LLNL - The True Story -

Another DOE Part 708 Whistleblower complaint against LLNS has emerged. This time it was filed by a LLNS Counterintelligence Officer (CIO) working in the Counterintelligence Program. This CIO alleged LLNS retaliated against him 6 times for raising protected disclosures.  https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/06/f53/WBZ-17-0007.pdf

Accidentally .Please resubmit. Sincere apologies.

The University of California (UC) continues its reign in running the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The announcement was finally made on Friday, June 8, 2018, by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) that UC will continue to manage the lab since it was founded in 1943. UPTE's 6/15/2018 Press Release:  UPTE applauds the new LANL contract that supports research, development and employees not profits. UPTE offers to work with Triad to improve safety and urges them to adopt two structural reforms. By persuading the decision makers in Washington to reform the bidding criteria, the union leadership at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory successfully advocated that the bids emphasize science and worker safety. The proposed 1% fixed fee, rather than a higher and variable performance bonus, sets a promising precedent for a safer operating contract for LANL and LLNL. A low fixed fee also increase...

Webster lists on the A&M website as a professor https://engineering.tamu.edu/nuclear/profiles/webster-robert.html

https://www.modbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article213664779.html

DOE report on LANL conduct of engineering Appendix C has the summary of the 11 Deficiencies found in May 2018 report by the Office of Nuclear Safety and Environmental Assessments Office of Environment, Safety and Health Assessments Office of Enterprise Assessments U.S. Department of Energy   https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/05/f51/Conduct%20of%20Engineering%20at%20LANL.pdf 

  https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/06/22/letter-concerns-about-livermore-labs-site-300-shared-in-dc

Y-12 security breach could impact LANL bid protests A protest is likely to be lodged against any decision that picked a winner that had Battelle on the team. The RFP scoring on prior performance had to be very low for Battelle, considering that the Y-12 guard force was a Battelle operation under ORNL. Not only the nun getting through the fences, but the cheating scandals on tests and other public failures. These were reported as some of the greatest failures in the US nuclear weapons program, and they happened in the time window of the RFP scoring. It is really hard to see how NNSA can avoid a protest of any decision that had Battelle on the winning team.

https://sciencesprings.wordpress.com/2018/06/14/from-nif-at-llnl-nif-achieves-record-double-fusion-yield/

Did Division Superintendent Randy Pico and Technical Associate Anthony  Rivera bump heads over HEAF employee high voltage/high energy SKA requirements? Division Superintendents have a significant role and responsibility in the construction of job postings within their respective Divisions and in candidate selection. It looks like there were strong differences in high voltage/high energy SKA requirements for a HEAF assignment between Anthony Rivera and then Division Superintendent Randy Pico (“LLNS Manager A”?) as early as 2007. From a 2015 “La Jicarita On-Line Magazine” story: “In the early 2000s Rivera was responsible for correctly identifying a dangerous, unintentional high power laser initiated, High Explosive detonation scenario not addressed in the High Explosive Applications Facility (HEAF) Safety Procedures documentation. This safety concern was reviewed and subsequently included in the HEAF Safety Procedures. Prior to Rivera’s operational procedure correction, HEAF experime...

Triad partner A&M is in charge of changing the LANL culture https://www.mystatesman.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/system-charge-los-alamos-includes-improving-safety-culture/A6JebWY1Ivj2RrJunfWvHI/ Same story reconfirms that UT will not protest the loss and did not really want to win anyway.

Losers get debriefed this coming week in LANL contract competition http://www.defensedaily.com/lanl-contract-competitors-await-debrief-next-week/

Worker radiation contamination averages one event per month this year at Los Alamos It is at least the sixth time since January that the safety board has reported a contamination event at Los Alamos. http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/radiation-on-worker-s-hands-prompts-lanl-cleanup/article_f5ddecb8-b5b2-5510-ba93-b6fefaec8668.html

They will wait on debriefing, but look to be preparing a protest. “There will be a full debriefing,” Daniels said. “What I am told, each time the information has been slightly different, but it looks like from a scoring basis, it might have been a dead heat. We’ll have to see.” Tomas, once again! Daniels said he was anxious to talk in more depth about the bid with trustees. But he said Tomas Diaz de la Rubia – Purdue’s chief scientist and executive director of Discovery Park, who was in the thick of the details, according to Daniels – talked him down, reluctant to say much more until Purdue can get a better rationale and more specifics from federal officials for why Purdue lost. https://www.jconline.com/story/opinion/columnists/dave-bangert/2018/06/15/mitch-daniels-purdue-thinking-big-after-losing-los-alamos-bid/701725002/

In response to the news on Friday (June 8) that the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration awarded the contract to run the Los Alamos National Laboratory to Triad National Security, a team composed of the University of California, Texas A&M and Battelle, Purdue President Mitch Daniels issued the following statement: “While we are disappointed to have not been selected, it was a tremendous privilege to be among the strong group of finalists competing to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory. The management of Los Alamos is a solemn responsibility for U.S. national security and the protection of our citizens, and we wish the very best to those involved in that essential mission.” https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/purduetoday/releases/2018/Q2/los-alamos-national-lab-bid-awarded-to-triad-national-security.html