LLNL - The True Story -

Senators say DOE may have reimbursed contractor for fighting whistleblower claims "DOE and the Lawrence Livermore partnership did not return requests for comment on the senators’ letter." http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/375886-senators-say-doe-may-have-reimbursed-contractor-for-fighting

Trump Taps Livermore Hand to Lead NNSA Weapons Programs "President Donald Trump plans to nominate current Lawrence Livermore hand Charles Verdon to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) roughly $9-billion-a-year nuclear weapons portfolio." https://www.exchangemonitor.com/trump-taps-livermore-hand-lead-nnsa-weapons-programs-washington/

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/regional-coalition-of-lanl-communities-use-of-public-funds-flagged/article_b4f59a44-9440-595f-87fa-c64187479eca.html

https://www.abqjournal.com/1137074/purdue-bechtel-team-bids-to-run-lanl.html

http://www.lamonitor.com/content/nnsa-releases-draft-assessment-lanl-plutonium-factory-complex LANL will be a pit production facility. Rocky Flats it is to be. Can we finally move the last bits of science to LLNL? New Mexico will be happy, LANL will be happy, the town of Los Alamos will be happy. Heck maybe even the scientists that have to move will end up being happier. Even Greg Mello will be happy since it will keep him working.

Feds say LANL Failed to Track Toxic Beryllium By Rebecca Moss | The New Mexican Feb 23, 2018  Federal officials say Los Alamos National Laboratory failed to keep track of a toxic metal, potentially exposing an unknown number of workers to serious health consequences. The failure to adequately track beryllium — a substance used in nuclear weapons production and of which small amounts can cause lung disease and cancer — violates federal regulations put in place to prevent worker overexposure, according to a report released this week by the Energy Department’s inspector general. http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/feds-say-lanl-failed-to-track-toxic-beryllium/article_30900b79-4331-568a-a3dc-7d03ad5e25a6.html

-------------------------------- Laser program at University of Rochester targeted for shutdown "The US Department of Energy intends to close a premier facility that has long led one of the three principal approaches to initiating nuclear fusion through the use of powerful lasers. DOE plans to initiate a “three-year rampdown” of the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) in the fiscal year that begins in October, according to a summary of the agency’s 2019 budget proposal released on 12 February." http://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.2.20180216b/full/

Well, Scooby shut off yet another blog thread where the posters were less than enthralled with his methods of running the blog. He claims to want candid input, but can't take the heat that follows, which obviously he feels he doesn't deserve. Why ask for candor if you are not willing to accept it if it is negative? Shouldn't negative feedback on the part of one's customers incentivize one to change how one does business?

Scooby, I was February 21, 2018 at 4:52 AM on your self-congratulatory "More intelligent debate, less insults" post. You might want to take some time to reflect on your own comments in that thread. In particular, your response to my remark is pretty much a case study in what you said you want to remove. And then you immediately turned off comments. I don't expect to ever see this comment approved on the blog. Perhaps this blog has run its course.

Now that LANS is coming to end can maybe we can make a list of things that could change.  1 No more Fridays off. In principle the 9-80 schedule is good but the abuse is beyond rampant. The parking lots are  are only between 1/3-1/4 filled every Friday. Nothing can get done on a Friday and Thursdays are filled with last minute mayhem.  Essentially Fridays are now days off. Another odd thing people should be working till 6pm on the 9-80 but it starts emptying out at 4pm, which is odd. If the labs are driven by safety and security than reducing the work week by 20-25% reduces incidents by 20-25%? 2 No bonuses for managers. This creates corruption amongst the managers or enforces loyalty to LANS but not the lab or the United States. Also it encourages cheating.  3 Get rid of the useless Divisions. LANL went from 20 Divs before that contract change to 120 after. What possible value was added to this other than extra overhead, slower response, and confusion. All one has to...

"Investigators: Top LANL scientist made up work trips to pocket the money" http://krqe.com/2018/02/20/investigators-top-lanl-scientist-made-up-work-trips-to-pocket-the-money/

Personal opinion from blog moderator : The comments on the blog are becoming increasingly derogatory.  Some commenters believe that ,as long  as  they avoid using certain words/ expressions ,somehow their comments are acceptable. No,  they are not! I always assumed that Labs employees have a certain level of logical and emotional intelligence that help them in debating others in a civil manner. I stick to the rules posted in this blog but ,recently,  I am convinced I need to filter the comments based on more than common bad words ! A while back,  I did a poll to see if you want to end anonymous posting.  There was an uproar ! A resounding NO. I have a choice : doing away with anonymous posting or using my judgement to decide what comments to filter out . I want constructive feedback. Your thoughts?

Gordon-Hagerty confirmed as NNSA administrator FEBRUARY 16, 2018 Oak Ridge Today Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Thursday as the U.S. Department of Energy’s under secretary for nuclear security and administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration. “We are excited to welcome Lisa to the DOE team following her confirmation,” Perry said in the press release. “Her knowledge in the national security space, including her history with the department in running the emergency preparedness operation, will be an asset to the National Nuclear Security Administration. I look forward to working with her as she takes the helm in NNSA and thank the Senate for their attention to her nomination.” Gordon-Hagerty replaces Frank Klotz, a retired Air Force general who had been in the job since 2014 and retired January 19. Gordon-Hagerty’s nomination was announced in December. The Thursday press release from the NNSA said she has more than 30 years of national securit...

Legislature sends governor bill imposing tax on nonprofit lab contractor By Steve Terrell, Santa Fe New Mexican http://nmpoliticalreport.com/805455/legislature-sends-governor-bill-imposing-tax-on-nonprofit-lab-contractor/ Gov. Susana Martinez will have to decide whether to sign a bill designed to prevent the state government, as well as local governments in Northern New Mexico, from losing tax revenue if a nonprofit university takes over management of Los Alamos National Laboratory later this year. Rep. Jason Harper, R-Rio Rancho, who has pushed for a comprehensive overhaul of the state’s tax structure, argued against the bill saying, “Tax policy should be uniform, broad and neutral. … It shouldn’t pick winners and losers.” Harper said he recently received a call from a member of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee who was concerned about the bill. The congressman told him, “It looks like the state is telling the labs how to run the labs,” Harper said, adding, “I’m worried this sen...

    The University of California and its mystery teammates have submitted a “clever” bid to run the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for the next 10 years, the regent in charge of the institution’s national lab activities said in a public meeting late Wednesday. “We do have the most excellent bid,” Ellen Tauscher, the incoming chair of the University of California Board of Regents’ national laboratories subcommittee, said in a regents meeting Wednesday in San Francisco. “It is significant in its creativity, in its innovation. It’s clever. You’ll find out what ‘clever’ means later on.” https://www.exchangemonitor.com/188732-2/

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2018/02/08/trump-oak-ridge-ornl-brent-park-nuclear-nonproliferation/319053002/

University of California official promises better management at LANL A top University of California official acknowledged Friday that there have been shortcomings at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the past but said the school remains “deeply committed” to the future of the lab as UC bids for LANL’s next management and operations contract. Kim Budil, the university’s vice president for national labs, said UC, which has been involved in running LANL since 1943, had adapted and improved since an accident caused by LANL shut down the nation’s nuclear waste storage facility near Carlsbad in 2014. https://www.abqjournal.com/1119078/university-of-california-official-promises-better-management-at-lanl.html

Will you long-winded wannabe historians knock it off? It doesn't matter who has been or has not been in charge of LANL since privatization. The only thing that really matters is who is going to be in charge a year from now.

At the white house,  several uncleared people handle classified info daily. Why haven't they been cleared? If any lab employee is found to have even  had a bad credit score,  they cannot get a Q clearance . Ironic isn't? The white house image has been so degraded and so has democracy and justice.

https://www.publicintegrity.org/2018/02/05/21507/trump-administration-s-planned-nuclear-upgrade-being-undermined-cost-overruns

Big events are in store for the nuclear weapon research labs over the next few years. Advanced low-yield weapons and other Trump desired weapons are being planned to modernize the US nuclear arsenal. After decades of neglect, you are going to see a lot of growth at these labs to support this dramatic buildup in strategic policy. This is far more concrete than Obama's pathetic RRW non-starter. Start working out your equipment wish lists and prepare your hiring needs: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pentagon unveils new nuclear weapons strategy, ending Obama-era push to reduce U.S. arsenal Washington Post - Feb 2, 2018 The Pentagon released a new nuclear arms policy Friday that calls for the introduction of two new types of weapons, effectively ending Obama-era efforts to reduce the size and scope of the U.S. arsenal and minimize the role of nuclear weapons in defense planning.  Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in an introductory note to ...

Is there anything to the story that Gibbs is keeping Wallace on a very short leash? One story making its way around the Lab is that UC brought Gibbs back before McMillan left and gave him marching orders to hold Wallace in check, then named Wallace as a figurehead without much support. So it goes, this was to have Gibbs making the decisions and just let Wallace be the pretty face on the news.