Los Alamos Up for Grabs

Only 15 shopping days left until Christmas – and about 30 to shop around management proposals for the nation's premier nuke site. On Dec. 1, the jolly elves at the National Nuclear Security Administration released a draft request for proposals for management of the highly troubled Los Alamos National Laboratory. And the UT Board of Regents seems to think the site's warheads make the perfect stocking stuffer.

With the U.S. Department of Energy looking for a new steward after a history of security breaches and worker incompetence under the University of California System's management, LANL has several suitors – including UT, who has stayed in the hunt after other colleges like Texas A&M and defense contractors like Lockheed Martin opted out. Prospective bidders now have until Jan. 7 to comment, at which time the said statements will be evaluated and possibly incorporated into the final RFP. Proposals are then due 60 days after that final version's issuance, with the DOE's selection occurring next summer.

The UC System itself has not decided whether to rebid on the contract; among the school's boosters is New Mexico governor and former Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson. Over the past year of Los Alamos buzz at UT – which likewise officially hasn't decided whether to compete – much has been made of the benefits LANL would bring to UT researchers and students. However, at a forum last month discussing the issue, three of UT's top physics profs argued that UT couldn't possibly do a better job of running Los Alamos than the UC System has, and that any benefits to the Forty Acres and the Lone Star State would be negligible.

"UT has 30 days to get back to the DOE (with) whatever plans they might have," says Austin Van Zant of UT Watch, which has led campus opposition to the prospective Los Alamos deal. "For us, what this means is that we really have to pressure [UT] to not bid on it. It also means that this is the time that UT's going to be spending a lot of money, consulting-wise." To formalize its proposal plans, UT must examine and meet the requirements in the RFP, which covers everything from salaries to security procedures. This will require money.

Van Zant and UT Watch also point to the draft RFP's requirement of experience in management of nuclear facilities; Los Alamos is the nation's largest stockpile and steward of nuclear weapons, monitoring and keeping up America's arsenal. "UT's going to have to basically bullshit and say 'We have so much experience, we know what we're doing,' even though they have no experience in this," Van Zant says. "They're gonna have to pull it out of thin air." However, the NNSA told the Associated Press last week that it views "business and management ability" as just as important as scientific expertise in weighing potential LANL operators.

From decidedly more empirical sources is a report from the DOE's inspector general, "Management Challenges at the Department of Energy." The recently released report suggests flaws in the current contract-administration system, challenges that the DOE's Judy Garland-Smith suggests "are not amenable to simple, near-term resolution and can only be addressed by a concerted, persistent effort."

For UT to put in that effort, Van Zant says, would be futile. "I think it's a tremendous waste of money and resources. This isn't in the students' best interests, and I wish the regents would see that."