LLNS may have excluded the wrong people in last VSSOP? The exclusions were based on outdated job categories and related skills. ULM are now thinking that in the future, job categories and functional areas will have to be re-defined. The next VSSOP/ISP will be based on the new categories and functional areas. The questions I have are: 1) Why didnt they think of that before the transition. It seems like their style is “change things as you go”. Planning is out the window! 2) Who will give input on the new changes? The next RIF apparently is going to be more lucrative than the VSSOP. Depending on the length of employment, a RIFed person, not only gets their 1 week pay per year of service but also from 30 to 120 days notice, essentially 30 to 120 days pay. Please feel free to comment on the rumors or add new ones you actually heard.
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I would agree with you if the NNSA HQ was planning to shut down LANL, or remove all hazardous and potentially catastrophic activities away from LANL, but as you may know in 2021, the NNSA approved the production of 30 Plutonium pits per year at LANL, among many other dangerous activities that occur or will occur at LANL.
This LANL Field Office Manager didn't transfer to another NNSA assignment , instead, she "voluntarily" elected to retire from NNSA employment entirely at the age of ~50. There were numerous safety mishaps under the leadership of Director McMillan and LANS management. NNSA Field Office Managers are responsible for objective contractor oversight and to evaluate the operations of the contractor. NNSA Field Office Managers are not by one way or another, permitted to enable more safety or performance deficiencies of the contractor. This must be the standard. NNSA Field Office Managers must be held directly accountable, otherwise employees that work at LANL, taxpayers, and downwinders, may be impacted for a failure to address root clauses of the numerous deficiencies at LANL. You can't wave a NNSA Field Office Manager through (if NNSA HQ did) and expect the same problems at LANL will not resurface.
FYI July 27, 2021:
"Huntington Ingalls Industries Announces Kimberly Lebak as New President and General Manager of N3B Joint Venture...As president and general manager of N3B, Lebak is responsible for managing the 10-year, $1.4 billion Los Alamos legacy cleanup contract for the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management’s Los Alamos Field Office."
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/07/27/2269654/14858/en/Photo-Release-Huntington-Ingalls-Industries-Announces-Kimberly-Lebak-as-New-President-and-General-Manager-of-N3B-Joint-Venture.html
12/06/2021 4:53 PM
That was a rather long winded way to say that yes it is about a four-year old axe to grind. Got it.
"2014 nuclear accident in N.M. ranks among costliest in U.S. history
The direct cost of the cleanup is now $640 million, based on a contract modification made last month with Nuclear Waste Partnership that increased the cost from $1.3 billion to nearly $2 billion."
https://www.thedailyworld.com/nation-world/2014-nuclear-accident-in-n-m-ranks-among-costliest-in-u-s-history/
The irony of revolving doors.