Asked about the persistence of the Los Alamos lab’s problems, former NNSA director Miller smiled and said her colleagues at the nuclear oversight agency sometimes told the following joke: If Washington sent all three of America’s nuclear weapons labs an order to study how to “jump,” they would all respond differently. Lawrence Livermore, she said, would convene a conference and produce a three-inch stack of reports about “jumping.” Officials at Sandia would simply jump.
But at Los Alamos, she said, officials would instinctively respond with a “**** you, we’re not jumping.
But at Los Alamos, she said, officials would instinctively respond with a “**** you, we’re not jumping.
Anonymous said...
Yep. Los Alamos would instinctively know that there is zero value in DOE directed "jumping" studies.
Anonymous said...
I first heard that joke in 1980 as a postdoc at Los Alamos. It was old then.
Anonymous said...
Given the response of the three Labs, it is interesting that NNSA would install former and current LANL managers (Younger, Girrens, Burns, etc.) at Sandia. Just goes to show how much thought NNSA gave to award the selection to (NTESS). It appears Sandia will now be responding to NNSA with a **ck you now. Good luck NNSA, you deserve it!
