Charles McMillan will retire as director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory on Dec. 31, the long-time lab hand told employees of the northern New Mexico weapons lab Tuesday.
McMillan was appointed director of the weapons lab in 2011 by Los Alamos National Security: a consortium led by the University of California and industry partners. From 2006 to 2011, McMillan led the lab’s weapons physics organization. Previously, he served at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which is also managed by a University of California-led partnership.
In a subsequent press release, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which operates the lab, said the LANS board of governors would identify McMillan’s successor “in the late fall.”
“We are all safer today, and will be for many years to come, thanks to Dr. McMillan,” the agency said in its press release.
McMillan oversaw Los Alamos during a period that included nuclear-safety lapses such as the burial of an improperly packaged barrel of plutonium-contaminated transuranic waste at the underground Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The bad packing job — performed by a LANS subcontractor — caused a radiation leak at the deep underground facility that ground transuranic waste disposal across the DOE complex to a halt for years.
Subsequently, DOE announced it would not pick up the final options of Los Alamos National Security’s contract, setting the $2-billion-a-year deal up to expire on Sept. 30, 2018.
McMillan was also in the top spot when nuclear security lapses prompted the contractor to suspend operations at the lab’s crucial Plutonium Facility in 2013.
More recently, LANS was dinged for air-mailing plutonium to Livermore that was supposed to be shipped by ground only.
Sometime this month, or possibly next, DOE plans to release its final solicitation for the next Los Alamos lab manager. The deal, including a five-year base and a five-year option, has already drawn interest from the University of California and the University of Texas.
Editor’s Note, Sept. 9, 2017, 11:15 p.m. Eastern: The story was corrected to clarify that Charles McMillan is not an employee of the University of California.
Editor’s Note, Sept. 9, 2017, 11:37 p.m. Eastern: The story was corrected to clarify that McMillan, and not NNSA, announced his decision to retire.
Editor’s Note, Sept. 9, 2017, 12:20 p.m. Eastern: The story was corrected to clarify that LANS selects the next laboratory director.
