HELD: DOE PUSHING FOR FEE REDUCTIONS AT LOS ALAMOS, LIVERMORE

The Department of Energy has had discussions with the companies that run Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories about reducing the fee paid to the companies, acting National Nuclear Security Administration chief Bruce Held confirmed yesterday. Speaking on the sidelines of a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing that was postponed, Held noted that the discussions were in their preliminary stages but he characterized them as “pretty productive.” In February, Held said DOE/NNSA was looking to move toward more of a “public interest” model of management for the nuclear weapons laboratories and away from the high fees paid to Bechtel and University of California-run contractor teams at Los Alamos and Livermore. “Conversations have been very, very good, really good,” Held said. “That’s not getting into the details but starting to frame the issue of what we’re trying to achieve. My strong feeling is these institutions exist to serve the public interest. They do not exist for profit maximization. For the M&Os that run them we have to provide them reasonable compensation … but they are not profit-maximizing organizations.”