LLNL - The True Story -

As it is approaching four years that Charlie has been in charge, let's take a look at the Lab leadership over this period. Is there one single time in four years that all senior positions have been filled by permanent individuals? Why is there a seemingly endless string of acting leaders? What is the root cause of this evident inability to fill and retain key personnel slots?

" ...If there were damning factual evidence of anything untoward, it would obviously have been brought forward with great fanfare..." Well there are some facts (1) McMillan makes three times more than the last Director before the contract change. (2) The number of Divisions at LANL increased from 30 to the current number of 120. The number of Directorates also increased by  a factor of four.  (3) The overhead rated have nearly doubled since the contract change.  It stands to reason that if the Director is being paid substantially more than most other managers are also being paid more. It is also a fact that there are now many more managers than before. Now where is the value added to having all this management?  http://www.abqjournal.com/495490/news/lanl-chiefs-compensation-tops-15m.html SANTA FE – The annual compensation for Los Alamos National Laboratory director Charles McMillan has topped $1.5 million, federal records show. That’s up from the $800,348 director’s ...

Please update or comment on the credentials of the Director for S&T. Is it correct - only 33 publications, mostly not peer reviewed?  Patricia Kuntz Falcone (maiden name (1952-1977) Patricia Ann Kuntz). Spouse: Roger W. Falcone, Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley; Division Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California.  B.S.E. Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences (1974). Princeton University M.S. Mechanical Engineering (1975)  Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering (1981, Stanford University Sandia National Laboratories  Member of the Technical Staff* (1981-1989). Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff* (1989-1993). Technical Manager* (1993-2003). Senior Manager (Technical)* (2003 to present). Sandia IPA at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President. Senior Policy Analyst* (2009-2011) Assistant Director, National Security* (2011 to present). Member, Board on Army Science and Technology of t...

Well it's finally official.... ------------- March 27, 2015 Harold T. Conner, Jr. Announces Departure from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Harold Conner announced he will be leaving the Laboratory. He is heading back to the Oak Ridge complex to work for URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR), the Department of Energy's (DOE's) cleanup contractor for the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation, primarily focused on cleanup of East Tennessee Technology Park (the former Oak Ridge K-25 Site). Harold began as a University of Tennessee (UT) co-op student at Oak Ridge when he was 18 years old and is now heading back to lead the Nuclear Services and Engineering Division. This leadership position will include overseeing Engineering Programs, Systems Engineering, Waste Certification, Criticality Safety, Nuclear Engineering, Work Planning and Control, the Facility and Project Engineer, and the Chief Engineer. Additionally, he will be working with the UT Dean of Engineering looking for collaborative...

Will the staff raise money at LANL be diverted to pay for WIPP clean up?

The Director announces a bonus for the entire LLNL staff. Not gonna alter anyone's lifestyle, but it's a bit of tangible appreciation.

The TAT’s overarching conclusion is that chemically incompatible contents of Drum 68660 from Los Alamos National Laboratory in combination with physical conditions (e.g., the configuration of the materials in the drum) supported exothermic chemical reactions leading to a thermal runaway; the consequent build-up of gases within the drum displaced the drum lid, venting radioactive materials and hot matter that further reacted with air or other materials outside the drum to cause the damage observed in WIPP P7R7. The following key judgments led to and support that conclusion: Key Judgment 1: Contents of Drum 68660 were chemically incompatible. Key Judgment 2: Drum 68660 breached as the result of internal chemical reactions that generated heat and produced gases that built up pressure sufficient to overcome the drum vent and seal. Key Judgment 3: Drum 68660 was the source of the radiological contamination in WIPP. Key Judgment 4: Initiation of the thermal runaway was internal and not cause...

The real story behind UC and LLNS retiree health benefits and the merits of the lawsuit. I'd like a true analysis. My understanding is that UC retiree health benefits today are worse than the LLNS benefits as of 2015. If you worked 20 years under UC/LLNS you would receive 100% vested benefit, while under UC alone at 20 years you would receive 80%. Depends on age and total years of service, but UC watered down their coverage in 2013 so that UC employees would have to work 30 years minimum and retire at 65. Am I wrong ?

Safety culture overreaches and stymies the lab. We all know it. Adults must wear bicycle helmets on site. And on a similar note: Parents Must Sign Permission Slip Before Kids Can Eat Oreos http://reason.com/blog/2015/03/26/parents-must-sign-permission-slip-before Safety Nazi says "No science for you!" Take ladder training. COMMENTS: March 26, 2015 at 3:12 PM" You are a prime example of the cowboy culture that has ruined the labs. You think you are sooo smart. Remember what Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman said, when asked who is to blame for the problems at the labs, "arrogance of scientists". How do you people get such big egos? You people do not earn enough money to justify saying you are so great. The hammer needs to be brought down on you. March 26, 2015 at 6:55 PM     Anonymous  said... Someone needs to take some anger management classes. March 26, 2015 at 7:07 PM     Anonymous  said... Remember what Secretary of Energy Samuel...

What is the reputation of each LLNS corporate member? What is the reputation of each LLNS corporate member Bechtel National, the University of California, Babcock and Wilcox, the Washington Division of URS Corporation, and Battelle? What are their respective influence levels within the LLNS LLC?

Maybe, just maybe, someday a leader will act on the problems, and not continue to study them. http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/03/f20/Interim%20Report_SEAB%20Task%20Force%20on%20DOE%20National%20Laboratories.pdf March 24, 2015 at 5:34 PM     Anonymous  said... "Another study about how to fix the DoE labs" How about getting a private company to run it? It could be made much more cost efficient have to live up to industry standards. Everyone wins.

"The Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico spent $1.6 million to review similar travel and conference requests during one fiscal year, an increase of $1.4 million from the previous one. And Los Alamos officials poured $708,500 into updating a travel and expense management system so they could track all the paperwork." http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/03/23/consequences-of-the-federal-travel-clampdown-more-costs/

With WIPP closed for the foreseeable future, the TRU waste project will miss deadlines and continue to have a large budget increase. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-182

Has anyone heard more about the change from Aon Hewitt for retiree benefits? I saw a post weeks ago here, but I am waiting for details. I am out of the country and have little access to info. Saw article online on the Independent that there is a briefing on Monday, March 23 at the Bothwell theatre in Livermore. Is anyone planning on attending?

"Does LLNS Staff Relations and LLNS Senior Management have "free rein" to do what they wish to any employee at any time without potential risk to the LLNS annual DOE/NNSA "award fee"? Neither the LLNS Staff Relations employment practices, or the LLNS employee grievance system are evaluated or graded as part of the NNSA Livermore Field Office annual "Performance Evaluation Report.” As such, LLNS Staff Relations employment practices and endorsement of said business practices from LLNS Senior Management, are not accountable by any established metric in any systematic predefined annual review to either the DOE or the NNSA.

I think the recent Ellen Pao lawsuit is going to have an impact on LLNL staff relations. http://recode.net/2015/03/06/women-outperformed-men-and-a-sexual-predator-was-on-the-loose-kleiner-perkins-investigator-opens-up/ Staff relations has a history of blaming the victim and easing out employees who are victims of retaliation or seen as "problems" by the management. Management also has a history of making highly personal attacks on performance appraisals that have no relevance to actual performance. That isn't working in the Ellen Pao case. Of course at the lab, management "picks the winners" and pushes down those it doesn't like. This highly subjective criterion doesn't play well in the courtroom.

See you in the funny papers.... Looks like Conner and Henderson get the shove from LLNL. It's official and I hear there is a PARTY next week! These guys are frauds and should be sued. They (and their "parent" companyies) should have to repay every penny that they fraudulently took from the US taxpayers. Absolutely nothing but misery left from their "vacation" to California.

"In addition, the board discussed the status of a $36.6 million fine levied against the Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Security, LLC, or LANS, by the New Mexico Environment Department after a canister of waste related to Los Alamos National Laboratory released detectable radiation in February 2014. LANS, which was formed in part by the university, has operated the Los Alamos lab since 2006. The existence, however, of LANS — a limited liability company — is “designed to protect (the university) against these kinds of things,” according to Regent Norman Pattiz." http://www.dailycal.org/2015/03/19/napolitano-apologizes-regents-vote-to-exempt-veterans-from-nonresident-tuition-at-thursday-meeting/

Edward Snowden documents and note about Sandia hacking Apple: http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/03/cia-apple-inc-security/ In a 2012 seminar, Sandia Labs made a presentation titled “Strawhorse: Attacking the MacOS and iOS Software Development.” The lecture illustrated how a comprised version of Xcode makes it possible to get access to iPhone and iPad data, or create “backdoors” on Mac computers, as well as turn off key security features on Apple devices. Exactly how the agencies planned to get developers to use the comprised software code was not specified.

Colleagues: Last Friday evening (3/13/15), there was an electrical incident in one of the P-Div labs at TA-53. A postdoc noticed a “tingling” when he was working on the (supposedly) grounded case of a stepper motor. Upon investigation he found ~60 volts a.c. on the outside of the case. The investigation is ongoing, so many details are not known. The points that I want to make are twofold: 1) He was not expecting anything to be amiss, but received a shock anyway. It occurred Friday evening, when there are very few people around. Having said that, you can understand how this could have ended up very badly. My expectation is that if you are doing any lab work after hours ,that there be another person in the near vicinity. 2) As it turns out, he doesn’t appear to exhibit any ill effects, although his Deputy Group leader is taking him to Occ. Med. as a precaution. However, no one was notified until Monday morning. Anytime any untoward electrical event happens (or any safety related event fo...

White House official selected as LLNL Deputy Director of S&T Newsline - 3/13/15 Patricia Falcone, the associate director for National Security and International Affairs in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), has been selected as deputy director for Science and Technology at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Falcone will join the Lab on April 7. "Falcone's proven leadership and expertise in national and international security matters, combined with her commitment to and experience in sustaining and developing science, technology and engineering excellence for critical national missions were prominent among many factors in her selection," said Lab Director Bill Goldstein in announcing the appointment. During her tenure at OSTP - a position appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate - Falcone advised on a wide range of national security science and technology issues including the health of national securit...

Layoff notices? Anybody hear anything?

UC Hires Fresh Counsel To Combat Retiree Lawsuit Independent March 12, 2015 In its battle with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory retirees who would like to return to University of California healthcare, the University has hired a law firm that knows a thing or two about fighting: Crowell & Moring LLP, which represented the Blackwater Security Co. after it was accused of unnecessarily killing Iraqi civilians in 2007. Last week, the University terminated the law firm that had been representing it, San Francisco based Hanson Bridgett LLP. Observers wondered whether recent court setbacks prompted the University to make the move was unclear. Rulings in Oakland Superior Court, where the class action healthcare case is being heard, have tended to favor the arguments of the retirees. The University did not explain or announce the change in law firm other than to file a required notice with the court. UC’s new lawyers are from an international firm with some 500 attorneys and extensive...

LLNS Board of Governors. So is it really worth $40+ million a year? EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Norman Pattiz  Chairman; Regent, University of California; Founder, Westwood One, Inc.; Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Courtside Entertainment Group; Chief Executive Officer, PodcastOne and PodCastOne Sales Craig Albert  Vice Chairman; President, Bechtel Nuclear, Security & Environmental, Inc. Kimberly Budil  Vice President for Laboratory Management, University of California; Chair of the Nominations and Compensation Committee John Howanitz  General Manager/Senior Vice President, Bechtel Nuclear, Security & Environmental, Inc. Robert Powell  Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis; Chair of the Science and Technology Committee Bob McQuinn  President and Project Manager of Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC Jeffrey Wadsworth  President and Chief Executive...

Resolution asks that negotiations be resolved regarding WIPP fines By Sarah Matott smatott@currentargus.com @SarahMatott224 on Twitter CARLSBAD >> A resolution urging the state of New Mexico and the Department of Energy to reach an agreement is expected to be signed by Eddy County public and private groups, and sent to Gov. Susana Martinez. The resolution is asking that the DOE and the New Mexico Environment Department resolve their dispute related to the compliance order issued after investigating the causes of the two events that took place in 2014. This is the compliance order that resulted in fines to the DOE that targeted the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and the Los Alamos National Laboratory directly. The first group to approve the resolution was the Carlsbad Department of Development on Thursday. Carlsbad City Council and the Eddy County Commissioners are expected to pass the resolution on March 17. It is unknown when the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce will discuss the resolu...

'Jeopardy' puts Lab's science in the spotlight LLNL Newsline - 03/04/2015 The clue: This institution is where you will discover the "Science of Security." The answer: What is Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory? The Laboratory will be featured in an entire category of clues on the TV game show "Jeopardy," Monday, March 9. The show airs at 7 p.m. on the ABC network. Called the "Science of Security," the category features basic science questions that tie into Laboratory facilities and programs, among them laser science and the National Ignition Facility, high performance computing and Sequoia, astrophysics and the GeMINI planet imager, bioscience and the Microbial Detection Array and satellite technology and the Lab's work to track them for traffic control. Each clue will be read during a video clip featuring various locations about the Lab. A film crew from "Jeopardy" came to the Lab last June to shoot clips for the category. A ...

Klotz Against DOE Name Change, but Mum on Other Recommendations for NNSA Weapons Complex Monitor - March 5, 2015 National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz told House appropriators yesterday that he was not in favor of changing the name of the Department of Energy as a Congressional advisory panel recommended last year, but Klotz declined to say how whether he supports one of the more extreme recommendations of the panel: moving the semi- autonomous NNSA back under DOE. “I think the Department of Energy sounds just fine,” Klotz told Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the ranking member of House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, at a subcommittee hearing yesterday. After the hearing, he added: “I think the Department of Energy captures regardless of what the governance structure is, captures the full range of what the Department does. It’s short, it’s succinct, it’s direct. Everyone understands it. Moreover it’s timeless.” The Congressional Advisory Panel on the Gov...

March 7, 2014 SANTA FE — Los Alamos National Laboratory Deputy Director Beth Sellers, the second-highest ranking administrator at the lab, has resigned over failure to properly report a potential conflict of interest when a relative of hers, apparently her husband, received a lab consulting contract in 2012. The resignation of Sellers, whose compensation for the 2012-13 fiscal year was $335,834, follows an investigation by the Department of Energy’s Inspector General that substantiated allegations of conflict of interest involving a senior female manager at the lab and a consultant married to that manager. A lab spokesman said he was not authorized to say whether Sellers was the focus of the investigation, but the facts outlined in the IG’s report dovetail with a statement she released on Friday. On Friday, the lab issued statements from both Sellers and LANL Director Charlie McMillan. “You may soon read news coverage about an issue involving the Laboratory,” Sellers stated in a messag...

http://www.nukewatch.org/watchblog/?p=1898  said... Watchdogs Urge Big Cut to Contractor Fees at the Sandia Labs

"How do past UC/LLNL Staff Relations "Non-Disclosure Agreements" (NDA) legally relate to LLNS and the comments below? Can all UC/LLNL NDAs be legally made public by a former UC/LLNL employee or a current LLNS employee, or a former employee of either?"  "...An NDA is valid for the length of the term exploitly stated in it. This can vary considerably, but a term of 1-2 years is fairly common in fast moving industries. If the company you signed an NDA with no longer exists, then there is no aggrieved party to sue you for breaking the contract. So even if the language of the NDA somehow allowed the NDA to continue in force, you have nothing to worry about. Please note, that if the assets of the company or the company itself were purchased, then the NDA is almost certainly still enforceable by the new owners..." http://www.quora.com/Non-Disclosure-Agreements/How-long-is-an-NDA-valid