Sandia National Labs

U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich, D-Albuquerque, spoke on the House floor today in favor of an amendment to an energy and water appropriations bill which would increase funding for research. Specifically, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) funding would rise from six percent of the budgets of the country’s national laboratories — including Sandia and Los Alamos [...]

Los Alamos National Labs would get a seven percent decrease in their budget and Sandia Labs would get a slight increase in the proposed Barack Obama budget, according to John Fleck at the Albuquerque Journal.

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu will be making his first visit to New Mexico since becoming the head of the Department of Energy, according to John Fleck at the Albuquerque Journal.
Chu will visit the Los Alamos and Sandia national labs on Thursday and Friday, according to a preliminary schedule relayed by U.S. Sen. Tom Udall.

There are literally thousands of April Fool’s Day hoaxes around the Internet today. It would feel Grinch-ish (if that is the right term) to out any of these so early in the day, so I won’t do that.
But I will point you to a great piece about an expert hoaxer at our own Sandia Labs. [...]

In a letter to the head of the U.S. Department of Energy, New Mexico’s junior senator urged diversification as a way to grow the role of Los Alamos and Sandia national labs.

Talking Points Memo has received a classified document which shows the amount of money in the stimulus bill after coming out of conference as compared to the House and Senate versions.
And on the second page of the document, it shows the House version prevailed on funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The NNSA [...]

John Fleck at the Albuqeurque Journal’s blog noted an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that says that switching over control of national labs to the Department of Defense could have an adverse effect on the caliber of scientists who could be brought in to the labs for their research.

A small cadre of moderate senators— Democrats and Republicans — gathered last week to cut tens of billions of dollars of spending from the original Senate stimulus bill. The $350 billion in tax cuts were, however, kept intact. A big loser in this was education, where tens of billions was cut.
But the money that could [...]

U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich isn’t convinced about the proposed changeover of control of the national labs from the Department of Energy to the Department of Defense. In a statement, Heinrich worried about one word that is on every politician’s lips this year: jobs.

The Albuquerque Journal reported today that President Barack Obama and his administration are looking at turning control of the U.S. nuclear weapons design and manufacturing complex — including Los Alamos National Labs (LANL) and Sandia National Labs — over to the Department of Defense. Currently, they fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy.
And [...]

Steven Chu, who will oversee the labs at Los Alamos and Sandia as energy secretary, got his first taste of Washington Tuesday.
And by all reports it was a friendly affair.
Chu appeared Tuesday before Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s committee, Energy and Natural Resources, which has jurisdiction over the federal department. And neither controversy nor tension reared its ugly head between [...]