In case anyone had any incorrect impressions about the top priority for NNSA, this is from Klotz's SASC testimony today.
In your view, what are the major challenges confronting the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the NNSA?
The NNSA has a unique responsibility for pursuing two different, but complementary principles that have traditionally guided American nuclear weapons policy. The FIRST is that the United States must continue to lead international efforts to limit and reduce nuclear arsenals, prevent nuclear proliferation and terrorism, and secure nuclear materials across the globe. The SECOND is that appropriately-sized nuclear forces still play an essential role in protecting U.S. and allied security interests, even as the United States seeks to reduce the overall number and role of nuclear weapons in our national security policy.
Tri-Valley Cares needs to be on this if they aren't already. We need to make sure that NNSA and LLNL does not make good on promises to pursue such stupid ideas as doing Plutonium experiments on NIF. The stupidity arises from the fact that a huge population is placed at risk in the short and long term. Why do this kind of experiment in a heavily populated area? Only a moron would push that kind of imbecile area. Do it somewhere else in the god forsaken hills of Los Alamos. Why should the communities in the Bay Area be subjected to such increased risk just because the lab's NIF has failed twice and is trying the Hail Mary pass of doing an SNM experiment just to justify their existence? Those Laser EoS techniques and the people analyzing the raw data are all just BAD anyways. You know what comes next after they do the experiment. They'll figure out that they need larger samples. More risk for the local population. Stop this imbecilic pursuit. They wan...
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Ditto, With the private take over all I've seen and heard since 2007 is how F'd up the labs are now and I can't wait to get my time in so I can get what I have earned and I'm outta here. For some this dream has come true and in another five years those who made the labs great will be gone.