-Gus]
Amidst rampant (yawn) inquiries as to where the LLNL blogs (ho, hum) went on the by-request Disappearing LLNL Blogs post (snore), this one bit of perspective came barreling through. It is admittedly a bit acerbic, but it does make the point that most staff do not seem to realize that the prime driver behind our current RIF situation is DOE's plan to turn LANL into the next Rocky Flats Plant. That's why LANS was awarded the contract. Bechtel is a construction company -- they will build the new facilities. BWXT is a nuclear facility operator, they will, well; you probably get my drift.
That's why WFO not being actively recruited. That is why existing WFO is migrating away from LANL, with LANS cheerfully waving bye-bye as each WFO project heads for the door. See the More work leaving LANL post for discussion in this topic.
That's why our overhead rates have been allowed to soar -- LANL has a new mission, and anybody not directly involved that new mission will eventually find themselves unfunded. Trimming unfunded staff who are not currently involved with plutonium "science" or plutonium production operations is just prep work for the new mission.
Sadly, most staff that I speak with have not considered the big picture, again.
-Gus
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Who the hell cares what happened to the Livermore blogs? Why not spend your time focusing on the fact that DOE is going to pick LANL to be the (get ready for it) *Production* Pit Manufacturing location for the Weapons Production Complex.
Or how about thinking about the fact that LANS is RIFing 750 people to cover the increased cost of doing business that their presence as M&E operator at LANL has caused.
Oh, I forgot for just a moment: Gen X'ers only care about a paycheck. And Baby Boomers only care about their benefits, to include, perhaps, free day care.
Forget I mentioned it; silly me. Go back to wasting your time wondering were the LLNL blogs went.
Oh, I forgot for just a moment: Gen X'ers only care about a paycheck. And Baby Boomers only care about their benefits, to include, perhaps, free day care.
Forget I mentioned it; silly me. Go back to wasting your time wondering were the LLNL blogs went.
32 comments:
I care about the LLNL blog, where there is more real information and less complaining. Perhaps, that is why its gone again.
If you don't like your current position move on and get over it...things are a changing!
Yeah, as if "focusing" or anything that's said on the blog will change anything. Lot of hot air by someone who has too much self-importance -- must be a physicist.
"Yeah, as if "focusing" or anything that's said on the blog will change anything. Lot of hot air by someone who has too much self-importance -- must be a physicist."
Why do you even reply if its all waste?
Any and all information from both labs is helpful. The information here on the LANL blog had a critical impact on TCP choices at LLNL. That's more than just hot air!
I agree with 8:30 If you're so upset about everything move on!
Now....does anyone know what happened to LLNL blog?
I am a researcher at LLNL and care deeply about what happens at both labs. I hope LANL feels the same although it we seems that this discussion is putting Gus to sleep (snore?!?...
Shows how cool Gus is. He put up the LLNL discussion even though he fell asleep with it.
10 bucks says Gus has no idea what "acerbic" means. Fess up Gus, you read it in a book or a magazine and figured you could impress the reading audience with your impressive vocabulary.
Sorry.
The on-again, off-again nature of the LLNL blogs sort of put me off them, but I should not have been so cavalier about the sudden demise of the latest version of a LLNL blog. I understand that, flawed as an anonymous blog forum is, it is still a superior venue for information flow than anything either of the new corporate laboratory operators would ever provide.
Maybe the 4th time will be the charm for LLNL blog readers.
-Gus
9:14 owes me two beers, plus change.
-Gus
Doug Roberts previously posted on LANL: The Real Story, Monday, October 24, 2005:
"2010, Welcome to LAPPP (Los Alamos Pit Production Plant)
Doug, please accept this submission for anonymous posting on your blog.
----------------------------
2010, Welcome to LAPPP (Los Alamos Pit Production Plant) former site of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Finally, it is out in the open: last week NNSA announced its plans to turn LANL into a pit production facility. An earlier post on this blog discusses whether or not last year´s Nanos´debacle was actually part of a clever conspiracy to change LANL´s mission from ´National Science´to ´Plutonium Pit Production.´Regardless, the cards are now on the table.
The questions raised by this recent announcement (see http://lanl-the-real-story.blogspot.com/2005/10/nuclear-agency-looks-to-expand-lanl.html) include:
-- How can Los Alamos not become the next Rocky Flats?
-- Can science and pit production coexist? Because
-- Who wants live near and work at a pit factory? And finally,
-- Given this newly-revealed mission that NNSA has in mind for LANL, does it really matter who wins the contract?
Sometimes things change for the better, sometimes for the worse. This new ´mission´for Los Alamos is a change for the worse.
# posted by Doug Roberts: 10/24/2005 10:22:00 AM."
(I essentially agree in this post.)
I care about me, and only me. That's why I work at LANL.
The post of 9:35 PM on LAPPP from over two years ago demonstrates why the blogs are so important. Yes, the signal-to-noise ratio can be very low at times, but there are nuggets of knowledge embedded in these posts.
Read the blogs to find a portion of truth about what is really happening at the weapon labs. Some smart folks saw what was coming, sold their homes right after the LANS transition for a top dollar price, switched jobs, and are now living a much better and less stressful life.
If you snooze, you loose.
"Can science and pit production coexist? "
I really do not see why they could coexist. Science will not be counted in the yearly fee only pits. So science has no real "value added" with pit production.
Some of the earlier LLNL blogs hinted that they were pressured to delete their sites. Even those hints at the shuttered sites are now gone.
The current site LLNL The Final Story disappeared suddenly and completely yesterday. "Vlad" was doing a decent job, and there were some thoughtful posts starting to occur.
Gus or Pinky, do you receive any legal pressures on your site to "cease and desist?" Do we assume that Vlad just quit, or is there something more evil occurring?
Poor LLNL. Can't keep a LLNL blog going, and from the looks of it they can't even design a decent nuclear bomb. Remind me again why we have two nuclear weapon design labs?
The LLNL blog is (was) important to us LANL people in that it showed us that the NNSA is not just screwing over LANL. Also, it shows that the management at LLNL is much more sensitive to the employees' concerns than Mikey et al are.
"Gus or Pinky, do you receive any legal pressures on your site to "cease and desist?" Do we assume that Vlad just quit, or is there something more evil occurring?"
No, I have not received even a hint of pressure, legal or otherwise, to stop my participation here. I am told that this blog does occasionally cause a case or two of upper-level heartburn inside LANS, which is one of the reasons I keep plugging along.
My own personal opinion about the recent demise of LLNL's latest blog is that 'Vlad' is a flake.
-Gus
If LANL is really reduced to being nothing more than a pit factory, then I assume that means that all weapons design work will go to LLNL.
Correctomundo, 6:31 AM.
Give that man a cigar!
-Gus
12/3/07 6:31 AM, your logical skills are profoundly underdeveloped. If LANL is reduced to "nothing more than a pit factory" then by definition everything else would have already been stripped out to achieve that state. However, I still see no indication that the end state you describe is a goal of anyone in NNSA.
Counterpoint: LANL has been a high-power detonator factory since 1989. This mission has not adversely impacted the high-power detonator design mission.
7:17AM,
Your logic is profoundly, er, fucked up.
LANS just took over a year ago. The mission change has only just begun. Three years from now, it will be complete -- check back then to see were all non Pu science resides. High explosives work *may* remain at LANL, since it closely relates to pit fab.
"High explosives work *may* remain at LANL, since it closely relates to pit fab." - 7:24 AM
You must have missed the NNSA presentation made at LANL a weeks ago. NNSA plans on ending high explosive testing at LANL. Only small "lab scale" testing will be allowed starting in FY09. The big boom-booms are being moved out to NTS along with most of the high explosive materials, I suppose.
You can remove the "may" from your post. This stuff is gone from LANL starting next year.
Actually, 11:24am, I do recall now reading about NNSA's plans to move explosive testing from LANL to NTS. Thanks for reminding me.
-Gus
If just about everything moves from LANL except the pit fab, there will be some real bargains in housing in the town of Los Alamos.
I've heard predictions that the LANL employee population will stabilize in a few years at around 4,500, about 500 more than RFP employed in the 90's during its cleanup phase.
Paradise lost at Shangri-La.
11:24: So does that mean DARHT is going to NTS?
What's the latest over/under number (even money) for the voluntary?
"So does that mean DARHT is going to NTS?"
As Gus said earlier in this thread -
"Correctomundo .....
Give that man a cigar!"
If you read the NNSA's FY2008 budget request document, it states that DARHT will stay at LANL through 2015, at which time all hydrotesting will go to the NTS.
9:35 and LAPPP
Yeah, its going to be one heckuva pit factory with 11 Plutonium Machinists! Roflmao!
Welcome flats trash!!!
"What's the latest over/under number (even money) for the voluntary?" - 5:26 PM
The word I'm hearing is that as of Monday afternoon, the number of staff selecting SSP is quickly heading toward 300.
This is far more than I thought it would be. Seems a lot of folks at LANL are feed up and are rushing for the exits.
Who knows, by COB on Wednesday we might even see 450 to 500 workers who have decided to call it quits and take one final mega-paycheck.
No harm in putting in the SSP papers before Wednesday and then using the "just kidding" clause to back out later. It will be interesting to see the final number of people who actually leave with the voluntary offer on January 10th.
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