National Laboratory

Senate Vets Committee Advances Udall’s Burn Pit Legislation

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., reported Wednesday that the U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee unanimously passed legislation that includes S. 1798, The Open Burn Pits Registry Act.
 
Udall became an advocate for a burn pit registry after meeting Albuquerque veteran Msgt. Jessey Baca and his wife Maria. MSgt Baca was stationed at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, which hosted approximately 25,000 personnel at the height of operations and over 10 acres of land for burning toxic debris.
 
MSgt Baca has faced a multitude of health problems believed to be associated with
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Luján Announces $1.2 Million Grant for LANL to Improve Energy Efficiency of Vehicles

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U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico’s Third District announced Tuesday that Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is receiving a $1.2 million grant through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Vehicles Technology program. 

The program is investing in three new projects that focus on increasing the efficiency of engines and powertrain systems for future highway transportation vehicles. 

The federal government will contribute $1.2 million to the project, while the private sector will invest $300,000.

LANL will use the grant to develop a low cost and robust Read More

Powering Up the Los Alamos Smart Grid & Smart House

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Let the Demo Begin!  Powering up the Los Alamos Smart Grid & Smart House

By Greg Kendall

  • First international project in the U.S. to demonstrate how to provide a significant proportion of renewable power on the electric grid to meet a community’s residential needs.

A $52 million state‐of‐the‐art, international smart grid project will power up at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 17 at 1925‐D Trinity Dr. in Los Alamos, a high desert residential community of scientists, engineers and their families.

At the event, the New Energy and Industrial Technology and Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan, Read More

SFI Seminar: On the Interface between Movement and Sociality in Animal Behavior & What Lies on Either Side

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Nicolas Perony
ETH Zurich, Chair of Systems Design

SFI News:

The Santa Fe Institute presents the talk, “On the Interface between Movement and Sociality in Animal Behavior, and What Lies on Either Side” by Nicolas Perony at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13 in the Medium Conference Room at the Santa Fe Institute in Santa Fe.

Abstract: Scientists working on the study of animal groups are mainly divided between two schools: those who study social behaviour, and those who study spatial dynamics.

Whilst these two dimensions are intrinsically linked, traditionally there has been little Read More

DOE Extends Comment Period, Adds Hearing in Espaňola for Draft Supplemental Environmental Study on Plutonium Disposition

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DOE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration has given the public an additional 15 days and a fourth hearing in New Mexico to comment on the Draft Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.

The Draft Supplemental EIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of alternatives for the disposition of 7.1 metric tons (MT) of additional weapons-usable plutonium from pits that were declared surplus to national defense needs in 2007 but were not included in DOE’s prior decisions Read More

LANL Study’s Tree Death Climate Change Connection [VIDEO]

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Los Alamos National Laboratory News:

What are the exact physiological mechanisms that lead to tree death during prolonged drought and rising temperatures?

These are the questions that scientists are trying to answer in a Los Alamos National Laboratory research project called SUMO.

SUMO stands for SUrvival/MOrtality study; it's a plot of land on the Lab's southern border that features 18 climate controlled tree study chambers and a large drought structure that limits rain and snowfall.

Scientists are taking a wide variety of measurements over a long period of time to determine Read More

UPDATE: SFI Lecture: Leveraging Social Science for Prediction

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Richard Colbaugh of Sandia National Laboratories will give the talk, “Leveraging Social Science for Prediction” at 12:15 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7 in the Medium Conference Room at the Santa Fe Institute.

Abstract: There is significant interest in developing methods for predicting human behavior, for instance to enable the outcomes of unfolding events to be forecast or the nature of ongoing but “hidden” activities to be inferred, and machine learning (ML) has proven to be a useful approach to such problems.

In this talk I suggest that the performance of ML algorithms can often be improved Read More

Comment Dates on Plans to Expand Disposal at WIPP

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Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety News:

There are two opportunities to make public comment on the Department of Energy (DOE) proposals to expand the disposal options at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

DOE is seeking to use lead shielded containers for disposal of “hot” Remote-Handled (RH) waste and to dispose of six metric tons of “surplus plutonium.” 

Fact sheets and sample comment letters about both proposals are available on the CCNS website: https:////www.nuclearactive.org. Public comments about the proposal to use shielded containers are due to the New Mexico Environment Read More

Disseminating the Kilogram, No Strings Attached

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Patrick Abbot inspects the upper (vacuum) section of the apparatus. Courtesy/ NIST

NIST News:

The impending redefinition of the kilogram presents a weighty dilemma. Methods to be used to realize the redefined kilogram are based on the Planck constant and the Avogadro constant respectively and realize the kilogram in vacuum.

But secondary standards, as well as transfer standards for laboratory and industrial use, must be deployed in air.

Devising a practical method of resolving this difference is extremely complicated. Two masses can easily be compared when both are in vacuum. But an artifact’s Read More

Just Crazy to Ski Raffle Benefits Bathtub Row Press

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HISTORICAL SOCIETY News:

The Los Alamos Historical Society and Pajarito Mountain Ski Area have teamed up for a raffle featuring the publication, Just Crazy to Ski: A Fifty Year History of Skiing at Los Alamos.

For $10, raffle ticket buyers will receive the book and an opportunity to win a 2013-2014 season pass to the Ski Hill.

Only 700 tickets will be sold. The drawing will be held Nov. 1, 2013. (Yes, that is more than one year away, as is the season for which the ski pass can be used.)

Proceeds from the raffle will benefit the Historical Society’s publishing venture, Bathtub Row Press, which has put Read More