LANL: The Corporate Story

"Does anybody want to predict the schedule for completion of the LANL shutdown? My bet is that within 7 years the only workers at (the former) Los Alamos National Laboratory will be the cleanup crews."

Five years....
 

Comment on the "at will" status of LANS employees. A recent presentation to our organization by the head of Employee Relations said that was no longer going to be the case, that LANS had backed off on making employees "at will." I don't have any reason to doubt him. Anyone else know differently?
 

I agree, look the stand down was the last chance. I thought that was understood. Now they are going to close down LANL like they said they would.
 

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A message from your friendly LANS (aka LLNL) management:
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What? You people were expecting good news for LANL? Get real! Those days are gone forever. Now get back to work while you still have your temporary jobs.

If any one of you makes a mistake among LANL's 10,000 staff or sub-contractors, we'll come down hard on all of your heads regardless of who is responsible. Got that, you butt-heads and cowboys?

Actually, we'd prefer that most of you would leave the premises right now, as we don't really need your services and it would make our "mop-up" operations at LANL that much easier.

We find it amusing that most of you desperately hang on to your pathetic jobs regardless of how much we lower LANL's morale. Since we don't really like managing a bunch of losers, we've devised an escape plan for our executive team which will allow us to move back to cushy new jobs at LLNL once our work at LANL is complete. We can do this because we've recently seen to it that LLNL is where all of the future growth in new research for the the weapons complex will now take place. But, hey, can you blame us? We're true-blue UC'ians, and we don't really give a shit about Northern New Mexico (other than owning nice vacation homes in Santa Fe).

In no time at all we should be able to lie and cajole our way into growing the RRW design project at LLNL into a bloated, multi-billion dollar project just like we did with the NIF. Sweet!

But, hey, enjoy your new pit factory, LANL looooooooosers.
 

The RRW competition is a much bigger deal than it appears on the surface. Here is why. For many years, Congress has wanted to have just one, and not two, nuclear weapons research labs. The recent RRW competition clinches this decision in LLNL's favor. Congress now has all the ammunition they need to proceed. Expect to soon hear a growing chorus from Congress to close down the weapons research at LANL and move what remains of it out to LLNL.

No doubt about it. Any future left at LANL will probably be in the production area, with Bechtel and BWXT both profiting from this change in LANL's mission.
 

Look, I understand you folks have had a rough time. But so have a lot of other DOE sites. The fact is, DoD isn't going to take over and make all this go away. And another contractor besides LANS won't be any better. As tough and as frustrating as it can be, there are only two answers. ONE-quit. TWO--quit complaining, quit blaming everyone and everything else, and do the damn job as best you can. Not how you think it ought to be done in a perfect world, or how you want it be done, but how your management (LANS) and owner (DOE) has defined it will be done.

That's what every worker in this country has to do. And that's the only way you'll dig out of this hole.
 

LANL Weapons Managers held an all hands meeting today to lament the decision on RRW-1. the replacement for the Navy system.

It was clear that they were not pleased with the decision, and they have vowed to continue the RRW effort in the RRW-2, which will be for the Air Force.

Some folks from X Division (the NW Design division at LANL) asked questions about how the decision was made and what panel had concluded that the LLNL design was "more certifiable." The answers given were essentially "no answer." There was mention of the Nuclear Weapons Council and many other "advisors", but no one ever said that the NWC actually made the decision as it was announced.

Glenn Mara (PAD-NWP) said that he did not think there was any political mischief, just that LLNL had perhaps done a better job in its marketing. They said what the audience wanted to hear - "certifiable without testing," while LANL focused on the advances in safety, security and manufacturability. X Division staff stated to me that they felt that both designs were equally certifiable. They also expressed reservations about the LLNL package as a whole that are best discussed offline (and behind a fence). They do not agree that the LLNL design is "more rooted" in the Nuclear Test history.

Anyway, there are a bunch of disappointed people at LANL and it may be difficult to get enthusiasm back up to try this hard again.
 

The message from our national leadership is clear. Cronyism is a significant factor for national security decisions,and your services are no longer needed.

I suggest that you take your skills and find an employer somewhere on this planet who cares.
 

Re: 3/02/2007 8:25 PM's question about "at-will" employment --

You all signed a contract when you hired on at LANS that spelled out your at-will employment status. If you haven't signed another piece of paper indicating otherwise, you will be at-will employees come June 1.
 

I really doubt that LLNL will give LANL any more than the minimal amount of RRW work. LLNL faces the same budget problems as LANL: a new contract with a signficantly increase management fee, additional pension costs, and a reduced budget. Furthermore, this is an opportunity for LLNL to move LANL further away from being a competitor for weapons design work.

With pit production being the major NW effort at LANL, the LDRD budget will be hard to justify.

The fun is over!
 

Hey 3/02/2007 10:30 PM, we did just that. We wored very hard, submitted a better design, and won the technical vote. The decision was made based upon load leveling, plain and simple. Do you suppose a little venting on lack of support by management could be allowed? Then, we can all vote with our shoes and find work where the management actually cares.
 

Staff are understandably in denial about current events at LANL. Issues like the pending budget shortfall, the soon to be at-will employment status for staff, the loss of the RRW competition to LLNL, the on-going attrition as more staff leave for healthier work environments.

Those staff members who are permitted to remain, as the shrinking budget allows, have a few years left in which to continue practicing denial. It will eventually become inescapably obvious that LANL really is destined to be shut down by Congress.

But not just yet. It takes time for the reality of one's work place being phased out to fully sink in.
 

Now that the workload has been leveled in LLNL's favor, can we have our W80 back?
 

"At Will" in June? Are you kidding...we have slowly been moving in this direction all along. If "they" want you gone...you are! Management will find or invent a scenario to move you out, either by demoralizing you or giving you nothing to do till you can't stand it another day. This RIF is all about money. It has nothing to do with talent. It is all about who you know and how well connected you are. And that will only buy a reprieve from the inevitable for a short amount of time.

Why would any young scientist or engineer want to build a career here? There are none to be built. If you want a good job and a choice, it is time to face reality and get your resumes out there.

It seems quite clear when we were shut down so long, that the "visible" impact was minimal, even though we and our programs suffered irreversible damages. Admiral Butthead was running a dry run to see what the consequences would be, if LANL were to shut down. He was on a mission, and it was accomplished. Did anyone in the governement complain that he was impacting our mission, of which we would never recover? No! This is how LANL will be slowly dismantled and "Rocky Flattened"(term from another Blog entry). The LANL dismemberment will take far less that (5) years. 10,000 workers were laid off from Savannah River Site in less than (2) years.

If they were honest about the LANL dismantlement, chaos would result in the flood of exiting personnel and foreclosures. They want you to leave, no one is being asked to stay. They think a steady stream out is better than a flood.