Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for
DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration
Building
the Future
with Science and
Technology
Operated by Los Alamos
National Security, LLC for
DOE’s National Nuclear
Security Administration
2008 ANNUAL REPORT
Los Alamos National Security, LLC
Progress Report
from the Board of Governors
Los Alamos National Security
December 2008
OUR
NATIONAL
SECURITY
To: The Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration
Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS) accomplished a great deal during the past
year to enhance Los Alamos National Laboratory’s capabilities as a premier national
security research institution that delivers scientific and engineering solutions to the
nation’s most crucial and complex problems.
DEPENDS ON SCIENCE
and technology, and the United
States relies on Los Alamos
National Laboratory for the
best of both.
From their work in weapons design and plutonium research to climate modeling and
nuclear detection and forensics, the men and women of Los Alamos National Laboratory discover, develop, and perfect the means to protect our nation against nuclear
attack, bioterrorism, and energy shortages. They strive to understand and minimize
the devastating effects of pandemics, from AIDS to avian flu. They create technologies
for exploration and security in space while they further our understanding of seismic
forces and environmental issues on our own planet.
Los Alamos National Security
(LANS) is committed to support-
ing Laboratory Director and
LANS President Mike Anastasio
and his leadership team as
they work to ensure the safety,
security, and reliability of the
nation’s nuclear deterrent,
anticipate and reduce established and emerging threats,
and leverage the science
dividends of the Laboratory’s
core missions.
No place on Earth pursues a broader array of world-class scientific endeavors. No one
else collaborates on national security science in so many technical disciplines.
As operator of the Laboratory for DOE and NNSA, LANS applies the strengths of its
parent organizations and the skills of its board members to ensure that all aspects of
the Laboratory are managed effectively and improve continuously. This report features
some of the Laboratory’s achievements from fiscal year 2008, including:
• Roadrunner, the first supercomputer to break the petaflop barrier, will play a key
role in maintaining the nation’s nuclear deterrent, help solve global energy problems, and open new windows of knowledge in basic research.
Contents
2
• Los Alamos delivered seven plutonium pits as well as the first production unit of
the W76-1 nuclear warhead.
LANL Today and
into the Future
4
6
• The new Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT) facility is the
world’s only machine that can take moving X-ray images of mock nuclear weapons
implosions—crucial to maintaining the stockpile while avoiding nuclear testing.
Best Systems, Tools,
and Practices
• The off-site shipment of transuranic waste increased dramatically.
Effective Oversight
LANS remains committed to achieving outstanding science and making exceptional
contributions to national and international security.
8 Talent and Resources
10 Driving Performance
11 Laboratory Goals – Creating Our Future
12
LANS, LLC 2008 Board of Governors
Sincerely,
COVER:
Los Alamos theoretical
biologist Kevin Sanbonmatsu
stands inside his team’s
ribosome simulation, the
world’s largest biomoleculardynamics simulation to date.
Norman Pattiz
Chair, LANS, LLC
Board of Governors
Scott Ogilvie
Vice Chair, LANS, LLC
Board of Governors
LANL Today...
... and into the Future
LANS is positioning the Laboratory to better anticipate and
deliver on future national security science challenges.
LANS is committed to strengthening and developing unique
capabilities to meet current missions and future challenges.
Anticipating Challenges
Ensuring the Nuclear Deterrent
Increasing Global Security
Contributing to Energy Security
As a capabilities-based laboratory, Los
Alamos anticipates and responds to
evolving national security challenges, from
energy and climate change to nuclear
proliferation and terrorism. This year,
LANS further developed a continuous
improvement culture to further enhance
Laboratory performance.
Working
Responding
Promoting
Leveraging
Supporting
Tackling
Continuing
Bolstering
Brought
in internationally renowned
scholars from the University of California
and other prestigious academic institutions to peer review the science and
engineering that underpin the Laboratory’s ability to meet its national security
missions.
capability reviews in eight areas:
advanced manufacturing; bioscience,
biosecurity, and cognitive sciences;
information and knowledge sciences;
materials research; nuclear engineering and technology; sensors, remote
sensing, and sensor systems; weapons
engineering; and weapons science.
across the Nuclear
Weapons Complex to ensure the
nation’s deterrence capabilities.
science and technology
capabilities in the broader national
security arena.
excellence in nuclear
weapons design and engineering,
plutonium research and manufacturing, and supercomputing.
quickly to emerging
threats and developing technology
for rapid response and analysis.
mission objectives in
counterterrorism and nuclear energy
research, forensics, and safeguards.
the nation’s space surveillance and protection capabilities.
Helping
understand proliferators’
resources and intentions.
Securing
national infrastructure
against attacks, including the
nation’s electrical grid.
energy security through
energy generation, storage, and
transmission solutions.
broad scientific questions
related to complex systems such
as global climate change and its
impact.
Contributing
to energy independence by making the nuclear
fuel cycle safer and more secure,
understanding the behavior of materials in extreme environments, and
developing predictive models.
Held
Laboratory personnel refine methods for
using the exceptional olfactory sense of
honey bees to detect explosives.
We also continued to leverage parent
organization success by applying best
practices to deliver on the Laboratory’s
mission.
Improved
operational performance in
safety, security, and the environment,
and decreased the Laboratory’s risk
profile.
Advanced
the Laboratory’s management systems using parent organization
expertise and experience.
2
David Montgomery heads the Laboratory’s Trident
high-power laser facility, available to researchers
nationwide to explore high-energy-density physics.
3
Best Systems,
Tools, and Practices
Decreased Security Incidents
1.0
Accomplishments
0.92
Built
business systems using parent organizations’ best practices to improve
Laboratory performance and support
NNSA strategic objectives.
Integrated
Human Performance
Improvement principles into multiple
programs, including PerformanceBased Leadership, occurrence reporting and processing, causal analysis,
and injury and illness reporting.
Monthly rate (averaged over 12 months)
Meeting Our Commitment
We closely monitored and supported
security improvement through the
Safeguards and Security Committee,
functional management assessments,
and Assess, Improve, and Modernize (AIM) teams.
0.75
0.75
0.50
Received
64%
0.25
0 33
0.
33
0.33
decrease
from 2006
0
Ron Nelson stands beside the Germanium Array for
Neutron-Induced Excitations (GEANIE), which is used
to better understand nuclear structure, useful for both
stockpile stewardship and basic science.
Jun 06
Sept 07
Sept 08
Improved
the Laboratory’s safety
culture through the new Formality
4
Improved
Integrated Safety Management Systems performance,
including strengthening employee
involvement and management
leadership.
3.29
48% reduction
Executed
a workforce restructuring
self-selection program, saving
$50 million in fiscal year 2009
costs and avoiding an involuntary
separation program.
1.71
2
1
0
2006
LEGEND:
2007
Saved
0.61
operational reliability by
13 percent (following a 30 percent
improvement the previous year)
according to NNSA’s Los Alamos
Site Office Conduct of Operations
Performance Index.
3
We implemented industry best practices and applied expertise from LANS
parent organizations to improve business processes and systems.
51% reduction
2.433
Improved
Accomplishments
Improved Safety
0.90
total-recordable-case (TRC)
rate by 49 percent and the days
away, restricted, or transferred
(DART) rate by 53 percent between
June 2006 and October 2008. The
days-away case (DAC) rate was
reduced by 15 percent during the
same period.
of Operations concept, resulting in
a measurable reduction in risk to
employees, the environment, and
the public.
1.24
Reduced
holdings of accountable
classified removable electronic
media (ACREM) by 20 percent,
classified parts by 40 percent, and
vaults and vault-type rooms by 35
percent. The Laboratory destroyed
1.5 million pages of classified text,
or 10 percent of the inventory.
Reduced
security incidents by 56
percent in fiscal year 2008 and by
64 percent since June 2006.
Completed
the conversion of
classified computing systems to
diskless operation.
BUSINESS SERVICES
Rate per 200,000 hours
We implemented best practices
drawn from industry leaders Bechtel
National, The Babcock & Wilcox
Company, and the Washington
Group division of URS.
the highest possible
ratings for the Laboratory’s overall
performance in the Security Assessment performed by the DOE Office
of Health, Safety, and Security
and the Cyber Security Assessment
performed by the Los Alamos Site
Office.
Reduced
Security Incidents IMI-1 and 2
(DOE’s Impact Measurement Index)
SAFETY
Accomplishments
SECURITY
2008
Total reportable cases
Days away/restricted/transferred cases
$22.5 million through Lean
Six Sigma Process Improvement
Projects.
Began
work on joint efforts with
Lawrence Livermore to share ser-
vices and deliver current and future
cost savings.
Implemented
a new compensation
program using national benchmarks
and best practices from parent
organizations.
Renegotiated
the contract for United
Healthcare and Medco prescription
drugs, generating an annual surplus
of $5 million, and recompeted life
and disability plans, resulting in savings of $3.4 million.
Improved business systems allow scientists like
Xiaoyun Lu, who is helping to develop a
hand-held device for rapidly detecting and
identifying the influenza virus, to spend more
time on science and less time on paperwork.
5
Effective
Oversight
SCIENCE
CAPABILITY
Accomplishments
Meeting Our Commitment
We drew on the University of
California’s scientific strength and
participated in the review and assessment of the Laboratory’s science and
technology capabilities to ensure the
University’s continued unique contribution to solving the nation’s most
difficult problems.
Integrated LANS
and LLNS Boards
of Governors and committees, reducing the overall cost to NNSA by
$500,000.
Held
four meetings of the Board of
Governors and associated committees. DOE-NNSA leadership provided
direct Voice of the Customer data.
Worked
with IBM to develop Roadrunner, the world’s fastest supercomputer, and broke the petaflop
computing barrier, bolstering our
ability to deliver models and simula-
Chuck Mielke is spearheading a new electromagnet design, the “single-turn,” named
for its single loop of copper. It will be used
to investigate superconductivity in heavyelectron metals and already has produced
pulsed fields as high as 240 teslas.
David Honaberger examines one of the
refurbished accelerator cells for DARHT’s
second-axis accelerator.
Supported
Complex Transformation by achieving First Production
Unit for the W76-1 and producing
seven W88 pits judged suitable for
intended use.
Reduced
risks associated with the
misuse of radiological materials by
recovering more than 2,250 excess
radioactive sources from sites
around the world.
6
Employee Giving Campaign
Strengthened
the nation’s surveillance capability by delivering
the Space and Atmospheric Burst
Reporting System (SABRS) qualification unit to the spacecraftintegrating contractors.
Helped
verify North Korea’s
progress on denuclearization.
Collaborated
with the Air Force
Research Laboratory to develop
and support the deployment to
Iraq of the Angel Fire large-area,
airborne, persistent surveillance
system.
$ 2.0
Accomplishments
By contributing $3 million, we supported aggressive efforts in economic
development, community giving, and
educational outreach.
1.5
Launched
$ in millions
We provided strategic advice and
oversight through the Mission Committee and the Nuclear Weapons
Complex Integration Committee.
Worked
with Lawrence Berkeley
and Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratories to meet or exceed technical requirements for the second
axis of the DARHT facility.
Generated
1,800 peer-reviewed
papers and 914 classified reports,
won 56 awards, (including two
R&D 100 awards), and filed 107
patent applications.
Increased
external funding for
energy and environmental security
by 14 percent to $224 million.
COMMUNITY
INVOLVEMENT
NATIONAL
SECURITY
Accomplishments
tions for stockpile stewardship, threat
reduction, and energy security.
1.0
ment program based on the highly
successful San Diego model.
Contributed $500,000
to establish
a Pete V. Domenici Scholarships
endowment through the LANL Foundation.
0.5
0
Northern New Mexico
CONNECT, an economic develop-
Sept 05
LEGEND:
Sept 06
Sept 07
Oct 08
Including LANS dollar-for-dollar match
Pledges and special events
Ran
a highly successful United Way
campaign in which employees
gave a record-breaking $1 million,
matched by LANS for a campaign
total of $2 million.
Initiated
or renewed institutional
agreements, providing $100,000
each to the University of New
Mexico-Los Alamos for an applied
technologies training program, to
New Mexico Highlands University
for a computer science program,
and to Northern New Mexico
College for teaching and nursing
programs.
David Kratzer, an expert in high-performance
computer systems, motivates Los Alamos
Middle School students participating in the
2008 New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge.
7
Talent and
Resources
ENVIRONMENTAL
STEWARDSHIP
Increased Waste Shipments
60
24
55
20
Conducted
31 parent organization
functional management assessments.
Paid
for six AIM teams in support of
such areas as emergency management and nuclear operations and
safeguards.
Brought
in 190 parent organization
personnel and consultants to serve on
assessments, on AIM teams, and as
special subject-matter experts.
Tom Vestrand poses with RAPTOR-T, part of the
Laboratory’s robotic telescope system and the first to
observe gamma bursts in four different color bands
while the gamma rays are being emitted.
Cubic Meters Shipped
Meeting Our Commitment
18
16
Cumulative Inventory
shipped, m3
50
Accomplishments
45
We implemented industry best practices in environmental management.
40
14
35
12
30
10
8
6
25
Cumulative
Inventory
shipped,
PE-Ci*
20
15
4
10
2
5
0
FY05
FY06
PE-Ci* Shipped
22
FY07
FY08
0
* Plutonium-239-equivalent curies
We tapped parent organization expertise and best practices to improve
project and facility management.
Put
LANL on course to save $15
million by bringing site-support
services in-house.
Achieved
98 percent of all project milestones on or ahead of
schedule.
Increased
the number of critically
needed Cognizant System Engineers from 30 in January 2008 to
60 in October.
8
Vacated
the former Administration
Building, reduced facility footprint inventory by an additional
128,200 square feet, and reused
33,900 square feet of existing
facilities to avoid new building
requirements.
Made
progress on Chemistry
and Metallurgy Research Facility
replacement construction, with
the radiological laboratory, utility,
and office building component
50 percent complete.
eight NNSA national
Pollution Prevention awards.
Repackaged,
characterized, and
shipped 282 high-activity drums,
fulfilling a major commitment and
achieving the most significant
risk reduction in the Laboratory’s
transuranic waste program since its
inception.
Reduced
Area G radioactivity to
the lowest levels since 2001 by
Passed
the New Mexico Environment Department’s 2008 RCRA
Compliance Inspection with no
significant findings, a first for the
Laboratory.
Performed
more than 2,400 internal
RCRA self-assessments.
Obtained
first-time DOE approval
of the LANL Environmental Management Baseline.
In fiscal year 2008, the Laboratory shipped more
PE-Ci than in two previous years combined.
DESIRED BEHAVIORS
AND VALUES
PROJECT AND FACILITY
MANAGEMENT
Accomplishments
Received
shipping more transuranic radioactivity from LANL than in the prior two
years combined.
Accomplishments
We provided Senior Leadership
Alignment Core Training to help drive
higher performance.
Reduced
the severity of safety,
security, and business incidents and
the mean time between them, with
a 19 percent improvement over the
prior fiscal year and 73 percent
improvement since June 2006.
Completed
Project Management
and Lean Six Sigma process
improvement training for all managers, as well as Performance-Based
Leadership training for all grouplevel managers and above.
Engaged
employees in improving
work processes by setting up more
than 100 Worker Safety and
Security Teams throughout the
Laboratory.
Trained
all managers and more
than 1,600 employees on fundamentals of Human Performance
Improvement.
Cutting-edge science benefits from world-class
safety and security practices: University of
Virginia student Armanda Roco researches the
controlled assembly of protein-mediated lipid
multilayers during her internship at Los Alamos.
9
Laboratory Goals—
Creating Our Future
Driving
Performance
Over the past year, LANS strengthened the Laboratory’s management
systems, contributing to ever more reliable, efficient, and responsive
performance.
Nuclear Operations
The Laboratory enhanced its Integrated Nuclear Planning approach
to program utilization and facility
investment planning, closing or
ceasing operations at outdated or
underutilized facilities. Development
of the Safety Basis Academy, which
has been used by every NNSA site,
was accelerated, and a team of
senior managers clarified the Laboratory’s safe operating requirements,
established new maintenance and
facility-availability metrics, and
improved the maintenance program
plan.
Information Security
The Laboratory met all Security
Compliance Order milestones,
including the first full implementation
of NNSA cyber security policies
and procedures, efforts that are
setting the standard for other sites.
The Laboratory received the highest
possible rating on the cyber security
assessment by NNSA’s Los Alamos
Site Office.
Environmental Management
The Laboratory substantially met
New Mexico Environment Department and NNSA expectations to
execute 200 Consent Order deliverables and safely shipped more
transuranic waste from Area G than
in any previous year.
Project Management
We conducted 10 management
assessments and 6 parent organization reviews to identify opportunities
for improvement and to reinforce
best practices.
Roger Wiens removes the laser safety
plug on the ChemCam Mast Unit, set
to travel to Mars in 2009 on the Mars
Science Laboratory rover.
Established in May 2007, these goals and their associated commitments drive a combination of strategies, processes, and behaviors
that will serve the Laboratory and the nation.
Make
safety and security integral to
every activity we do.
Implement
an information security
system that reduces risk while
providing exemplary service and
productivity.
Establish
excellence in environmental
stewardship.
Assess
the safety, reliability, and performance of LANL weapons systems.
Transform
the Laboratory and the
nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile
to achieve the 2030 vision, in
partnership with the Complex.
Leverage
our science and technology advantage to anticipate, counter, and defeat global threats and
meet national priorities, including
energy security.
Be
the premier national security
science laboratory and realize our
vision for a capabilities-based
organization.
Provide
efficient, responsive, and
secure infrastructure and disciplined
operations that effectively support
the Laboratory mission and its
workforce.
Implement
a performance-based
management system that drives
mission and operational excellence.
Deliver
improved business processes,
systems, and tools that meet the
needs of our employees, reduce the
cost of doing business, and improve
the Laboratory’s mission performance.
Communicate
effectively with our
employees, customers, community,
stakeholders, and the public at large.
Develop
employees and create a
work environment to achieve
employee and Laboratory success.
The Los Alamos Portable Pulser produces a radio
frequency signal resembling that which would
come from a weapon. The signal, broadcast
into space through this dish antenna located
near the Laboratory’s Physics Building, is used
to calibrate electromagnetic pulse sensors on
orbiting satellites.
“Our people
continue to lead the
way with innovative national
security science, supported by
21st century systems, processes,
and tools.”
—Michael R. Anastasio
Laboratory Director and
President of LANS, LLC
10
11
LANS, LLC 2008
Board of Governors
PRESIDENT, LANS, LLC
Board of Governors
Michael R. Anastasio
Director,
Los Alamos
National Laboratory
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Norman Pattiz, Chair
Scott Ogilvie, Vice Chair
Regent,
University of California
President,
Bechtel Systems and
Infrastructure, Inc.
Founder and Chairman,
Westwood One, Inc.
INDEPENDENT GOVERNORS
Laboratory Director
Michael Anastasio
Global Weapons Environmental
Security Programs Management
Sidney Drell
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution,
Stanford University
Bruce Darling
Craig Weaver
Executive Vice President,
University of California
Executive Vice President,
Bechtel Systems and
Infrastructure, Inc.
Chair of the Nominations and
Compensation Committee
Chair of the Business and
Operations Committee
William Frazer
S. Robert Cochran
Senior Vice President Emeritus,
University of California
President,
Babcock & Wilcox
Technical Services Group
Chair of the Science and
Technology Committee
Chair of the Safeguards and
Security Committee
Missions & Programs
Science &
Technology
LEGEND:
Vice Chair of the
Mission Committee
Richard Mies
Science &
Technology
Missions &
Programs
Laboratory
& Business
Operations
Laboratory & Business
Operations
LANL Budget by Program Area
$2.2 Billion Total
Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Former Commander,
U.S. Strategic Command
10%
Chair of the Nuclear Weapons
Complex Integration Committee
55%
11%
Nicholas Moore
Global Chair, (Retired)
PricewaterhouseCoopers
8%
Chair of the Ethics and
Audit Committee
8%
William Perry
ADVISORY MEMBERS
12
David Walker
Bruce Varner
Steven Beckwith
President,
Bechtel National, Inc.
Regent,
University of California
Vice Chair of
Business and
Operations Committee
Law Firm
Varner & Brandt LLP
Vice President for
Research and
Graduate Studies,
University of California
Senior Fellow,
Hoover Institution,
Stanford University
Chair of the Mission Committee
Nick Salazar
Representative,
House of Representatives
State of New Mexico
8%
– 475 DOE
budget categories
– 1,226 Work for Others projects
LEGEND:
Weapons Programs
Nonproliferation
Safeguards and Security
DOE Environmental Management
Energy, Science, and Space
Programs
National Security Work for
Others (e.g., DHS, DoD, IC)
NNSA programs represent 75 percent of the
Laboratory’s operating program portfolio.
Los Alamos National Security, LLC
www.LANL.gov
www.LANSLLC.com
Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, is operated by
Los Alamos National Security, LLC, for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the
U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC52-06NA25396.
LA-UR-08-07656