UC transition team prepares to run lab

The University of California, along with its three corporate
partners, began to transition a new management team into the lab
last week after being awarded a contract for the Los Alamos
National Laboratory on Dec. 21, 2005.

The group detailed the work that will be done to create a smooth
transition into the lab, said Sue Kuntz, a spokeswoman of the
transition team, which is scheduled to take over on June 1.

“The team is so excited to be here … and to work with
the lab,” Kuntz said. “They are ready to work
hard.”

The Department of Energy handed the new seven-year contract to
manage the Los Alamos lab to the UC and its partners ““
Bechtel National, BWX Technologies, Inc. and the Washington Group
International, who are collectively called Los Alamos National
Security. A partnership between the University of Texas and defense
contractor Lockheed Martin was also in the race for the bid.

University officials were predictably pleased with the Energy
Department’s decision.

“The University of California deserves to be awarded the
new contract,” said Student Regent Adam Rosenthal.
“With the exception of a few problems, the University of
California’s management of Los Alamos has been
distinguished.”

UC President Robert Dynes said in a statement that the decision
marks a “new era” for the UC and Los Alamos.

“All of us at the University of California look forward to
being a part of the great science yet to come at Los Alamos,”
Dynes said in the statement.

The UC has operated Los Alamos since 1943, but the lab has faced
problems with fraud, improper spending, lax security and UC
mismanagement over the past seven years. The incidents included
missing computer disks with classified information and questionable
UC transactions amounting to $195,246 in a period of five years. As
a result, the Energy Department decided to open up the Los Alamos
lab contract for bid in 2002.

Kuntz said a goal is to improve the management of the lab so it
will be “safe and run efficiently.”

Its first step is to evaluate the employees, Kuntz said. The
team plans to spend the next month meeting the staff members and
placing them in positions to “capitalize their talent,”
she said.

“(The team) is anxious to meet the employees,” Kuntz
added.

All current staff members are guaranteed a job and will receive
the same pay and similar benefits, according to an Energy
Department press release. However, some senior managers who were
identified during the proposal bid for contract will be
replaced.

The new head of Los Alamos will be Michael Anastasio, who
currently leads the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The team will submit a basic transition plan to the Energy
Department on Jan. 20 that will outline its steps in the transition
process throughout the next five months.

The lab, which developed the atomic bomb and now conducts
research, including work on nuclear weapons, will continue
operating during the transition process.

“One of (the team’s) objectives is not to interrupt
their ongoing work,” Kuntz said.

The UC Board of Regents voted to bid for the lab last May,
despite protests from some students and UC officials.

Former Regent Gary Novack, who was the only one to vote against
the bid in an 11-1 decision, said the UC should be focused on
education rather than nuclear research.

“It would not have been in the best interest of the
UC,” he said. “We should focus on our primary goal,
which is to educate the students of California, and (the lab) would
take away from that.”

Even though Novack is concerned, he said the Energy Department
made the right decision to award the UC the contract.

“(The Energy Department’s decision) is a statement
of the quality of UC research,” he said. “We would be
the best academic organization for the country.”