LLNL - The True Story -

LLNL made a fusion breakthrough. Now, a startup company wants to make it into a power plant. https://www.fastcompany.com/91394154/a-national-lab-made-a-nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-a-new-startup-wants-to-make-it-into-a-power-plant

  RFK is phasing out government support for vaccines, slowing development of possibly revolutionary cancer treatments, and harming national security and our economic prospects by weakening our defense against biological warfare and ability to respond to naturally occuring pandemics. Ironically the vaccine program "Operation Warp Speed" was perhaps the greatest achievement of Trump's first term in office. https://futurism.com/neoscope/cancer-vaccines-mrna-future https://scitechdaily.com/new-mrna-cancer-vaccine-delivers-stunning-results-sparks-universal- treatment-hopes/ https://futurism.com/neoscope/rfk-jr-cancels-cancer-vaccine-mrna

 C ould we be witnessing a shift away from the Bush/Cheney neocon era of defense privatization, including operations like Haliburton, Black Water, LANS, TRIAD, LLNS, Sandia Corporation (Lockheed) and Solutions of Sandia (Honeywell)? Do defense contractors have the best interests of shareholders or the US people in mind? Lutnick says administration considering taking stakes in defense companies Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday the president should consider stakes in companies where the U.S. adds “fundamental value.” https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/26/trump-government-companies-defense-00524433 The Trump administration is “thinking” about taking an equity stake in defense and munitions companies, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “There’s a monstrous discussion about defense,” he said Tuesday in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked if there’s a “line” on government ownership of private companies. “I mean, Lockheed Martin makes 97 percent ...

Several people have noticed that even onsite at LANL people are smelling weed. It has been going on for about a year now. There are several pot shops in town. Hey I get it is legal and if you go to city you are now going to be smelling weed most of the time but I find it odd just where you smell it now. I have been driving on the highway with the window up and you can smell it on occasion (no it is not a skunk). You also smell it odd places like beaches, malls, airports, and hospital waiting rooms. The onsite lab times are the most odd, I guess it could be a non-smoker but someone who lives with a smoker and gets in on their cloths, or just some non LANL workers onsite on occasion. It is impressive that after legalization how much the smell is everywhere now.

 The Trump administration's efforts to "streamline" government has interrupted medical compensation claims from former US atomic-energy workers suffering from cancers and other ailments linked to their employment. https://youtu.be/e0hxNh17TSw?si=lq85V4RREVziD6LW

  More issues for troubled New Mexico lab   The government-funded Black Mesa Research Facility is currently in danger of being shut down after being hit with yet another OSHA violation. The facility, which conducts advanced scientific and technological research, was reportedly cited for several safety violations that could endanger employees. A lab simply marked "Anomalous Materials" will be required to update signage to be less vague, ensuring the safety of all personnel. An OSHA compliance safety and health officer noted, "There are large acid pits that seemingly serve no purpose with no safety railings of any kind. I dropped five clipboards down there."

 Los Alamos / White Rock power and internet outages Is it normal for this community to have constant problems with service outages for both electricity and internet?

  The DOE has released a new climate change report, going into detail about how in many aspects it may not be as serious as previously claimed: https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/DOE_Critical_Review_of_Impacts_of_GHG_Emissions_on_the_US_Climate.pdf https://youtu.be/r--BO8VXgnU?si=F6vvif9rMFJMZdGx

  Reducing indirect cost at LANL and LLNL: some questions. LANL is working on reducing indirect cost. Some of us have been trying to figure just where it goes. On a typical direct code the overhead rate is up to 300 percent or even more. I have no idea if this is accurate but I have heard 1/2 of the LANL staff is on indirect. If that was the case I would think overhead rates would be closer to100% not 300%. I am not sure how the budget actually breaks down. Does the mean (a) 1/2 of the indirect funding people cost three times as much as direct funding people? (b) is the 1/2 of the people on indirect not actually true and it is more like 2/3 or 3/4 of the workers are on indirect? (d) It is 50:50 but the extra money is pays for equipment, supplies, parts, vehicles, benefits and so on? Or is it some combination of these. Also it would be useful to see a plot of the overhead rates over the last 25 years. Maybe it has always been this way but it would be interesting to see if it was say...

 She went missing in June. The search continues... https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/search-missing-los-alamos-national-214723576.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMe5ygLKI7D0j1oPlhQlfy9B2KJBAnsYZTzZxviDIjYaTCZrD13og_JT91-vOuCw6wzs44g_9N-iogsyzJZc_afjKAZNuIBKVo_beS9FQRdwqExKU1FIFmt1sS9UAzT_bbgl_fVIQzH86O5N5WMK6vY6USBRGzqibvD-9icYWXzC

  New Mexico governor declares state of emergency in Rio Arriba County https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wM1dE1zMzaQ&pp=ygUebmV3IG1leGljbyAgc3RhdGUgb2YgZW1lcmdlbmN5

 Lawrence Livermore National Lab enters a different kind of space race with a telescope deal https://phys.org/news/2025-08-lawrence-livermore-national-lab-kind.html

Users are finding that Google's Gemini AI keeps having disturbing psychological episodes, melting down in despondent self-loathing reminiscent of Marvin the Paranoid Android from Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. https://futurism.com/google-puzzled-ai-self-loathing

  https://futurism.com/chatgpt-encouraging-ritual-molech ChatGPT invented in its own litany for the devil for the user to recite. "In your name, I become my own master," ChatGPT said. "Hail Satan."

  How ‘The Great Flattening Trend’ Could Affect Your Workplace https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2025/01/24/the-great-flattening-trend-is-picking-up-steam-in-2025/

  Harvard and MIT students drop out of school due to impeding AI takeover  [They]  are abandoning school now to work full-time on preventing it from turning on humanity. https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriafeng/2025/08/06/fear-of-super-intelligent-ai-is-driving-harvard-and-mit-students-to-drop-out/

  AI systems can subliminally influence one another to share a love for owls, or a malevolent desire to kill all humans: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/ai-models-can-secretly-influence-one-another-owls-rcna221583

  https://nypost.com/2025/08/03/us-news/radioactive-wasp-nests-at-sc-nuclear-site-raise-worries-about-possible-contamination-leaks/ Let's hope Pits work out at LANL since Savannah River is having issues. Greg Radioactive wasp nests at South Carolina nuclear weapons site raise worries about possible contamination, leaks

  Any announcements about possible LLNL “Golden Dome” funding? Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and other contractors have been mentioned so far.

  LANL plans to hire 1,000 more employees. I find this interesting as SNL was talking about a layoff and only has 11 openings, and LLNL has only 75 openings. The question is where are these 1,000 employees going to live unless there is a big group of retirements in the future and they are all moving to Phoenix or Florida. https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/santa-fe-northern-new-mexico/los-alamos-national-lab-announces-plans-to-hire-up-to-17000-workers/

  Should LLNL and and LANL follow Musks lead and make everyone an engineer? https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/elon-musk-bans-researcher-title-at-xai-says-only-engineers-welcome/articleshow/123013891.cms?from=mdr Elon Musk has ordered the immediate removal of the job title 'researcher' at xAI, insisting that all technical staff be called 'engineers'. The change followed a public correction of an employee’s job post on X. Musk said the term was outdated and encouraged a false division of roles. Meanwhile, Meta is testing AI-enabled interviews, letting candidates use AI tools during assessments. Both moves highlight how major tech companies are redrawing the boundaries of what it means to work in AI.

Cornell University and the University of Rochester have joined a lawsuit against the Department of Energy and the DOE secretary, Chris Wright. The lawsuit alleges that the DOE took "flagrantly unlawful actions" by "slashing 'indirect cost rates' for government-funded research."   https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/education/2025/04/15/colleges-lawsuit-department-of-energy

  The NNSA was “hacked” Microsoft says China-backed cybercriminals hacked into US nuclear weapons agency https://nypost.com/2025/07/23/tech/microsoft-says-china-backed-cybercriminals-hacked-into-us-nuclear-weapons-agency/

  More push back against AI. There is a realization that AI has severe limits in what it can do and that the field has a lot of hype. The idea that AI is going to replace large sections of the STEM workforce is simply not true. AI could replace bureaucratic or repetitive jobs but not jobs that require actual thinking. I think it could be a tool to aid in thinking and creative process but the big hope that it will "do" science, endangering, create new products on its own is not going to happen and in fact it could hinder or reduce the quality of science and engineering in some cases. A lot of LANL managers or ex managers have been saying the most naive things about AI and just unaware of where the field is actually heading. https://medium.com/quantum-information-review/ai-has-a-critical-flaw-and-its-unfixable-06d6a5c294d4 AI Has a Critical Flaw — And it’s Unfixable. "AI isn't intelligent in the way we think it is. It's a probability machine. It doesn't think. ...

  This story relates to LLNS as well “New Embarrassing Details About Married CEO Caught Cuddling With HR Chief at Coldplay Concert” The same behavior has happened at LLNL, just ask the wife’s and sub-contractor employee victims, of threat to be silent, or face firing for witnessing such conduct. MODERATOR NOTE: The link below takes to a private video. Please provide public link to it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u9NXHYcMSSs&pp=ygU_TmV3IEVtYmFycmFzc2luZyBEZXRhaWxzIEFib3V0IE1hcnJpZWQgQ0VPIENhdWdodCBDdWRkbGluZyBXaXRo

  https://www.theringer.com/2025/07/09/tech/ai-x-grok-elon-musk-linda-yaccarino-hitler Elon Musk's "improved" chatbot was producing far-right hate speech.

  https://fedscoop.com/energy-secretary-signals-reversal-of-some-cuts-to-national-labs/ Multiple lawmakers on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee shared their concerns with Wright during a DOE budget hearing about the proposed $2.75 billion cut to the national labs in the White House’s fiscal 2026 proposal, saying it undercuts his oft-stated tech priorities. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., ranking member of the panel, said engineers at the Sandia National Laboratories have told him the proposed cuts will “significantly affect” national user facilities, fusion research on reactor environments, the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies and more. Wright said the budget hasn’t been allocated down to each individual lab, and that funding decisions will be made “on a lab-by-lab basis.” He said the proposed cuts are a reflection of “the tough world we’re in today.” “My goal is to grow, not shrink, the output of top-quality science at our labs,” Wright said. “But do we need to...

  Lab management at LANL isn't communicating, but fortunately, I can read the news. The news reports are that NNSA is moving everything not directly weapons related over to weapons. For example, non-proliferation research is getting torched. Also, energy sciences like fuel cells, solar, CINT, etc will get entirely eliminated or dramatically slashed: https://www.taxpayer.net/energy-natural-resources/doe-topline-cuts-across-the-board-except-for-nuclear-weapons/ "DOE energy programs would be cut by 25%. On top of fairly consistent cuts across the board, the budget calls to fully eliminate several programs, including R&D for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies, Renewable Energy Grid Integration, Solar Energy, and Wind Energy, as well as the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations. Defense-related programs would get a 17% funding boost, almost entirely from DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which houses the nation’s nuclear weapons programs and DOE’s nuclear ...

  Things are going sideways at Los Alamos. Any news at LLNL? Blog moderator's note: I tried getting details from the poster but he hasn't responded. If anyone else can give more detail, it's appreciated 👍.

  Pacific Fusion proposed Livermore facility: https://www.livermorevine.com/livermore/2025/06/30/livermore-eyed-for-new-fusion-research-facility/ Based largely on proposed next generation Sandia pulsed power machine that NNSA passed on after failed design reviews. Unclear why investors think a machine that can fire once a day can put power on the grid.

  The war continues. So there is talk that the budget for LANL could increase with PIT production. https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/more-nuclear-weapons-less-for-renewables-heres-how-does-requested-budget-looks/article_f9d8370b-e9e7-4113-a54d-2c260436d139.html You would figure the Santa Fe Anti-Nuke crowd are worried and will join together to fight for less nukes. Nope the Los Almaos Study group knows the real enemy is the Nuclear Watch in New Mexico. The nuclear watch group head Jay Coghlan posted some comments and Los Almaos study group head was fast to attack him. At least these guys know their priorities. 6 June, 2025 Dear Jay -- You continually misquote the 2006 JASON study and ignore more recent JASON output, e.g. the 2019 letter. In addition there are public remarks such as those from former JASON Marvin Adams, who notably said in my presence and that of hundreds of others that anyone who thinks they know that pits will last 100 years doesn't know very much ...

  This is a good critique of the many-worlds theory: https://youtu.be/rw1ewLJUgOg?si=EZnqOJGqj71kl48R

  This is a good video about AI making humans obsolete: https://youtu.be/BtPwW7i3Dpc?si=-5bSEvhPQMUX3RuS

  1-3% staff reduction at SNL Just got the word that Sandia is required to reduce the workforce by 1-3% by fall. They are hoping to get a voluntary separation package approved by NNSA and get the numbers down that way. They also mentioned that SNL was in much better shape than "other labs". Any news at LANL?

  Now we know why LANL managers live AI so much https://tribune.com.pk/story/2551840/excessive-ai-use-may-lead-to-cognitive-decline-reveals-mit-study Excessive AI use may lead to cognitive decline, reveals MIT study Findings have vast practical implications such as decline in critical thinking, creativity, and independent reasoning Brain scans taken during the experiment showed that LLM users exhibited weaker connections between brain regions associated with critical thinking and memory. While their essays scored well in both human and AI evaluations — often praised for their coherence and alignment with the given prompt — the writing was also described as formulaic and less original. Notably, those who used LLMs struggled to quote from or recall their own writing in subsequent sessions. Their brain activity reportedly "reset" to a novice state regarding the essay topics, a finding that strongly contrasts with participants in the "brain-only" group, who retained str...

  Apple says generative AI cannot think like a human - research paper pours cold water on reasoning models https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/apple-says-generative-ai-cannot-think-like-a-human-research-paper-pours-cold-water-on-reasoning-models Apple researchers discovered that LRMs perform differently depending on problem complexity. On simple tasks, standard LLMs, without explicit reasoning mechanisms, were more accurate and efficient and delivered better results with fewer compute resources. However, as problem complexity increased to a moderate level, models equipped with structured reasoning, like Chain-of-Thought prompting, gained the advantage and outperformed their non-reasoning counterparts. When the complexity grew further, both types of models failed completely: their accuracy dropped to zero regardless of the available compute resources. (Keep in mind that the the Claude 3.7 Sonnet Thinking and DeepSeek-R1 LRMs have limitations when it co...

  https://gizmodo.com/chatgpt-tells-users-to-alert-the-media-that-it-is-trying-to-break-people-report-2000615600 Mentally vulnerable people are being harmed by malevolent chatbots.

 'No Kings' anti-Trump protests happening in the Bay Area on Saturday 6/14 Be situationally aware please. https://www.ktvu.com/news/no-kings-protests-bay-area-saturday.amp Blog moderator note: The link above contains a list of bay area protests. There are also protest in Modesto, Stockton, Merced. Just search for "no kings protests" for exact locations.

 Found this from a Distinguished Sandia/LANL retried scientists from his blog. A bit of depressing read. It has a hint of politics but he has a point. "I will start by saying Los Alamos carries some significant meaning for me personally. I lived and worked there for almost 18 years. It shaped me as a scientist, if not made me the one I am today. It has (had) a culture of scientific achievement and open inquiry that I fully embrace and treasure. I had not spent time like this on the main town site for years. It was a stunning melange of things unchanged and radical change. I ate at new places, and old places running into old friends with regularity. I was left with mixed feelings and deep emotions at the end. Most of all my view of whether leaving there was the right professional move for me. It was probably a good idea. The Lab I knew and loved is almost gone. It has disappeared into the maw of our dysfunctional nation’s destruction of science. It is a real example of where greatn...

A LLNL superintendent, that cheats on his blind wife with a nearby an eagerly available, “admin”, an apparently untouchable DEI hired supervisor, that on LLNL tax payer recruitment trips, seeks out college students for his own pleasure, and a low emotional IQ superintendent, that leads to a tech suicide that continues to advance? What a management dream team we have here. Not. Time for a major DOE/NNSA audit of LLNL sanctioned practices, or expect more of the same behavior to continue. What is the plan forward to disincentivize these tax payer supported unethical behaviors? There aren’t any. Your LLNL tax dollars at work.

  Fusion breakthrough: NIF achieves 8.6 megajoules, shattering previous record https://www.techspot.com/news/107971-fusion-breakthrough-nif-achieves-86-megajoules-shattering-previous.html

  Chinese student visa revocations will cripple the US in the AI race Meta I work in the one of the AI teams at the big G. Most of my colleagues have a PhD and are from China. Beyond them, even a lot of the resumes we receive for research internships are from Chinese candidates in US universities. I'm sure the current administration is not gonna stop at student visas and is gonna target O1, H1B and green card holders next. A majority of noteworthy papers in AI conferences over the last 3 years have come from Chinese lead authors. Most elite US PhD programs have a majority of Chinese students. If these people were to go back to China, it'd only bolster their already formidable AI industry and be a massive loss for the big US based AI companies. Chinese PhD graduates already face significant hurdles today getting a green card even after qualifying for the extra-ordinary category (EB-1A). This has already caused a significant number of researchers to go back to China with Deepseek...

 This is a good video about mass produced robots replacing human workers: https://youtu.be/RFbuZpNaIaY?si=ECChAX33-50tKB7n

Just this week Secretary Wright visited LLNL and while he made Ai as the next Manhattan project for the national labs. I got this feeling the next project for him was to cut back many of the programs.

  This company has a machine that produces gasoline out of air, using an input of electricity: https://www.aircela.com/ https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/05/15/3082353/0/en/Aircela-Unveils-Machine-That-Turns-Air-into-Fossil-Free-Gasoline.html

 Hello blog contributors!  First, I apologize for the post title. It suggests I am trying to demystify AI while in fact I am asking you for help in doing it. I have used chatbots to ask far-fetched questions and to check for plagiarism, mainly. Is anyone versed enough in AI in  both its software and hardware aspects to explain its engines, sources, challenges and applications? Or anything else. It is a relatively new field, so no one should expect a symposium. Thank you 

  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqeng9d20go AI system resorts to blackmail if told it will be removed Luckily LANL will be an all AI lab, so no dangers there.

  This is an interesting story, an AI threatens the apocalypse over a failed vending machine business: https://youtu.be/si8DUlhiLlg?si=qfNx4nGnQ2H9tdAF

  Back in the day, a Superintendent level manager at LLNL, set himself up for lab paid business related trips. His legally blind wife, decided to surprise him by adding herself on to his hotel reservation. To her surprise, the reservation desk, said to the wife, the second occupancy for the room was aleady registered, that being a subordinate administrative female assistant within the superintenden’s sphere of influence. Well, the blind wife’s coworkers in HR from that point forward, thought Mr. Superintendent was basically a low life scum bag. But, after this low mark, could anything occur worse? Yes. And again, a free pass in terms of security clearance, and future advancement.

“Nuclear weapons woes: Understaffed nuke agency hit by DOGE and safety worries…For decades, the NNSA has struggled with federal staffing shortages that have contributed to safety issues as well as delays and cost overruns on major projects.” Was the 2014 WIPP radiological accident attributed to “staffing shortages” when LANS took a 90% award fee cut for mismanagement when that accident was deemed preventable? Nope. Were ~4x cost overruns and the ~5 year behind schedule at the NIF attributable to “staffing shortages”? Nope. How about failure to achieve ignition by 2012 as marketed to Congress? “Staffing Shortages”? Nope. Was the 2023 radioactive iodine-125 contamination in Livermore due to “staffing shortages? Nope. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/18/nuclear-weapons-woes-nuke-agency-hit-by-doge-and-safety-worries/83621978007/ ©2025 Blogger -  Privacy Policy

  New AI showing how AI increases scientific productivity. This should be must reading for all of the NNSA employees.                 Moderator's note: Papers on arxiv are not peer-reviewed. https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.17866 Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation Aidan Toner-Rodgers This paper studies the impact of artificial intelligence on innovation, exploiting the randomized introduction of a new materials discovery technology to 1,018 scientists in the R&D lab of a large U.S. firm. AI-assisted researchers discover 44% more materials, resulting in a 39% increase in patent filings and a 17% rise in downstream product innovation. These compounds possess more novel chemical structures and lead to more radical inventions. However, the technology has strikingly disparate effects across the productivity distribution: while the bottom third of scientists see little benefit, the output of top researchers nea...

  LANL just lost a world leading expert in AI! Some guy named Jason Prueit. Odd I cannot seem to find a single paper or a references on AI that this guy ever did, so I am going out on limb and say he is not expert on AI. I guess "I played with ChatGP" makes one an expert. "If you’ve played with the most recent AI tools, you know: They’re very good coders, very good legal analysts, very good first drafters of writing, very good image generators. They’re only going to get better." I cannot find much of any impact from this guy. He gave some talk on AI and some reddit commentators seemed to see right through it. This is what they said. Most of the bullshitters will tip their hand pretty early that they're just hype men for AI. Right off the bat, the fact that AI is disruptive and transforming society is apparently self-evident because they never cite a single premise or event to back this up. In the quote above, the phrase "if you've played" stuck out...

  This is a good video that goes into some of the NASA budget cuts: https://youtu.be/si6paqM2_ug?si=A42L1ot-J_caWAFv

  What are the LLNS LLC expectations of managers actually selected for superintendent or above positions?

  Heard this directly from a LANL director and then an NNSA chief. LANL was at 11,000 before covid but ballooned up to 16,500-17,000 due to increased spending. The staff numbers need to be cut back down to pre-covid in preparation for the contract bid in 2026. Sandia will see a 10% reduction in R&D staff. Everyone seems to be asking for transfers to different departments or gov contract work. The contractors don’t have much work either. A lot more people should be preparing for layoffs. If your project has no funding, you will be laid off soon. Edit: if your project is still hiring new roles (aka not just replacing someone who left), then it has funding and you are likely safe. If you are bored at work, start applying to jobs. Edit 2: the ISR group recently got a ‘we are going to become more efficient’ email. This is code word for a reduction in force. If you hear this kind of talk on your team, start applying to jobs. Edit 3: some are personally offended I used the word lay of...

  This is very interesting -- as you know, it is not true that all of California will fall into the ocean in a major earthquake, but scientists have discovered that some parts of it indeed will: https://scitechdaily.com/countdown-to-catastrophe-the-quake-that-could-sink-and-flood-the-pacific-northwest/

Looking at the latest annual funding notice it appears that funding is down to 84% this year. There are approximately 2 retirees for every worker left on the program… not surprising since it has been closed since the transition. The rate of return last year was 0.23% However the number of participants has increased by 3 this year.

  Impact to LLNS employees? “Trump to reclassify many federal workers, making them easier to fire” “U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday his administration is set to change the employment classifications of tens of thousands of federal workers, a move governance experts say will make it easier to carry out more mass layoffs.” https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/04/18/trump-says-government-to-change-service-regulations-for-career-government-employees.html

Possible signature of life on exoplanet.  It is only 700 trillion miles from here.! https://youtu.be/HjWwTw-zEIM?si=Beb6qEau2iTAVr4Q

  Mason sent an all hands out on Wed saying that lab needs to cut indirect funding and become much more efficient. The goals are to move people to direct funding but keep the same number of people. We need to stop hiring people to backfill positions. We will keep AI funding going. So a couple of points. (1) If this was the goal why did we have to wait 8 years to do this? It seems a bit odd that suddenly we not want to cut our crazy overheard. (2) How on earth do you cut overhead costs when half the people at the lab are on overhead? The only way to do this is to get rid of people. Some of the more cynical are thinking we are going to fire all the science staff and move everyone on to their codes. Who knows but everyone I knows says this is simply not going work.

  There has been some rumors for the past few months of a voluntary separation or layoffs at LANL. On the face of it they do not seem very likely as Mason said budget wise things look good. However Mason also said that the lab needs to reduce indirect costs. I guess this has something to do with fear of Doge and reduction of overheard rates. NSF and NIH have been seen as having way to high of overhead so it seems like DOE/NNSA labs could be next. In fact there was story the other day about DOE money overhead rates needing to be cut (see link below). This is what I think may actually be possible. DOE/NNSA will be told you need to reduce overheard or indirect costs , so they will not be able to put everybody on direct costs so they will have to let people go one way or another. Indirect costs is of course management , admins, outreach and such but also LDRD. Here is the link on DOE cutting university overheard rates to 15%. It could be that the will do the same for NNSA. I doubt an o...

  https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nuclear-weapons-tests-comeback-threats . Calls to restart nuclear weapons tests stir dismay and debate among scientists A U.S. return to underground detonations would have wide-ranging implications Some see the ability to test as a necessity for a world in which nuclear weapons are a rising threat. “We are seeing an environment in which the autocrats are increasingly relying on nuclear weapons to threaten and coerce their adversaries,” says Robert Peters, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. “If you’re in an acute crisis or conflict in which your adversary is threatening to employ nuclear weapons, you don’t want to limit the options of the president to get you out of that crisis.” Testing, and the signal it sends to an adversary, he argues, should be such an option.