National Laboratory

The Crown Jewel of Manhattan Project Properties: The Oppenheimer House

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Exterior of Master Cottage #2, when May Connell lived there. Courtesy/LA Historical Society

 

By Heather McClenahan, Executive Director
Los Alamos Historical Society

When conducting school tours of the Los Alamos Historic District and the Oppenheimer House, I like to tell kids that A. J. Connell, director of the Los Alamos Ranch School, thought girls had cooties. Most third and fourth graders love that!

Even the hard-headed Connell had to give in a bit, though, realizing that if he intended to prepare his young male students for Ivy League schools, he would have to offer art education, Read More

NIST: Protocols for Measurement and Dispersion of Nanoparticles

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NIST News:

This series of NIST Special Publications (SPs) consists of protocols developed by NIST researchers in conjunction with external collaborators, such as Duke University’s Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEINT) and the National Cancer Institute’s Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL).

In many cases, the original version of these protocols was posted on external collaborator web sites; all previous versions are superseded by these SP versions.

Updates to the SP version of the protocols may be released in the future. Read More

Federal Agencies Join to Build Permanent Local Interagency Fire Center

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NNSA News:

As the one-year anniversary of New Mexico’s second largest wildfire on record approaches, a focused multi-federal agency effort is underway to build a permanent Interagency Fire Center in the heart of Northern New Mexico’s fire country.

Building upon the success of last year’s multi-agency coordination during the Las Conchas Fire, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Bandelier National Monument (BAND), and Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) have again partnered to greatly enhance northern New Mexico fire protection efforts by building a 6,400 square foot facility Read More

LANL Proposes to Submit Interim Work Plan on Chromium Contamination Monitoring

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LANL News:

On Monday, Los Alamos National Laboratory sent the following letter to Hazardous Waste Bureau Chief John Kieling at the New Mexico Environment Department.

In the letter, LANL proposes to develop by Dec. 15, a work plan to perform interim measure alternatives analysis for chromium in Mortandad and Sandia canyons.

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Can Spin Glasses be Used to Study Opinion Formation?

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Helmut Katzgraber will present a talk at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, June 26 in the Medium Conference Room at the Santa Fe Institute.

Katzgraber works at the Department of Physics & Astronomy, Texas A&M University and ETH Zurich.

His talk is, Boolean Decision Problems with Competing Interactions on Scale-Free Networks: Can Spin Glasses be Used to Study Opinion Formation?

Abstract: Spin glasses are paradigmatic models that deliver concepts relevant for a variety of systems.

However, despite ongoing research spanning several decades in the area of glassy systems, there remain many fundamental Read More

BREAKING NEWS: LANL Director Calls All-Employee Meeting Regarding Workforce Update

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From/MS: Charles F. McMillan, A100
Date: June 20, 2012

Subject: Workforce Update and All-Employee Meeting

Over the past several months, we have been engaged in efforts to manage Laboratory costs to live within the current budget and to position the Laboratory to successfully deal with future funding scenarios.

With the help of the entire Laboratory, I believe we have been successful in working the myriad budget issues so that we can more confidently face future challenges while delivering on our mission commitments.

In the Fall of 2011, I established the Laboratory Integrated Stewardship Read More

NNSA Sites, Labs Earn 12 R&D 100 Awards

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Courtesy/LANL

NNSA News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today congratulated its laboratories and production sites for receiving 12 of R&D Magazine’s 2012 R&D 100 Awards.

“Congratulations to this year’s R&D 100 award winners,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said. “The research and development at the Department of Energy’s laboratories continues to help the nation meet our energy challenges, strengthen our national security and improve our economic competitiveness.”

Awarded annually by Read More

Police and Lab Join Forces for Robot Rodeo

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Los Alamos Police Department explosive devices experts and LANL hazardous devices experts joined forces to compete against seven other teams in the sixth annual Robot Rodeo underway this week in Technical Area 49 at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In this scenario, a pair of robots inspect a car involved in a chase and abandoned by drug traffickers.  Photo by Salvador Zapien/ladailypost.com

Bob Clark, a Hazardous Devices technician at Los Alamos National Laboratory makes some final adjustments to the LANL/LAPD team robot. Photo by Salvador Zapien/ladailypost.com

One of the tasks Read More

LANL Helps Medicine, Cosmetics and Crop Irrigation Businesses Gain Traction

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LANL News:

Three small companies in the diverse fields of medicine, cosmetics and crop irrigation are the latest recipients of Venture Acceleration Fund (VAF) awards from the Los Alamos National Security, LLC.

Integrative Enzymatics, Vapour Organic Beauty and HydroBio will receive startup funding from the Laboratory to help them gain traction in their respective markets.

“The VAF program fills a unique need by providing capital that reduces a company’s risk,” said David Pesiri, the Laboratory’s Technology Transfer Division leader. “VAF is a catalyst for start-ups as well Read More

NNSA Production Office Open for Business

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NNSA Production Office Manager Steve Erhart, left, presents DOE Secretary Steven Chu with an overview last year of a B83 tooling system. Courtesy/NNSA
NNSA News:
  • New organization combines federal offices in Tennessee and Texas

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Production Office (NPO) is now in operation, providing federal oversight of nuclear production missions at the Pantex Site in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

“This is an historic move for NNSA that puts us in a position to improve performance, reduce

Read More