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 The exclusions were based on outdated job categories and related skills.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.
Comments
Plasma and fusion have had a lot of money put into them, and NIF is the first big success. This on top of the push for alternative energy to fossil fuels. I give it a 50% chance it will get the prize. Like it or not the Nobel prizes can also be partially political.
The bigger question is if it does win, will be good for LLNL and NNSA in general in terms of more money and more science?
If the *concept* of ICF is up for receiving a Nobel, then the unclassified literature would have it going to the authors of the 1972 Nature paper with lead author John Nuckolls, who would go on to become Director of LLNL: NUCKOLLS, J., WOOD, L., THIESSEN, A. et al. Laser Compression of Matter to Super-High Densities: Thermonuclear (CTR) Applications. Nature 239, 139–142 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/239139a0
There were four authors of this unclassified paper, but Thiessen passed away last December, so potentially the remaining 3 authors could be nominated. The problem is that there was classified work with not necessarily the same authorship that really set out the necessary physics. I'm not sure how the Nobel Committee could deal with that.