducked?

Does anyone know what transpired during the congress hearing for Secretary Chu on the NIF?

Anonymous  said... How are the furloughs going to affect the retaining of the talent at LLNS?   Anonymous  said... In todays world where there are no jobs and foreign nationals are coming into America to take your jobs my bet is no one will leave. They'll just take their 20% cut in pay, buy less, cut services and hang on until the next RIF.

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...