National Laboratory

LANL Health Insurance Changes For 2014

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By Fred deSousa
Communications Office
Los Alamos National Laboratory

On Tuesday, LANL Director Charlie McMillan introduced changes to the health care offerings for Lab employees that take effect with open enrollment for 2014.

In short, McMillan described the Lab’s goals of continuing to attract top talent and provide quality, sustainable benefits plans.

The two principal offerings are a traditional Preferred Provider Option (PPO) plan, and a new High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) paired with a Health Savings Account.

The Health Savings Account is one of two important additions to the Read More

LANL Renews Education, Economic Development and Charitable Giving Plans

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LANL News:

  • $3.1 million approved for 2014

The Los Alamos National Security, LLC Board of Governors last week approved a $3.1 million extension to the company’s plan supporting education, economic development and charitable giving in Northern New Mexico.

“We’ve tailored our programs very carefully to leverage dollars for the maximum benefit to the community,” said Lab Director and LANS President Charlie McMillan. “Working with regional leaders, we’ve built a constructive and mutually beneficial relationship.”

LANS is the managing and operating contractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory. Read More

Explosives Experts Present Lecture

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LANL News:

Cary Skidmore of Detonator Technology and Dan Hooks of the Associate Directorate for Weapon Engineering and Experiments will talk about Los Alamos National Laboratory’s work with explosives in a Brown Bag lecture noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18 at the Bradbury Science Museum.

The talk titled “Seventy Years of Leadership in High Explosives Science,” will look at the Laboratory’s work in the field of explosives — from creation and invention of new explosive molecules to waste treatment.

Skidmore will describe the birth of explosives science at Los Alamos and highlight historical Read More

Massive Rainfall Causes Retaining Wall Failure Near Biological Research Laboratory

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Massive rainfall causes retaining wall failure this morning at the Biological Research Laboratory. Courtesy photo
 
Staff Report
 
Due to extraordinary rainfall pounding the local area, the Biological Research Laboratory, adjacent to the Los Alamos Cooperative Market at 95 Entrada Dr., had a dramatic retaining wall failure this morning. There were no injuries reported and normal operations are underway inside the Lab.
 
New Mexico Consortium Executive Director Katharine Chartrand stated that at about 7:30 a.m., the retention pond southeast of the Biolab between the
Read More

LANL’s Weather Machine Measures 6.62 Inches of Rainfall Since Tuesday

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Courtesy/LANL

Staff Report

Rainfall measurements at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Technical Area-6, which is the official weather station for Los Alamos, show an accumulation of 3.45 inches during the last 24 hours.

LANL Meteorologist Jean Dewart shared the following data captured at TA-6 showing a total of 6.62 inches of rainfall over the last four days:

  • Tuesday rainfall = 1.35 inches;
  • Wednesday rainfall = 0.10;
  • Thursday rainfall = 1.72 inches; and
  • Friday rainfall (at 11:15 a.m.) = 3.45 inches.

For additional information, visit https:////environweb.lanl.gov/weathermachine/ Read More

Surprise LANL Guest to Make Cameo Appearance in ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’

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LANL News:

Surprise LANL Guest to Make Cameo Appearance in ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’

  • Follows footsteps of Oppenheimer, other Lab scientists

An as-yet-undisclosed Los Alamos National Laboratory official will “revive” the 69-year-old tradition of playing a corpse on stage this weekend in the Los Alamos Little Theater’s production of “Arsenic and Old Lace.”

The Laboratory’s first director, Robert Oppenheimer, played the corpse in the Little Theater’s production of the same play in 1944. Other scientists filled in on occasion.

The appearances are scheduled for this Friday (the Read More

Bradbury Science Museum Launches Explosives Exhibit Sept. 18

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A typical explosives experiment fired in front of the PHERMEX bunker produces a brilliant fireball long after the hydrodynamics measurements have been recorded. PHERMEX was the location for more than 1,000 hydrotests and was the premier radiographic test facility during the Cold War. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

For more than 70 years, Los Alamos National Laboratory has been a frontrunner in explosives research, development and applications. To highlight the Laboratory’s work in the field of explosives, the Bradbury Science Museum is opening a new exhibit titled “The Science of Explosives” Read More

John von Neuman’s Daughter Speaks at SFI

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Marina von Neumann Whitman

SFI News:

The Santa Fe Institute presents The Martian’s Daughter: A Memoir, a talk by Marina von Neumann Whitman, at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16 in the Noyce Conference Room at the Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road in Santa Fe. The event is free and open to the public.

One of the five Hungarian scientific geniuses dubbed “the Martians” by their colleagues, John von Neumann is often hailed as the greatest mathematician of the twentieth century and even as the greatest scientist after Einstein.

John von Neumann was a key figure in the Manhattan Project; Read More