Sep 23, 2008

Budget Squeeze Has Lab Lease Facility

By John Fleck
Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer

Los Alamos has had major successes of late, but is feeling squeezed by dwindling funding and aging infrastructure, the lab's director told members of the University of California board of regents on Wednesday.

With aging buildings and little money to replace them, the lab is trying a new approach to building a new science complex — having a private developer finance and construct the building, which the lab will then lease.

The lab last week chose Pacific Equity Partners to build the new Los Alamos Science Complex.

The problem, Michael Anastasio said at the California meeting, which was broadcast over the Internet, is a federal governmentwide squeeze on money for science.

Located in the Jemez Mountains west of Santa Fe, Los Alamos is one of the nation's three nuclear weapons research centers. Anastasio took over as the laboratory's director two years ago when a consortium led by engineering giant Bechtel took over lab management from the University of California, which had managed Los Alamos since its founding during World War II.

The University of California is one of Bechtel's partners in the new management group set up two years ago to run the lab.

Anastasio called the current period “an important time of transition for the laboratory.”

The additional cost associated with the transition to private management, combined with a budget losing ground to inflation, has meant the equivalent of a 25 percent reduction in available money to run Los Alamos, Anastasio told the UC regents.

Lab employment has dropped by 2,200, he said.

Despite the tough times, Anastasio praised the science being done at Los Alamos, both in the nuclear weapons program and elsewhere.

The lab's new Roadrunner supercomputer is the world's fastest — the first computer in the world to break the petaflop barrier, a thousand trillion calculations per second.

The U.S. nuclear weapons program financed Roadrunner, but Anastasio noted that one of its first scientific calculations will be a simulation of the human brain.

According to Anastasio, Los Alamos has shown marked improvements in two areas that have caused problems in the past: safety and security.

Security incidents are down 75 percent from a year ago, and safety incidents are down 35 percent, he said.

Norman Pattiz, head of the regents' Lab Oversight Committee, said lab management at Los Alamos and the other two laboratories the university helps manage for the federal government have received “extremely positive feedback” from the federal officials responsible for the labs.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

So how is this deal with Pacific Equity Partners different from the one with the US Postal Service that fell through some time ago?

Anonymous said...

It means we're not going postal.

Anonymous said...

Why not name the so called "officals" who have positive things to say regarding LANS progress?

Frank Young said...

I wondered that too. If anyone has some names and quotes please send them in.

Anonymous said...

"The additional cost associated with the transition to private management, combined with a budget losing ground to inflation, has meant the equivalent of a 25 percent reduction in available money to run Los Alamos, Anastasio told the UC regents."

How about saying Bechtel pocketed 25 percent of the money that was appropriated to run the lab?

At least that would explain how the money disappeared.

Anonymous said...

it's hard for me to believe that the safety incidents are down that much. more plausible explanations are: (a) lack of ongoing work; (b) lack of workers; and/or (c) lack of honesty in reporting and classifying of safety stats. it certainly can't be due to better management.

Anonymous said...

I don't really understand what's supposed to go into the new Science Complex. Light lab and office space only, right? No classified space, and no rad work. So who does that leave? We can get EES and T division out of their trailer parks, and some D Division folks. Maybe some laser jocks in C Division Who else? The materials scientists aleady have new digs, by and large. Most of C Division needs rad/nuke space. How do you accomodate 1400 scientists?

Anonymous said...

7:32 pm: "I don't really understand what's supposed to go into the new Science Complex. Light lab and office space only, right? No classified space, and no rad work."

We've seen this kind of stupidity before. Consider The NISC, which was also initially planned to have "no rad work," until late in construction, drastically increasing costs. Also, everyone wants to believe nothing they do could ever be classified, but sooner or later (usually later) they find they forgot some aspect, or a sponsor wants to go classified with some part of the work. Surprise! - no secure space to do the work! So, they argue it REALLY isn't classified, and then the security infractions start. Same old stupidity, in trying to convince a construction sponsor they don't have to get their hands dirty (or their budget killed) with rad or classified, and the attendant rules and regulations.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone explain why/how a company from Oz is building a complex at a US National Laboratory?

Anonymous said...

The simplest explanation for the company from Oz, PEP-an Australian company, is that they are politically well connected to the Republicans. They are well connected through the fact that the founders of PEP formerly worked at Bain and Company, Mitt Romney's firm.

If this logic is true, PEP may vanish right after the election in November.

Anonymous said...

"The simplest explanation for the company from Oz, PEP-an Australian company, is that they are politically well connected to the Republicans." - 6:40 AM

And, I might add, Terry Wallace, the person charged with bringing in the Science Complex, comes from a family of well connected Republicans. Heck, it's how he got his PAD position with LANS!

Anymore questions?

Anonymous said...

I have actually read the Science Complex RFP, and it does include classified space.

Unless that was removed from the final contract, it is a very significant fraction of the project and statements here to the contrary are incorrect.

Anonymous said...

So tell me where I can read about the Science Complex, in more than just press release sound bites. I've looked on the PADSTE website and googled it and there is really nothing of substance on the LANL web. I didn't even know the location had changed until I drove past the sign on W Jemez Road the other day.