National Laboratories

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has tasked the Institute for Defense Analyses’ Science and Technology Policy Institute to study governance of the nation’s federal laboratories, and former Under Secretary of Energy for Science Steve Koonin will head up the review effort, NW&M Monitor has learned. The study is expected to examine […]

The top two lawmakers on the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittees are backing the White House’s decision to have the Institute for Defense Analyses’ Science and Technology Policy Institute study the governance structure of the federal laboratories. The subcommittee requested a recently released National Academy of Sciences study on management of the National Nuclear […]

The directors of the nation’s three nuclear weapons laboratories will appear before the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee next week along with the authors of a National Academy of Sciences report that was critical of the relationship between the labs and the National Nuclear Security Administration. Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan, Sandia […]

Should the Department of Energy choose to again look beyond the current Federal Project Director ranks to fill the soon-to-be-vacant FPD slot at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Chief Operating Officer Jim Krupnick has emerged as a potential candidate, WC Monitor has learned. If Krupnick is chosen, he would replace Dale […]

The directors of the nation’s three nuclear weapons laboratories will appear before the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee next week along with the authors of a National Academy of Sciences report that was critical of the relationship between the labs and the National Nuclear Security Administration. Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan, Sandia […]

Management of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s three nuclear weapons laboratories will be the focus Wednesday when the heads of the three labs testify before the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee. Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan, Sandia National Laboratories Director Paul Hommert and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Parney Albright will be […]

During debate on the New START Treaty in 2010, the directors of the nation’s three nuclear weapons laboratories endorsed the Obama Administration’s nuclear modernization plan. But given the changes to the plan in the last 18 months, which include the deferment of construction of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility and delays to the […]

The Department of Energy has issued a Request for Interest and prequalification criteria for the construction of new transuranic waste storage buildings for Los Alamos National Laboratory’s TRU Waste Facility. DOE intends to issue an RFP in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2013 for work at the facility, located at LANL’s TA-63 site. “The […]

Sandia National Laboratories is scheduled to make the last of 11 transuranic waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant today, with a group of dignitaries on hand, including New Mexico state officials, to mark the truck’s departure. Sandia, one of the Department of Energy’s smaller TRU waste sites, had help from the DOE’s Central […]

URS executive Charlie Anderson has formally been named Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Associate Director for Nuclear and High Hazard Operations after serving in the role in an acting capacity for the last eight months. Anderson, who joined the laboratory in 2009 as the Deputy Associate Director for Nuclear and High Hazard Operations, takes over for […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has named Richard Verhaagen as its new site representative for the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Verhaagen will replace Brett Broderick, effective in July, according to a Board release. Verhaagen joined the DNFSB’s technical staff in May 2008 and during his tenure he has been responsible for “evaluating the effectiveness […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has formally named Juan Griego the Deputy Manager of the Los Alamos Site Office after the longtime site office employee held the position in an acting capacity for the last seven months. Griego replaces Roger Snyder, who left the site office last summer to head up the Department of Energy’s […]

DP road, the place where the town of Los Alamos comes closest to lab property, was closed for part of Wednesday after a 60-year-old chemical canister “flared” while it was being examined during cleanup work. The area, which dates to the Manhattan Project era, is in the midst of a major cleanup project, with work […]

Pete Maggiore has been named the new Assistant Manager for Environmental Projects at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Site Office. Maggiore, who last served as deputy assistant manager for environmental projects, replaces George Rael, who has been named as Assistant Manager for National Security Missions. Prior to joining the NNSA’s Los Alamos office […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory said yesterday that 557 employees had accepted buyouts and would leave the lab early next month, though it’s unclear whether enough employees accepted buyouts to stave off forced layoffs. With the lab facing budget shortfalls in Fiscal Year 2012 and FY2013, officials had hoped between 400 and 800 of its 7,600 […]

Three companies have won new subcontracts to perform waste transportation and disposal work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the lab announced yesterday. ARS Cavanagh Environmental Services, LLC; Navarro Research and Engineering; and Portage won the new Master Task Order Agreements, which have a total ceiling value of up to $250 million. Under the agreements, […]

The National Academy of Sciences panel that for the last year has examined the impact of privatization on the nation’s nuclear weapons laboratories is expected to release its long-awaited report this week in advance of a Feb. 16 Congressional hearing. Chaired by former Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Director Charles Shank and UCLA professor Kumar Patel, […]

The expected release of the long-awaited National Academy of Sciences report on the impact of privatization at the nation’s nuclear weapons laboratories has been pushed back until next week, according to one of the study’s main organizers. Dick Rowberg, the Deputy Executive Director in the Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences of the National Research […]

Lawyers from both sides of the age discrimination lawsuit against Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will meet again today for an unplanned round of talks aimed at settling the lawsuit before it goes to trial. Previous efforts to settle the lawsuit had failed, but there appears to have been progress at a mediation session conducted Tuesday, […]

Gene Aloise, the Government Accountability Office’s Director of Natural Resources and Environment, has been added to the roster of witnesses scheduled to testify at Thursday’s House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing on the management of the NNSA’s nuclear weapons laboratories. The addition of Aloise bumped former Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Group President Bob […]

A National Academy of Sciences National Research Council study panel says “serious” management issues are hampering work at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear weapons laboratories, noting a “persistent level of mistrust” between the labs and their federal overseers and calling the relationship “dysfunctional” and “broken.” The report, a copy of which was obtained by […]

With the Obama Administration deciding to defer the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility project for at least five years, Los Alamos National Laboratory will not be able to ramp up pit production, lab Director Charlie McMillan told employees in a lab-wide email yesterday. The multi-billion-dollar CMRR-NF was not designed to be used for pit […]

The National Academy of Sciences panel that delivered a highly anticipated—and highly critical—report on management of the nuclear weapons laboratories this week took a pass on one issue central to the discussion about the privatization of the laboratories: was it worth it to significantly increase the fee at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories? […]

A host of New Mexico state lawmakers are calling on Congressional appropriators to ensure that adequate levels of funding are provided for cleanup work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. In letters sent Feb. 14 to the heads of the House and Senate Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittees, the […]

Three former heads of the nation’s nuclear weapons laboratories joined in support of the National Academy of Sciences panel that called for significant work to repair the relationship between the labs and the NNSA, telling a House subcommittee yesterday that burdensome oversight was on the verge of suffocating science at the institutions. “In my view, […]

Geoff Beausoleil is expected to take over as the Sandia Site Office Manager April 8 after his appointment to the position was approved by the Department of Energy’s Senior Management Review Board last week. Beausoleil is currently serving as the deputy manager of the Pantex Site Office, and was named to head up the Sandia […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory has taken the first steps toward cutting 400 to 800 jobs from its work force as it grapples with a budget this year that is down $300 million, lab director Charlie McMillan told employees at an all-hands meeting Tuesday afternoon. The decision comes on the heels of the National Nuclear Security […]

Senior National Nuclear Security Administration official Ken Powers is leaving the agency for a post at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Powers, the Associate Administrator for Management and Budget, will formally leave the agency Friday and begin work at NREL March 5. His deputy, Cindy Lersten, will head up the NNSA Office of Management and […]

There are signs that budget rollbacks and jobs cuts at Los Alamos National Laboratory are entering the political arena, with an email blast to reporters from Republican Senate candidate Heather Wilson framing the problem in terms that suggest the partisan battle to come. Wilson, who served on the National Security Council and represented Albuquerque in […]

The Los Alamos County Fire Department, which provides fire department services to Los Alamos National Laboratory under a 2008 Cooperative Agreement, could not account for dozens of pieces of federal property, did not apply federal guidelines to keep track of its property, and may have failed to protect sensitive information, according to a Department of […]