Saturday, February 22, 2020
Something strange is going on at TRIAD
Some strange things are going on at LANL as whole ares of the lab have been suddenly shut down to non-US citizens. Could be corona virus could be something else. Other rumors are things have not gone well for TRIAD the first year and the hammer is or will soon be coming down on LANL. Something very odd is going on.
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21 comments:
Just like LANS, the hammer is about to drop. It just took Triad a while to catch on to their direction from NNSA.
I think what you are perceiving is an ongoing process related to the expanded production mission. There is up to 13e9 USD in projected capital investment over the next decade. A lot of this is going to require improved security procedures. Some call it "growing pains". A lot better than shrinking pains, which is anything but the situation these days.
I think there has just been some screwups right off the bat and and NNSA wants to get this fixed soon since they will look bad for picking TRIAD if things continue to with the usual incidents.
Revenge of the (NNSA) c-students.
I think what you are perceiving is an ongoing process related to the expanded production mission. There is up to 13e9 USD in projected capital investment over the next decade. A lot of this is going to require improved security procedures. Some call it "growing pains". A lot better than shrinking pains, which is anything but the situation these days.
2/22/2020 9:28 PM
I think this is right, with increased production two things need to happen (1) More and better security for obvious reasons. (2) Less screw ups. If NNSA is going to invest in the Los Alamos production facility than they better be able to handle the work. So in short yes growing pains. Take that for what you will but it also means the whole culture of LANL will be shifting to that of a production facility and away from science or even engineering. Rocky Flats was never science institute. Another issue is that the risk is going to increase in at LANL, again look at what happened at Rocky Flats, it is the nature of production. All priorities, rules, policies, and culture are going to shift to production as that where the money and all the new hires are going to be. I simply do not see how science is going to continue at LANL when LANL becomes a production plant, however it could mean that the science missions at LLNL and Sandia will increase as old LANL work gets transferred, so if you young and pretty good transferring to one of these labs will not be that big of a deal. Hey times change, LANL has been changing for the last 20 years it just more serious changes in the next 5-10 years. Something to think about.
The glass is always half empty with you science people. Look, MESA at Sandia has been a 24/7, billion dollar production facility for many decades and the science has been better funded as a result. I guess you don't know that science is funded mostly by LDRD which is basically generated by a tax on production work. More production * 0.05 = more science. It's not hard.
Anonymous said...
The glass is always half empty with you science people. Look, MESA at Sandia has been a 24/7, billion dollar production facility for many decades and the science has been better funded as a result. I guess you don't know that science is funded mostly by LDRD which is basically generated by a tax on production work. More production * 0.05 = more science. It's not hard.
2/23/2020 6:59 PM
I agree this is the current paradigm but when mission shifts, paradigms change. NNSA is not going to allow you to tax production (or capital projects) for science if they do not want science at LANL anymore.
"I guess you don't know that science is funded mostly by LDRD which is basically generated by a tax on production work. More production * 0.05 = more science. It's not hard.
2/23/2020 6:59 PM"
I understand your point but LDRD is already shifting toward just programmatic work so I expect this will become even more so
with the production facility. Also there may be chance they will simply do away with LDRD or change it to something else.
"I agree this is the current paradigm but when mission shifts, paradigms change. NNSA is not going to allow you to tax production (or capital projects) for science if they do not want science at LANL anymore."
Many people at LANL are saying the same thing. It seems like there is very little support for science, even Mason said "science will take care of itself". I am realistic it just makes sense in terms of effeteness and econmocs that the as LANL becomes a production faculty that that science will not longer be priority and the science that the NNSA need can be moved elsewhere. Besides the 5% that live off LDRD everyone either hates it or at best does not care. I simply do not see LDRD continuing at LANL in long term.
Wow, the anti-science at LANL guy is back.
Wow, the anti-science at LANL guy is back.
2/24/2020 5:15 PM
So how has science been doing at LANL lately and where do you see it going the future? Please inform us since you seem to know so much.
All I said that I know is that the anti-science guy is back, and it seems I have confirmation.
5:34 PM
How do you conclude the person is an "anti-science guy". Looks like someone who is pointing out possible issues with science at LANL. No where does the poster state LANL should not be doing science or expressed any anti science statements . Your argument goes like this:
Poster: Science has been declining at LANL.
You: You are an anti-science guy!
One does no follow from the other, do you see how this works.
Now maybe you don't know or care about science at LLNL or LANL which is fine, but if you do one of the first questions you can ask is: Is science declining or not? Other questions could be: should it decline, or why is it declining.
As if no one on this blog knows how to identify you by your phrasing and tone.
As if no one on this blog knows how to identify you by your phrasing and tone.
2/26/2020 5:35 PM
Are you going to reply to the 8:10 PM post?
I did reply to his first sentence. The rest is just repetitive stuff I've already replied to dozens of times. Not wiling to stoke his particular obsessions anymore.
I did reply to his first sentence. The rest is just repetitive stuff I've already replied to dozens of times. Not wiling to stoke his particular obsessions anymore.
2/27/2020 5:07 PM
You did not reply this this poster nor have you ever replied to any of the other points. Just admit you have nothing.
Where is this going?
Who cares. The reality is DOE (now NNSA) has been consolidating since 1992 and the labs are due. Whether its LANL, SNL, NNL, LLNL, one is due to be shut down and don't act like they are not talking about it.
Triad is not up to the challenges of LANL. After a year they have fixed nothing in terms of people, of processes, a path for the future. Sure they were handed a turd when LANS left. Employees that have recently been hired are leaving. The weapons program under Webster, is utter chaos. No vision, no strategy. No desire to deliver because there are no plans to execute. Those under Webster, Weapons Production under Eyler, Mack, and Gibbs are not leaders and fail to understand the challenges. They have failed to consistently solve the issues that are keeping work from being performed. Weapons Physics under Bernardin is not effective. Weapons Engineering under Owen is struggling. The management is not capable of the tasks necessary. Support organizations are not capable to supporting the missions assigned. They are capable of determining how not to get work done. LANL science is just a waste of funds. Nothing novel, creative, advancing. Welfare for second-rate scientists.
3/02/2020 7:20 PM
I am not saying your narrative is not true but I am saying that it is irrelevant. Weapons and science are not considered to be problems at LANL right now. Sure that may not be doing very well but the big issues at LANL are operations and preparing for pit production. I have to agree that that LANL is increasingly second rate in terms of science as the 1st rate people have all been leaving for the past 25 years. Now one cam make an argument that LANL does not need 1st rate science, I disagree with this but I can understand how doing 1st rate science does not get you much at the labs. It is now safety and security. In other words the labs are now about things going wrong. Sure if you had some major break though in shock wave science etc it would be very valuable to the lab mission science and science in general but the yearly score for science is always going to be 90-95% no matter. There is simply no feedback mechanism to encourage 1st rate versus 2nd or 3rd since the score is always 90%. Now just have one screwup where somebody gets contaminated or loses something then they aredinged. You can see where the priorities are with such system. In the old days of testing you had a natural feedback to encourage 1st rate work. During the cold war the results where what mattered. Now it is the screwups that matter.
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