LLNL - The True Story -

Audit cites problems at LANL, Sandia http://www.abqjournal.com/379790/news/audit-cites-problems-at-lanl-sandia.html

Sandia Labs being irresponsible for waste cleanup: http://www.abqjournal.com/381581/opinion/sandia-needs-to-clean-up-toxic-dump.html

Let's start a pool on how much it will cost to get the "bad kitty litter" barrels into compliance with the WIPP waste acceptance criteria. My guess is $2M per barrel.

Citizen Action New Mexico is suing the NNSA for withholding documents related to the safety of nuclear operations at Sandia National Laboratories http://www.radfreenm.org/index.php/foia-lawsuit-vs-nnsa-nuclear-safety-docs-11-23-2013

Charlie McMillan has quite the record of failure under his bespoke Italian leather belt. * There was the screw-up over multiple years in building the new security system at TA-55 that LANL was force to pay for to make amends. * There was his female Dep. Director whose husband gained lucrative LANL contracts and for which she failed to inform LANL -- and Charlie knew about this obvious conflict of interest for years and did nothing! * There was the horribly mis-handled $6 billion plutonium lab planned for LANL which now appears will never be built due to massive cost over-runs. * There are the upgrades of the radioactive waste disposal pipelines that, just like the proposed plutonium lab, are now spirally massive out of control in terms of costs and completion deadlines. * There is the on-going (now one year and growing) shut-down of all activity out at TA-55. * And the final piece to his "glowing" career? Probably billions in cleanup costs as his mismanagement of LANL results...

The management at WIPP says they they don't foresee getting back to normal operations for 3 years after the radioactive leak. Large sections of the WIPP underground storage area will need to be completely sealed off forever. LANL says they now think there are 500 of those kitty litter "time bombs" sitting around WIPP, LANL and the temporary site in Andrews, TX. This whole fiasco is going to be extremely expensive for NNSA and LANL to fix. I'll bet the final cost to handle it will make the $200 million security system screw-up out at LANL's TA-55 look cheap by comparison. You have to wonder why these changes in the packing of the barrels were allowed, given all the heavy education about formality of operation and precise documentation of all steps for getting even the most mundane types of work done at the lab. May 23, 2014 at 8:49 PM  Anonymous said... Where is the outrage at LANS LLC management failures that lead to the WIPP mess. If UC was still the sole man...

I wish LANL people had their own blog.

Where is the Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA) report  regarding the proposed change in radiative waste packaging materials for the LANS drums? Where is the design reviewed and approved procedure to mitigate this "off-normal" drum leak scenario?

In a few short weeks it will be ONE YEAR since plutonium operations were halted at LANL. Maybe they can sort out the crit. safety issues and get back to work soon. Or not.

  Secretary Moniz Announces Members to New Commission on National Labs (Every time I see this picture of Ernie, I can't help thinking of the the "What, me worry?" kid on the cover of MAD magazine!) Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz DOE News: •Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the Energy Department’s National Laboratories WASHINGTON – Today, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced the Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories, a congressionally-mandated committee that will evaluate the effectiveness of the Energy Department’s 17 national laboratories. The Commission is being established pursuant to the 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act. “The Energy Department’s national laboratories are a leading force in driving U.S. scientific and technological innovation and advancing the Department’s science, energy, environmental, and national security missions,” Secretary Moniz said. “I want to thank the Commission members for their expertise ...

This was on Drudge report New Mexico says 57 nuke containers could be threat By JERI CLAUSING Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Los Alamos National Laboratory packed 57 barrels of nuclear waste with a type of kitty litter believed to have caused a radiation leak at the federal government's troubled nuclear waste dump, posing a potentially "imminent" and "substantial" threat to public health and the environment, New Mexico officials said Monday. State Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn issued a formal order giving the lab two days to submit a plan for securing the waste containers, many of which are likely stored outdoors on the lab's northern New Mexico campus or at temporary site in west Texas.

Does anyone still have a copy of the CRADA Process 8x14 Poster (I think it was called) which surfaced during DOE Energy Secretary Hazel O'leary's reign? It was 

1) There is a goose family onsite with 4 goslings - mother goose perched on a turnstile to B111 and a protective order placed by the director was needed to enable her brood to successfully hatch 2) Our new director was invited to testify to a subcommittee - photo of him by himself at a table (no details on why or what for or why we should be impressed) 3) We should all accept Ergonomics Evaluations 4) The new West Cafe - which resembles a 7-11 convenience store but with $15 pre-made sushi boxes is a resounding success (NOT) - no salad bar, way less selection 5) We need to take note of water conservation efforts at the lab (a few photos of the NIF landscaping rocks and plants) - please be proud if you see brown lawns 6) Please be aware of slips, trips and falls, and by the way, a few photos where some infrastructure was repaired and might reduce hazards! 7) Lots of highly paid managers are leaving (woo hoo!) 8) LVOC is a huge success - not sure what the metrics are on this 9) Did we me...

What are the common key elements and precursors used to support a "for cause" dismissal plan for a selected LLNS or LANS employee?

This is pretty big news, and LLNL wants to keep a lid on it.  You need to spread the word. http://scitation.aip.org/ content/aip/magazine/ physicstoday/article/67/4/10. 1063/PT.3.2344

NNSA Warhead Plan does not add up: http://armscontrol.org/issuebriefs/NNSAs-3%202-Nuclear-Warhead-Plan-Does-Not-Add-Up

Hello, Anyone know the real cost ($) of NIF? Anyone know the real cost of ICF? May 12, 2014 at 9:48 PM Anonymous said... magine a grand total cost of NIF would be difficult to total for all years to date, 2014. How much did NIF cost? https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/faqs#nif_cost The total cost for NIF including development, vendors, capital, installation, and commissioning was about $3.5 billion. ‪National Ignition Facility‬ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility Using preliminary projections by DOE and Lawrence Livermore, we estimate that thetotal cost of building NIF is about $3.9 billion, when all supporting research ... http://books.google.com/books?id=vbLl6CLR21gC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=LLNL+%2B+Total+cost+of+NIF&source=bl&ots=Qrd5LEQKwJ&sig=55gQmeWOdQPk3VUkKU_6Sjw9F7I&hl=en&sa=X&ei=td9xU_OBLtH5oAT3pYDgCA&ved=0CGQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

PLUTONIUM IN NIF COMING SOON The NNSA Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Request states that plutonium shots at NIF will begin in the coming fiscal year. For those who want to check the reference, it is in Volume 1 on Page 156 under “Highlights of the FY 2015 Budget Request.” It does not mention what may happen re: contamination of the NIF target chamber. Nor does it reference the LLNL environmental impact statement that describes an increase in radiation exposure to employees if plutonium is used in NIF.

Long article and nice recap on management of the labs... excerpts.... http://www.independentnews.com/news/article_75ff1348-d6b4-11e3-b689-001a4bcf887a.html At A Challenging Time, A New Lab Manager is Named At UC May 8, 2014 By Jeff Garberson A 27-year employee of LLNL was appointed University of California Vice President for Laboratory Management last week. Kimberly Budil, highly regarded for technical and managerial roles at the Laboratory and in Washington, D.C., replaces Glenn Mara, who retired after serving for nearly two years. Mara was also an LLNL veteran. Budil is the first woman to hold the position, which grew out of an office created in the early 1990s to take responsibility for UC’s increasingly challenging negotiations with the federal government over continued management of [LLNL and LANL]... While working at LLNL, Budil earned a PhD at ... UC Davis applied science department. Her undergraduate degree in physics came from the University of Illinois.....

I hear someone at NIF wrote a long paper on the state of ICF that included bogus information, and it sparked a firestorm of criticism, internal investigations, etc. Anyone know the story?

The new NNSA administrator Frank Klotz is surely aware of subtle statements. One recent statement is that he chose to visit the NNSS first, before visiting LANL or LLNL or Sandia. Interesting?

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing May 5, 2014 NNSA FORMALLY EXTENDS SANDIA CONTRACT FOR TWO YEARS The National Nuclear Security Administration has wrapped up negotiations with the Lockheed Martin run Sandia Corporation on a two year extension to its contract to run Sandia National Laboratories, but it hasn’t released any details of the contract. NNSA spokesman Josh McConaha confirmed Friday that the Sandia contract had been extended through April 30, 2016 (with an option for a third year) as expected but he did not provide any other information. The NNSA said in March that it was planning to extend the contract while it prepares to compete the Sandia contract.  Sandia is expected to be the first contract competed under the “public interest” model championed by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and former acting NNSA Administrator Bruce Held, but NNSA officials previously said the extension was not expected to vary greatly from Lockheed Martin’s current deal to run Sandia, which includes...

Temporary halt to low activity waste shipment http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/feds-suspends-shipments-of-lanl-waste-to-texas-facility/article_1a5da086-9448-5322-90a4-f6b2777b4b4b.html

Uh oh...more nonsense from Sandia: http://krqe.com/2014/04/25/sandia-national-labs-develops-sperm-quality-test/

From the Huffington Post Why Workplace Jargon Is A Big Problem http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/25/work-words_n_5159868.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business When we replace a specific task with a vague expression, we grant the task more magnitude than it deserves. If we don't describe an activity plainly, it seems less like an easily achievable goal and more like a cloudy state of existence that fills unknowable amounts of time. A fog of fast and empty language has seeped into the workplace. I say it's time we air it out, making room for simple, concrete words, and, therefore, more deliberate actions. By striking the following 26 words from your speech, I think you'll find that you're not quite as overwhelmed as you thought you were. Count the number that LLNLs mangers use.  touch base circle back bandwidth - impactful - utilize - table the discussion deep dive - engagement - viral value-add - one-sheet deliverable - work product - incentivise - take it to the ...

DOE/NNSA wants "a return to a public interest model" and is concerned about paying more now and getting less. Combined with the floated 3% to 1% operating fee reduction idea, are we looking at a return to UC or UC and other non profit running LLNL and LANL in 1-3 years time? April 27, 2014 at 11:11 AM  Anonymous said... UC wants nothing to do with running LANL or LLNL without "partners" to deflect some of the criticism that it would be a return to the "bad old days" of absentee management. A university consortium, maybe. UC by itself, never.

I just received my annual TCP-1 letter from LLNS and a summary of the LLNS Pension Plan. Looked in pretty good shape in 2013. About 35% overfunded (funding target attainment percentage = 134.92%). This was a decrease from 2012 where it was 51% overfunded (funding target attainment percentage = 151.59%). They did note that the 2012 change in the law on how liabilities are calculated using interest rates improved the plan's position. Without the change the funding target attainment percentages would have been 118% (2012) and 105% (2013). 2013 assets = $2,057,866,902 2013 liabilities = $1,525,162,784 vs 2012 assets = $1,844,924,947 2012 liabilities = $1,217,043,150 It was also noted that a slightly different calculation method ("fair market value") designed to show a clearer picture of the plan' status as December 31, 2013 had; Assets = $2,403,098,433 Liabilities = $2,068,984,256 Funding ratio = 116.15% Its a closed plan with 3,781 participants. Of that number, 3,151 wer...

Nobody has a comment on the absence of "bonuses" this year?