LLNL - The True Story -

Two more near fatality accidents at LANL about a week ago. A dump truck knocked down a three phase power line and a fork lift driver speared the cab of a truck with the forklift tines. Word is that the tines went right through the drivers seat. Luckily no one was killed but LANL has suspended similar activities. No announcement has yet been made by LANL management. Anyone in LANL management care to explain why?

While not directly related to US nuclear policy or the national labs, here's very insightful essay from the Wall Street Journal on US-China relations. How we got to where we are and where we may need to go... ---------- As tensions with China rise, U.S. foreign policy thinkers are dusting off ideas from the Cold War—and questioning the long-standing consensus for engagement with Beijing By ANDREW BROWNE June 12, 2015  http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-china-be-contained-1434118534

Conservatives exert self control better than liberals: http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83826403/ Also, self control is the fundamental for success. physically stronger men tend to be conservative: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2325414/Men-physically-strong-likely-right-wing-political-views.html liberal men are tend to wear more tie dye and are more likely to cry "don't tase me bro" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkkLUP-gm4Q

https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/new_director/#.VYi4KaaCPCQ

LANL News: Los Alamos National Laboratory's onsite public sales are being discontinued effective immediately. The public sales have been conducted on the third Thursday of every month, weather permitting." One more nail in the coffin by the California Carpetbaggers !

Report blasts agency's oversight of contractors managing nuke labs http://www.securityinfowatch.com/news/14008188/report-blasts-nnsa-oversight-of-contractors-managing-nuke-labs

Maybe if we make the CIA and NSA private than these kinds of things would not happen. The private sector will not tolerate mistakes or security breaches. Heck China could run or intelligence agencies better than we can. Maybe the smart thing to do is outsource our intelligence and security overseas. After all what is so special about Washington DC, CIA and NSA that it cannot be done far better and cheaper elsewhere?

Chinese hack of OPM compromised SF-86 records. No one has acknowledged that that includes all contractors with security clearances yet. Including all of us...

Has anyone else, retired, become Medicare eligible this month, June, only to find you can't get your HRA started. I started this process 2 months ago only to get excuses related to software issues. Would love to hear I'm not alone!

* AP News - June 12th 2015 * Members of a U.S. House panel said Friday that they are frustrated with decades of security and safety lapses at some of the laboratories, manufacturing facilities and other sites that make up the nation's nuclear complex. ... U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, R-New York, said taxpayers are on the hook for the mistakes made at Los Alamos and the repository. Collins said he wanted to know why no one was fired. Had something like that happened in the private sector, he said those responsible would have lost their jobs and the contractor would have been sued to recoup the cost of the damages. Collins said simply reducing the term of the contract doesn't go far enough to hold the lab manager accountable or address the systemic problems that have plagued the lab. Collins, a businessman, said his biotechnology company works with infectious diseases and other bioterrorism materials. "We don't make mistakes because we have people in charge who know what the...

Why is LLNL blocking most of the clicks on "LLNL-The True Story"? Note from Scooby: Is    LLNL blocking most of the clicks on "LLNL-The True Story"? Answer is no.

JF said: http://www.abqjournal.com/596251/news/labs-may-face-1m-fine-for-handling-of-information-materials.html

LANL fines for both safety and security violations In the Los Alamos security case, LANS – a consortium including Bechtel Corp. and the University of California – was assessed two Level 1 violations, for shortcomings involving documentation of the fate of a “secret/restricted” weapons item that purportedly had been shipped from Los Alamos to the Nevada National Security Site in 2007. This “item” was never actually shipped, the NNSA confirmed, and a false assumption was created that resulted in “loss of control” of the item, says the notice. A “compromise of classified information” cannot be ruled out, according to the violations notice. LANS discovered the problems only five years later, in 2012, and “based on unsubstantiated assumptions” concluded that the “classified matter” had been destroyed. A Los Alamos lab spokesman said Monday that the lab “takes safety and security very seriously and fully cooperates” with investigations. “We are currently evaluating the Preliminary Notice of ...

Not surprised though ... at best all three labs do a bad job at protecting classified. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/05/two-nuclear-weapons-labs-accidentally-spilled-bomb-secrets-for-years.html

Is anyone aware of the big ICF review this summer? Supposedly it's going to decide the future of the program. Usual suspects from Omega, Z, and NIF.

Congressional hearings on LANL waste drum accident Also on Friday, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will examine the oversight failures that contributed to a radiological incident that shut down the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in 2014. Investigative reports by the Department of Energy completed this past April have revealed that proper oversight of operations at both Los Alamos National Laboratory and the WIPP site, both in New Mexico, could have prevented the incident and some of its consequences. Resumption of WIPP operations, necessary to dispose of certain waste forms from the nation’s nuclear weapons operations, has been estimated to cost upwards of $500 million. The hearing will also address questions of DOE’s system of oversight for contractors. The Majority Memorandum, witness list, and witness testimony will be available here as they are posted. http://energycommerce.house.gov/press-release/look-ahead-committee-announces-hearing-sc...

Multiple additional LANL security violations Looks as if the investigation teams are just getting started. Prety soon, there should be more reports that could mean more fines. http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/06/f22/Preliminary%20Notice%20of%20Violation%2C%20Los%20Alamos%20National%20Security%2C%20LLC%20-%20May%2027%2C%202015.pdf

Sandia hit with sizable fines: http://news.yahoo.com/nuclear-weapons-labs-hit-sizable-223708230.html

So the patriot act is done. Does that mean that global security is done? There will be a number of people from the security "intelligence" and "big data" that might be out of a job soon. What does these mean for the NNSA labs?

Great new feature we've just launched. It's  a very cool new interactive that provides a nuanced look at the economic costs of nuclear power ​ (link below)​ . Developed over the last two years in a partnership between the  Bulletin  and the University of Chicago, the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Cost Calculator estimates the cost of electricity produced by three configurations of the nuclear fuel cycle: ​ * ​ The once-through fuel cycle  used in most US nuclear power plants, in which uranium fuel is used once and then stored for later disposal. ​ * ​ A limited-recycle mode  in which a mix of uranium and plutonium (that is, mixed oxide, or MOX) is used to fuel a light water reactor. ​* ​ A full-recycle system , which uses a fast neutron spectrum reactor that can be configured to “breed” plutonium that can subsequently be used as either nuclear fuel or weapons material. This online tool lets users test how sensitive the price of electricity is to a full range of...