The University of California
Department of Energy National Laboratories

The University of California is involved in managing three U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories. The Lawrence Berkeley laboratory was founded on the UC Berkeley campus in 1931 as an interdisciplinary research center. Some years later, the Livermore and Los Alamos laboratories were established to serve U.S. defense needs; they continue today in new aspects of that mission, including response to terrorism and homeland defense. With a combined workforce of more than 21,000, the three laboratories have become unparalleled research and development centers whose programs and activities address national interests and concerns in areas such as energy, environment, and health. The laboratories also contribute to the nation's economic competitiveness through partnerships with industry, and all are leaders in math and science education, helping to enlighten, educate, and train students and teachers at all levels.

UC and the National Laboratories: Unparalleled Contributions to Education, Discovery and Public Service

Maps and Directions for UC National Labs

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ernest Orlando Lawrence, who invented the cyclotron, founded the laboratory in 1931. Lawrence pioneered the modern practice of interdisciplinary science, bringing together scientists, engineers, and technicians from different fields to work on complex projects. The laboratory became a federal facility in 1942, and UC's management of LBNL for the government was formalized the following year. The first laboratory in the federal laboratory system, its physicists and chemists have won nine Nobel Prizes. Today, LBNL is a multi-program lab where research in advanced materials, life sciences, energy efficiency, detectors and accelerators serves the country's needs in technology and the environment. The Berkeley lab has been a worldwide pioneer in the development of radiation therapy for treating cancer. It helped explain the difference between the healthy and unhealthy blood fats (HDL and LDL) and how they affect your health. It also helped explain photosynthesis, by which plants produce food; how radon can seep into buildings and increase the risk of cancer; and how to make buildings more energy efficient through the use of better windows and light bulbs that use less electricity. The 130-acre lab is located on the hillside above the UC Berkeley campus, overlooking San Francisco Bay.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
At the government's request, Ernest Orlando Lawrence and physicist Edward Teller founded LLNL in 1952 as an offshoot of the Berkeley laboratory. Located on one square mile about 50 miles southeast of San Francisco, the Livermore lab has become one of the world's premier scientific centers, where cutting-edge science and engineering in the interest of national security is used to break new ground in other areas of national importance, including energy, biomedicine and environmental science. Major laboratory work in recent years has included stockpile stewardship; nonproliferation and arms control; magnetic and laser fusion energy; and environmental restoration and waste management. The lab has pioneered ways to predict where the wind will carry chemicals or radioactivity after an accident or an attack so that authorities can tell people in one area that they're safe but in another area that they should stay inside. It developed a laser-based system now in clinical trials to break up the blood clots that cause stroke and a biopsy system that may eventually be used to improve the diagnosis of breast cancer. As part of its national-security mission, Livermore has developed a network of bio-detectors – something like smoke detectors for dangerous bacteria – that could be placed in airports, stadiums or convention halls to signal a bio attack or other problem.

In May 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC was selected to be the management and operations contractor for the Livermore lab, effective October 1, 2007. LLNL, LLC includes UC, Bechtel National, Inc., The Babcock & Wilcox Company, the Washington Group International, Inc. and Battelle.

Los Alamos National Laboratory
In 1942, a team of scientists, engineers, and technicians led by UC Berkeley physics professor J. Robert Oppenheimer gathered in Los Alamos to begin the Manhattan Project, the secret mission to develop the atomic bomb that would help end World War II. Still best known for its contributions to national security – recently developing bio-detectors and other detectors to keep terrorists from smuggling nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, for example – Los Alamos research is creating new products and technologies in many other completely different fields, such as a computer code to improve automobile efficiency, tape that conducts electricity without any resistance, and a virus database that may be helpful in developing an AIDS vaccine. In 1943, UC agreed to manage the laboratory for the federal government. Located 35 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Los Alamos lab has since become a major research complex, including extraordinarily powerful supercomputers, more than 50 cross-disciplinary facilities and a leading role in the development of the human genome map. LANL has more than 300 industrial partnerships with a combined value in excess of $650 million in the past decade. One of the largest multidisciplinary institutions in the world, it is also the largest employer in Northern New Mexico, with 6,800 UC employees and 2,800 contractor personnel.

After 60 years, the University of California competed for and was awarded a contract to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory as part of a new limited liability corporation - Los Alamos National Security LLC (LANS) - which includes Bechtel, The Babcock & Wilcox Company and Washington Group International.