Now that NNSA is officially working on an RFP for the rebidding of the LANL contract, is this an opportunity to restructure and break it into two completely separate M&O contracts - one for the research/science work and one for pit production.
This has been done before when LANL's Z Division was separated from the lab and became Sandia National Lab. I think a strong case could be made to merge a separate pit production M&O contract with the recently merged Y-12/Pamtex contract.
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NK will bid.
Breaking off LANL into two parts is the smartest thing to do...therefore it will not happen. It just makes to much sense and would benefit the nation however no one is interested in this now.
The ultra high taxes on projects at LANL help fund LDRD research. All projects must pay into the LDRD tax structure whether they are involved with science or not. Therefore, If there was to be a breakup it would result in a sudden drop in money for internally funded research projects associated with the peer reviewed LDRD. system
Perhaps NNSA would like to see this as a cost saving measure but there are plenty of research staff at LANL who would not be happy seeing their nice stable funding sources go away. They would be out of a job. The politicians in New Mexico would also complain and try to stop it.
"The ultra high taxes on projects at LANL help fund LDRD research. All projects must pay into the LDRD tax structure whether they are involved with science or not. Therefore, If there was to be a breakup it would result in a sudden drop in money for internally funded research projects associated with the peer reviewed LDRD. system "
I have heard this argument but I think for what is at stake the loss of some LDRD would be worth it. In any case LDRD is also taxed, even though it is a tax. If the lab is split than perhaps the tax on the LDRD would go down. I know that about 20 years a single ER project could fund 2 staff plus a bit more, today with the increase in the taxes on LDRD the same project funds less than one staff member, so that the LDRD budget has already been effectively cut in half. This same time frame also correlated with the drop in the fraction of Phds of the workforce from 40% to less than 19%.
Being dems, the NM delegation can complain until they turn blue in the face
but they are powerless to stop (or start) anything.
The purpose of LDRD is to train and retain qualified stockpile stewardship scientific staff. Lower LDRD, fewer qualified scientific staff for the long -term mission.
Re: 12:27 July 8, 2017
The real purpose of LDRD is to provide a funding source for a white-collar WPA program. It is a welfare program. Contributions by LDRD to the weapons program have been, in the past, negligible; and very few scientists move on to the weapons program. Monies would better be spent on research that is applicable to weapon specific needs such as materials, engineering technology, manufacturing, safety, and life extensions.
Production at LANL is the failure. Move it to Savannah River.
Making good Pu pits is a easy as making a toilet float. Following conflicting directives is impossible.
You very obviously have no idea what you are talking about. Even if you did, you wouldn't be able to discuss it here anyway. Go troll elsewhere.
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