Spreading cheer
Some 1,031 holiday gifts from Los Alamos National Laboratory employees are being readied for Northern New Mexico children and seniors. The gifts are being delivered to partner agencies in Northern New Mexico.
Some of the partners include: Wings for Hope, Santa Fe; Los Alamos Family Council; Taos Housing Authority; Boys and Girls Club Del Norte; Chimayo and Abiquiu; State Children, Youth and Families Department offices in Española, Las Vegas, Raton and Santa Fe. (Full Story)
LANL Top science news of 2012
Los Alamos National Laboratory made its scientific mark in a wide variety of areas, and the stories that caught the public’s attention and that of the science community reflect those broad capabilities.
Top science stories for the year traveled from the canyons of Mars to the high desert forests of New Mexico, from cosmic particles to the structure of proteins and enzymes.
Computer models of wildfires, and nuclear magnetic resonance signatures of plutonium, it all was fascinating for those following Los Alamos’ science news. (Full Story)
LANL to donate $3M to nonprofits
LANL employee P.J. Timmerman outside the Española Valley Animal Shelter. LANL photo.
Los Alamos’ employees pledged a record $2.13 million to United Way and other eligible nonprofits, according to a news release. Los Alamos National Security LLC, which operates the laboratory, will use its $1 million match to bring the total to $3.1 million this holiday season.
“I am again touched by the generosity of our employees,” said LANL Director Charlie McMillan. “In a challenging year for the laboratory, they have come through for Northern New Mexico. It speaks to their pride in where they work and live.” (Full Story)
Los Alamos National Lab, NNSA donate $3.1 million
Los Alamos National Laboratory employees have again demonstrated concern for their communities and those in need by pledging a record $2.13 million to United Way and other eligible nonprofit programs. (Full Story)
Also from the Monitor this week:
Apply now for LANL Foundation scholarships
Northern New Mexico students aiming to pursue four-year college degrees are eligible for tuition help ranging from $1,000 to $30,000 from the Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund. (Full Story)
NNSA sees significant achievements, important improvements in 2012
At NNSA’s three laboratories – LLNL, LANL and Sandia – innovation continued to impress the world’s scientific communities. NNSA’s labs and production sites received 12 of R&D Magazine’s 2012 R&D 100 awards. (Full Story)
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US conducts non-nuclear underground explosive experiment
A view towards the experimental room at the U1a complex in Nevada. LANL Photo.
Scientists successfully completed an underground experiment that detonated high explosives around plutonium to test the effectiveness of the nation's nuclear weapons, an official with the National Nuclear Security Administration said Friday.
There was no nuclear reaction and no radioactivity wasreleased with the subcritical experiment, dubbed Pollux, site spokesman Darwin Morgan said.
The detonation was conducted Wednesday in a vault about 1,000 feet beneath the Nevada National Security Site by researchers from the Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories in New Mexico, Morgan said. (Full Story)
Video of the experiment available here.
New Mexico small businesses helped by Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists
Harshini Mukundan. LANL Photo.
Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists Harshini Mukundan of the Physical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy group and Mark E. Smith of the Chemical Diagnostics and Engineering group received Principal Investigator Excellence (PIE) Awards from the New MexicoSmall Business Assistance program (NMSBA) for assisting several New Mexico small businesses. Los Alamos National Security, LLC, the NMSBA and Northern New Mexico Connect sponsored the recognition event. (Full Story)
LANL’s Piotr Zelenay wins research sward
Piotr Zelenay. LANL Photo.
Piotr Zelenay of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Sensors and Electrochemical Devices group has won the 2012 Research Award presented by the Energy Technology Division of The Electrochemical Society.
The award recognizes Zelenay’s “outstanding and original contributions to the science and technology of energy-related research areas that include scientific and technological aspects of fossil fuels and alternative energy sources, energy management and environmental consequences of energy utilization.” (Full Story)
Students Can Get Tuition From LANL
Northern New Mexico students aiming to pursue four-year college degrees are eligible for tuition help ranging from$1,000 to $30,000 from the Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund.
The fund, which has awarded $3.3 million since 1998, is administered by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation. Funding comes from donations by LANL employees, contractors and a matching amount from Los Alamos National Security, LLC, which is contracted to run the lab. (Full Story)
County, NNSA modify fire protection agreement
Los Alamos Site Office Manager Kevin Smith, left, LAFD Chief Troy Hughes, center, and County Administrator Harry Burgess. From the Monitor.
The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Los Alamos Fire Department have come to terms on a modified Cooperative Fire Protection Agreement to ensure emergency responsecapabilities for Los Alamos National Laboratory and Los Alamos County.
County Administrator Harry Burgess and Kevin Smith, manager of NNSA’s Los Alamos Site Office, signed the agreement last Thursday afternoon. The modifications will be in effect for the next nine months. (Full Story)
DOE, national labs reveal sweeping cloud strategy
The Department of Energy and its national laboratories released a wide-ranging cloud computing strategy and overview that for the first time pulls together the disparate cloud computing efforts of the agency's 22 national laboratories.
Based as it is on Los Alamos National Lab’s Infrastructure on Demand platform, YOURcloud shows that the agency will likely lean on itsnational labs to execute any centralized elements to its cloud strategy. (Full Story)
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Lab names weapons program heads
Bob Webster has been named associate director for Weapon Physics and John Benner has been named associate director for Weapon Engineering and Experiments. Both have been in their positions as acting associate directors since March 2012. (Full Story)
U.S., South Korea participate in nuke deterrence exercise
U.S. and South Korean defense and diplomatic experts will conduct a tabletop exercise examining nuclear deterrence on the Korean Peninsula beginning tomorrow, a Pentagon official told reporters today.
Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico will host 40 U.S. and South Korean officials for the extended deterrence exercise, which will look at deterrence methods in response to a nuclear threat scenario. (Full Story)
Bid to preserve Manhattan Project sites in a park stirs debate
Pond Cabin. LANL image.
Scientists used the remote Pond cabin in the seclusion of Los Alamos, N.M., as the administrative base for a critical experiment to see if plutonium could be used to fuel the bomb. Early in 1944, sensitive measurements unexpectedly showed that the silvery metal underwent a high rate of spontaneous fission — a natural process of atoms splitting in two.
The plan for a Manhattan Project National Historical Park would preserve that log cabin and hundreds of other buildings and artifacts scattered across New Mexico, Washington and Tennessee. (Full Story)
Manhattan Project sites part of proposed park
A quonset hut on the grounds of the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico where "Fat Man" was assembled in World War II. LANL photo.
Congress is considering whether to turn three top-secret sites involved with creating the atomic bomb into one of the country's most unusual national parks.
The Manhattan Project — the U.S. program to design and build the first atomic bomb during World War II — largely took place at three sites: Los Alamos, N.M.; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and Hanford, Wash. (Full Story)
AAAS honors UC scientists
Seventy-six University of California scientists have been elected as fellows to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Los Alamos National Laboratory — Jennifer S. Martinez, chemistry; Mary P. Neu, chemistry; Basil I. Swanson, chemistry; William Hamilton Woodruff, chemistry. (Full Story)
Resource fair for business owners
Business owners can learn more about doing business with Los Alamos National Laboratory or other government agencies at the Northern New Mexico Resource Fair.
At the resource fair, attendees can learn how to register their business with various state government agencies, how to become more successful in bidding for contracts, and more. (Full Story)
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