Los Alamos National Laboratory

Norman J. Pattiz, chairman of Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) and Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS), today announced that the Honorable Ellen O. Tauscher has been named as an independent governor on the LLNS and LANS Boards of Governors.

The LLCs manage Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., and Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, respectively, for the U.S. Department of Energy. The appointments take effect Sept. 17.

Tauscher has also been appointed as a member of the LANS/LLNS Boards’ Mission Committee. The Mission Committee serves in an advisory role to review current and future national security issues and laboratory initiatives, capabilities and strategic plans to address these issues.

“We are very pleased to welcome Ellen Tauscher to the Boards of Governors of LANS and LLNS,” Pattiz said. “Ms. Tauscher has a distinguished record as a seven-term member of Congress with expertise in national security matters, a former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and as an investment banker. She is respected by the national and international arms control communities, by members of Congress, and by the business community. She will add greatly to our boards and the national laboratories.”

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have observed for the first time how a laser penetrates dense, electron-rich plasma to generate ions. The process has applications for developing next generation particle accelerators and new cancer treatments.
The results, published online Aug. 19 in Nature Physics, also confirm predictions made more than 60 years ago about the fundamental physics of laser-plasma interaction. Plasmas dense with electrons normally reflect laser light like a mirror. But a strong laser can drive those electrons to near the speed of light, making the plasma transparent and accelerating the plasma ions.
“That idea has been met with some skepticism in the field,” said Rahul Shah of LANL’s plasma physics group. “We think that we’ve settled that controversy.”
The team, which also included researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany and Queens University in Belfast, UK used the 200 trillion-watt short-pulse TRIDENT laser at Los Alamos National Laboratory to observe the transparency phenomenon at 50 femtosecond resolution. Until now, those dynamics have been witnessed only in computer simulations.

As in most public hearings regarding anything that has to do with the Department of Energy, activists were in attendance Tuesday to put in their two cents worth.

That was the case at the Holiday Inn Express as they came out to let their feelings be known about the Draft Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.

Interestingly enough, however, a Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist also stood up to give his opinion.

Those occasions are rare.

But David Clark was ready.

“I’ve devoted my career to developing knowledge and expertise on the science and technology of plutonium,” Clark said. “I’ve come tonight as a citizen and a scientific expert on matters related to plutonium. As a leader in plutonium science, I remind everyone that there is well over 2,000 metric tons of plutonium throughout the world in various forms. 

“Regardless of your views on how this situation came to be, it is clear that these large inventories must be prudently managed for many centuries and we must secure it against theft and diversion. To succeed, we will have to stabilize, store, and/or destroy excess plutonium. 

The Regional Coalition of LANL Communities adopted a pair of resolutions that will help it better conduct its business at a meeting last week in Española.

Under the guidance of its new executive director DeAnza Valencia Sapien of the MVM Group, the coalition unanimously approved a resolution establishing the bylaws of the Board of Directors and established standards of reasonable notice to the public for all coalition meetings.

Valencia Sapien was hoping to announce that the coalition would receive $100,000 in funding from the Department of Energy. “We should have it next month,” she said.

A presentation was made to the coalition, concerning the radiological environmental monitoring around Los Alamos National Laboratory.

David Fuehne, LANL’s team leader for environmental radiation protection, said there are 28 stacks continuously monitored and air is monitored at more than 50 AIRNET stations. Analysis is done for radioactive particulates including plutonium, americium, uranium, tritium and metals. Fuehne said more than 30,000 analyses were made in 2010.

He said extensive wildfire monitoring was done after Cerro Grande, Taos and Las Conchas with more than 9,000 analyses. He also said there was “no-fire-related LANL effects measured at the laboratory perimeter or regional.”