National Laboratory

NNSA Administrator Dedicates Argus Project In Nevada

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NNSA Administrator Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty

NNSA News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) announced the completion of the Argus security project at the Device Assembly Facility (DAF) at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) near Las Vegas.

Argus will enhance the security mission to protect nuclear material and other assets that are critical to NNSA’s national security work.

NNSA Administrator and DOE Under Secretary for Nuclear Security Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty attended the Argus dedication ceremony Sept. 3 along Read More

LANL Hosts Education, Workforce Training Conversation

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LANL Director Thom Mason

By BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post
bjgordon@ladailypost.com

Los Alamos National Laboratory hosted a Conversation on Education and Workforce Wednesday via Zoom.

LANL Community Partnerships Office Director Kathy Keith moderated the event.

Laboratory Director Thom Mason opened the meeting addressing Laboratory workforce needs.

“The Laboratory has been in a mode of increased hiring,” Mason said. “About half of the new employees are replacing retirees and the other half represent staff growth. This is the highest rate of hiring in 30 years.”

Jobs span a wide Read More

Skolnik: School Reopening And Safety – A Proposal For Moving Forward

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By RICHARD SKOLNIK
Los Alamos

Few things can be more important to our community than reopening schools as safely as possible for teachers, staff, students and those of us who live here.

It will be impossible to guarantee that no one gets infected with COVID-19 as our schools reopen. However, it is imperative that our schools and community engage in the best possible practices to avoid infection. This is especially so given the enormous costs of infection in days of lost schooling, days of lost work, hospital costs, and possible deaths.

In addition, we are learning more and more that infection alone, Read More

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Reaches Early Milestone In Work To Increase Underground Ventilation

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A bucket of excavated dirt is lifted out of the utility shaft being excavated at WIPP. Courtesy/WIPP

WIPP News:

CARLSBAD — A project at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has reached an early milestone as crews embark on a new phase to excavate a new utility shaft — an EM 2020 priority — located west of the WIPP plant.

The $75 million shaft sinking is integral to increasing ventilation to the WIPP underground. When completed, it will be WIPP’s largest shaft at 26 feet in diameter, reaching 2,275 feet, with drifts, or passageways, being excavated at the 2,150-foot level to match the rest of the WIPP Read More

Remembering Helene Suydam 1919-2020

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Helene Suydam

COMMUNITY News:

In August 2020, Helene Suydam (click for AHF’s 2005 interview) died peacefully in her sleep at age 100.

John Ruminer, Board of Directors of the Los Alamos Historical Society, said, “Helene was an iconic member of our community. Her sixty-plus years on Bathtub Row touched the lives of many of our best-known historical families. She had a great love of history and was one of our strongest supporters.”

Born in 1919, Helene married Bergen “Jerry” Suydam (1916-2011) in 1946. The next year the couple came to Los Alamos when Jerry, a theoretical physicist, was recruited

Read More

LANL Major Subcontractor’s Consortium To Dissolve Sept. 30

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LANL Major Subcontractor’s Consortium News:

The executive board of the LANL Major Subcontractor’s Consortium (MSC) has voted to dissolve the organization effective Sept. 30, 2020 due to the changing business climate and a shift in regional community investment requirements from laboratory subcontractors.

Founded in 2004, the MSC is made up of 30+ major subcontractors to Los Alamos National Laboratory that pooled economic development investments to diversify the regional economy and reduce its dependency of federal dollars. The focus of the organization has been to improve economic Read More

2020 Revision Of Los Alamos National Laboratory Hazardous Waste Facility Permit Community Relations Plan

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Los Alamos National Laboratory. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

The updated Los Alamos National Laboratory Hazardous Waste Facility Permit 2020 Community Relations Plan is now available online.

This plan is updated annually to include necessary changes and public comments received during the year. The updated plan is posted annually Sept. 1 in compliance with the Los Alamos National Laboratory Hazardous Waste Facility Permit (EPA ID No. NM0890010515).

LANL welcomes comments year round. Comments can be submitted by email using the Comments Form linked at the Community Relations Plan web page Read More

NNSA Administrator Gordon-Hagerty Visits Oak Ridge To Celebrate NNSA’s 20th Anniversary; Meet Essential Workforce 

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Before entering any Y-12 building, NNSA Administrator Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty followed the site’s COVID-19 procedures, including a temperature check.Courtesy/NNSA

tering any Y-12 building, NNSA Administrator Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty followed the site’s COVID-19 procedures, including a temperature check.Y-12 Principal Investigator Felicia Rutland shows the NNSA Administrator items used in the Test and Demonstration Facility. Courtesy/NNSA

NNSA News:

WASHINGTON – National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty continued her tour Read More

Mason, Mitchell, Scrase: Collaborating To Beat COVID-19

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LANL Director Dr. Thom Mason

By Dr. Thom Mason, Dr. Jason Mitchell and Dr. David R. Scrase

As COVID-19 began to spread throughout the United States, New Mexico’s public health agencies, national laboratories and health care organizations were already strategizing ways to effectively stem the spread when it reached our state.

These collaborators – along with every New Mexican who followed their guidance by wearing face masks, practicing social distance and minimizing outings – have helped New Mexico’s cases remain low when neighboring states have experienced significant outbreaks.

These Read More

Bothwell: LLNL Should Seize Opportunity To Appoint African American Director Following Retirement Of William Goldstein

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LLNL Director William H. Goldstein

By Anthony P. X. Bothwell, Esq.
Former LLNL Public Affairs Director
San Francisco, Calif.

Dear Dr. Goldstein:

I join your many well-wishers as you approach retirement following 36 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory including six years as Laboratory Director. Your advice and counsel undoubtedly will be of great value to your successors. Although the coronavirus pandemic limits everyone’s activities for a time, I trust you will stay safe, be of good health and enjoy family and friends.

Your announcement on July 9 indicated that you plan to stay Read More