National Laboratories

WASHINGTON — A tech-industry downturn and a federal permission to boost worker compensation helped with hiring at U.S. nuclear-weapons labs, but hanging on to recruits is still tough, the lab directors said here Wednesday. “We’re actually in quite a good place right now,” Kimberly Budil, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, […]

The prime contractor of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is being investigated for an April incident in which radioactive contamination from the nuclear weapons lab was found on and off-site.  The NNSA’s Office of Enterprise Assessments announced its intent to investigate Lawrence Livermore National Security on Jan. 26. Anthony Pierpoint, director of the Office of […]

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled a longtime scientist and manager at the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories was not effectively fired by the prime contractor when given only 24 hours to decide whether to retire. A three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit ruled Friday Jan. 19 that Robert Hwang was […]

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled a longtime scientist and manager at the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories was not effectively fired by the prime contractor when given only 24 hours to decide whether to retire. A three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit ruled Friday Robert Hwang was not “constructively terminated” […]

Through a partnership with Washington State University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are developing new ways to make its Operational Technology Assurance course, sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration, more realistic for attendees. The partnership resulted in development of a mock vintage-style glovebox, used daily by NNSA scientists to manipulate hazardous radioactive material, that students […]

“Oppenheimer,” the 2023 movie about J. Robert Oppenheimer, first director of what is now the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, was honored as the year’s best movie drama on Jan. 7 at the Golden Globe awards ceremony. Cillian Murphy, the actor who portrayed the scientist, was named best actor for his performance and […]

This week the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approved construction of a near-surface disposal facility at the Chalk River Laboratories site in Deep River, Ontario after finding the facility would not cause significant ill effects to a nearby river or traditional land of indigenous peoples. The quasi-judicial tribunal announced the decision in a Jan. 9 press […]

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory developed a new tool to model how blowing up a nuclear might stop an asteroid from slamming into Earth. Published in December in the Planetary Science Journal, the Livermore research introduces a new way of digitally simulating the energy deposition from a nuclear device on an asteroid’s surface, the […]

Several inches of snowfall are expected between now and Friday at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, according to the National Weather Service. Snow flurries accounting for less than an inch of accumulation were forecast Wednesday night in Los Alamos followed by new snowfall of four-to-eight inches on Thursday, according […]

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory developed a new tool to model how blowing up a nuclear  weapon might stop an asteroid from slamming into Earth. Published in December in the Planetary Science Journal, the Livermore research introduces a new way of digitally simulating the energy deposition from a nuclear device on an asteroid’s surface, […]

The Los Alamos County Council in New Mexico voted unanimously last week to hire current deputy manager Anne Laurent, to become the new county manager effective March 3, 2024. The 7-0 vote during a Dec. 15 special meeting means Laurent will succeed her boss, Los Alamos County Manager Steven Lynne, who is retiring. During the […]

The Los Alamos County Council in New Mexico voted unanimously last week to hire current deputy manager Anne Laurent, to become the new county manager effective March 3, 2024. The 7-0 vote during a Dec. 15 special meeting means Laurent will succeed her boss, Los Alamos County Manager Steven Lynne, who is retiring after more […]

The Los Alamos County Council in New Mexico voted unanimously last week to hire current deputy manager Anne Laurent, to become the new county manager effective March 3, 2024. The 7-0 vote during a Dec. 15 special meeting means Laurent will succeed her boss, Los Alamos County Manager Steven Lynne, who is retiring. During the […]

The Department of Energy will hold its Clean Energy Project Information Day for the Nevada National Security Site Feb. 13 in Las Vegas, the department said this week. The session will be held at the National Atomic Testing Museum at 755 East Flamingo Road in Las Vegas, Nevada on Feb. 13, at a time to […]

On Nov.6 the Los Alamos Fire Department responded to the highly-secure Plutonium Facility at the national laboratory for a report of a fire inside a glovebox used to manipulate radioactive material.  A lab spokesperson said the room was reopened on Nov. 16, though a report on the incident, written by Los Alamos, appeared to say […]

On Nov.6 the Los Alamos Fire Department responded to the highly-secure Plutonium Facility at the national laboratory for a report of a fire inside a glovebox used to manipulate radioactive material.  It took until Nov. 16 to reopen the room where the fire occurred, after all the gloves on the gloveboxes in the room were […]

An Iranian-born ex-professor, fired from the University of Toledo in Ohio for allegedly allowing an Iranian citizen to access software owned by the National Nuclear Security Administration, sued the school for wrongful termination, alleging multiple counts of discrimination. Ishmael Parsai, a 69 year-old, nationalized U.S. citizen born in Iran, sued the university in November after […]

An Iranian-born ex-professor, fired from the University of Toledo in Ohio for allegedly allowing an Iranian citizen to access software owned by the National Nuclear Security Administration, sued the school for wrongful termination, alleging multiple counts of discrimination. E. Ishmael Parsai, a 69 year-old, nationalized U.S. citizen born in Iran, sued the university in November […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration welcomed a baker’s dozen of non-governmental experts on arms control and nonproliferation to its Nevada facilities, including parts of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) outside Las Vegas, the agency announced this week.  The Nevada site hosts a variety of nonproliferation projects, largely focused on the ability to detect low-yield […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking comments between now and Feb. 29, 2024, on storm water discharge rules affecting the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and surrounding areas. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to fix water quality standards violations raised in a petition by a Taos-based water advocacy […]

The three finalists for the Los Alamos County, N.M., manager post, including the current deputy manager, will take part in a public “meet-and-greet” Dec.7, the county announced last week. The three finalists to succeed Los Alamos County Manager Steven Lynne are the current deputy, Anne Laurent; Gretchen Cassini, transportation surtax administrator for Broward County, Fla.; […]

Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and several of his Republican colleagues are raising concerns over a “troubling report on the state of the counterintelligence enterprise” at the Department of Energy and of the subsequent reassignment of Director Steven Black, who led the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence for eleven years. In a Nov. 21 statement, the […]

The comment period for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project Draft Environmental Assessment opens Dec. 19 and runs through Jan. 17.    The draft assessment analyzes the construction and operation of a new 115-kilovolt power transmission line and upgrades to the lab’s existing electrical infrastructure.  “Los Alamos requires a reliable and redundant […]

The comment period for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project Draft Environmental Assessment opens Dec. 19 and runs through Jan. 17.    The draft assessment analyzes the construction and operation of a new 115 kilovolt power transmission line and upgrades to the lab’s existing electrical infrastructure.  “Los Alamos requires a reliable and […]

The NNSA’s preferred option for continuing operations at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory involves building more than three million square feet of new facilities at various sites in California through 2035.  Two options for future operations at the lab, and their potential environmental impacts, are laid out in a new site-wide environmental impact statement covering the […]

Federal appeals judges on Wednesday heard arguments about whether the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories prime contractor forced out a 25-year scientist and manager by giving him only a day to decide whether to resign or undergo a performance improvement program. Plaintiff Robert Hwang, a Ph. D. formerly at the lab, “was fearful he […]

Federal appeals judges on Wednesday heard arguments about whether the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories prime contractor forced out a 25-year scientist and manager by giving him only a day to decide whether to resign or undergo a performance improvement program. Plaintiff Robert Hwang, a Ph. D. formerly at the lab, “was fearful he […]

A Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel will hear arguments Wednesday in San Francisco in an employment discrimination case filed by Robert Hwang against the Department of Energy’s prime contractor for Sandia National Laboratories in California. Hwang is appealing an August 2022 ruling by a U.S. Magistrate judge who rejected the scientist’s contention that […]

The Department of Energy Cleanup to Clean Energy Program will hold its second industry day at a DOE nuclear site, this time at the Idaho National Laboratory on Oct. 25. While the notice shared by DOE does not yet list an exact meeting time, the day-long session is scheduled for the Idaho National Laboratory’s meeting […]

The Department of Energy Cleanup to Clean Energy Program will hold its second industry day at a DOE nuclear site, this time at the Idaho National Laboratory on Oct. 25. While the notice shared by DOE does not yet list an exact meeting time, the day-long session is scheduled for the Idaho National Laboratory’s meeting […]