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Wednesday, July 23, 1997
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to be honored during all-day symposium
Cooperative
Threat Reduction Program has many successes says CTR head
Checkpoint
Survey shows improved communication ... and more
Black inventors
exhibit coming to public library
DOE issues
surplus plutonium disposal plan
Employees recognized for 30 and 35 years of service to the
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Director to be honored during all-day symposium
A day-long symposium will be held Aug. 7 in the Administration Building Auditorium to honor Director Sig Hecker's nearly 12 years of service as Laboratory Director. The front guard station to the Administration Building will be moved back to allow uncleared employees and the public to attend the event. More than 100 people outside of Los Alamos have been invited to the symposium.
The "Hecker Symposium" is from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day and focuses on important subjects and developments in science and technology that have marked Hecker's tenure as director, as well as his roles and contributions in these areas.
Below are the main topics and featured speakers scheduled for the symposium.
"Science-based Stockpile Stewardship" -- Nuclear Weapons Technology (NWT) Program Director Steve Younger and Vic Reis, Department of Energy assistant secretary for Defense Programs (DOE/DP)
"Russian Collaborations" -- John Shaner of the Center for international Security Affairs (NIS-CISA) and Yuri Trutnev, first deputy chief scientist at Arzamas-16
"Basic Science and Education" -- Gerald Garvey of Subatomic Physics (P-25) and Robert Dynes, chancellor at the University of California, San Diego
"Materials Science" -- Mike Stevens of the Center for Materials Science (CST-CMS) and James Williams, general manager for the Materials and Process Department at the General Electric Aircraft Engines Division
"Industrial Partnering" -- Don Rej of the Physics (P-DO) Division and Bertrand Cambou, vice president, director of technology for Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector.
Sens. Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman also are scheduled to speak at the symposium, highlighting some of the national and international changes that have occurred during the past 12 years and the resulting programmatic changes and initiatives at the Laboratory.
Employees should anticipate scarce parking the day of the symposium and are encouraged to seek parking in areas other than the parking lot in front of the Administration Building. In addition, the south section of the Otowi Cafeteria will be reserved from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. that day for the invited guests. All other areas of the cafeteria (including the side rooms) will remain open to employees.
The complete agenda for the symposium will be posted in the Newsbulletin once it is finalized.
--Ternel N. Martinez
Cooperative Threat Reduction Program has many successes but much remains to be done, says CTR head during Lab talk
The Cooperative Threat Reduction Program got off to a slow start when it was created in 1991. But over the past few years, the program has made a tremendous impact in reducing, controlling and eliminating weapons of mass destruction from the former Soviet Union, said Harold Smith, the person responsible for administering CTR.
Smith, assistant to the secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological programs, made these comments during Tuesday morning's Director's Colloquium in the Physics Building Auditorium. Smith also is responsible for the planning, modernization, security and survivability of the nation's nuclear stockpile, among several other duties.
Smith said CTR (commonly called the Nunn-Lugar Program) is responsible for helping Russia destroy missile silos and rockets, dismantle nuclear warheads and safely store weapon components. He also credited CTR, which ends in 2001, with helping reduce the number of former Soviet Union states with nuclear weapons from four to just one: Russia.
He thanked the national laboratories for providing security containers, rail cars and related equipment to help remove the weapons and ship them safely back to Russia, as well as providing the technology to monitor those weapons and nuclear materials. Also through CTR, tunnels in Kazakhstan that once were used for nuclear tests now are safely closed down, he said.
Smith also had high praise for the Lab and its lab-to-lab interactions with its Russian counterparts. "You have very cleverly done lab-to-lab, and you have my sincere thanks," he told the audience. Smith then challenged the Department of Energy to go one step further and develop a more robust government-to-government relationship with Russia.
Smith pointed out that the program, which currently manages 34 projects worth about $2 billion, does not involve giving money to Russia to perform the above-mentioned tasks. "No money goes to the Russians. All money goes to American contractors," he explained. These firms go out all over the world and get the job done, while educating their Russians counterparts at the same time, he added.
"The American way is being propagated in Russia."
But for all CTR's success, there still is a lot of work that needs to be done, he cautioned. There are 10,000 weapons scattered throughout 50 sites in Russia, and they're managed by poorly trained, poorly housed, poorly paid, poorly fed soldiers, he warned. "And there are million-dollar buyers out there."
One way that the program is dealing with this problem is by building a facility in Mayak to store components of dismantled weapons, he said. The facility, being built by Bechtel, Inc., is employing Russians that get paid every two weeks in hard currency, Smith said. In some cases, CTR is paying contractors to build homes for those responsible for monitoring the weapons, he added. As another example, sophisticated monitoring equipment is being installed at the Sergiev Posad facility.
Smith also said Russia is awash in plutonium, and he urged DOE to join France and Germany in their plans to build a plant capable of turning that plutonium into mixed oxide reactor fuel, or MOX. He also warned that much needs to be done in the area of biological weapons.
Smith is a two-time recipient of the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award and the Exceptional Civilian Service Award of the Air Force. He also has received the Commendation of the Secretary of the Navy. In addition to his other duties, Smith chairs the NATO Senior Level Weapons Protection Group that ensures the security and survivability of NATO's nuclear forces and advises alliance ministers on nuclear protection issues.
--Ternel Martinez
Defense Department honors Lab for reducing threat of Russian nuclear proliferation
The Laboratory's six-year effort to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation from the former Soviet Union on Tuesday earned an official commendation from the Department of Defense.
Harold Smith, assistant to the secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs, commended Laboratory Director Sig Hecker during a visit to the Lab Tuesday to speak on the Defense Department's Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, commonly known as Nunn-Lugar.
In a letter to Hecker, Smith said the Lab recognized how, when the Soviet Union collapsed, the nuclear danger changed from a possible massive nuclear strike to a proliferation of Russian nuclear weapons, expertise or nuclear materials.
"Los Alamos National Laboratory was a leader in initiating a program of cooperative scientific projects with the Russian nuclear weapons laboratories," Smith wrote. "That effort has led to a transfer of the knowledge, procedures and hardware for safeguarding Russian nuclear materials and weapons."
Smith also praised the Lab for its support of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and other initiatives aimed at improving U.S.-Russian relations and preventing proliferation.
John Shaner, who heads the Lab's Center for International Security Affairs (NIS-CISA), was pleased by the commendation. "I think it's an indication of the ways our agencies should be working together toward a vital common goal, and Los Alamos is looking forward to further productive mutual efforts with the Department of Defense and other agencies," Shaner said.
In late 1991, the Lab established ties with its counterpart Russian nuclear weapons laboratory -- Arzamas-16 -- and began a series of scientific collaborations. These led to an ambitious program that eventually established nuclear materials control, protection and accountability systems at nearly 50 Russian nuclear weapons facilities.
Smith is presenting a similar commendation to Sandia National Laboratories at a colloquium there today.
--Jim Danneskiold
Checkpoint Survey shows improved communication ... and more
Laboratory employees who responded to this year's Checkpoint Survey believe communication has improved in their group and division, are generally satisfied with their jobs and feel safe in their workplace.
However, respondents said productivity needs to improve. And less than 40 percent responded favorably when asked if teamwork is rewarded at the Lab.
Those were some of the findings from the recently released Checkpoint Survey results -- this is the fourth consecutive year for the survey. Training and Development (HR-6) distributes the survey and analyzes the results.
The survey allows employees the opportunity to give feedback to their managers and provides Lab leaders with data on how employees feel about the Lab, said Steven Stokes of HR-6.
The Laboratory Leadership Council has been briefed on the survey results, which among other things showed that of the 59 questions asked, 24 showed significant increases in favorable responses from 1996. Only three questions showed significant declines in favorable responses, said Stokes.
Forty-seven percent of the nearly 7,200 surveys sent out to UC Lab employees were completed and returned to HR-6. Last year, 57 percent of the surveys were returned, while in 1995 the response rate was 49 percent.
The 1997 Checkpoint and Upward Appraisal surveys were distributed in April to Laboratory employees who had one month to complete the surveys.
The Checkpoint Survey contained questions for employees about career development, teamwork, job satisfaction, communication, customer emphasis, management, productivity, performance management, diversity and safety. Employees could respond by checking agree, tend to agree, neutral, tend to disagree, disagree, and don't know.
The Upward Appraisal survey allows employees to formally rate their supervisors in areas such as communication skills, trustworthiness, accountability, decision-making ability and fairness toward employees.
In the area of communication, 61 percent of employee respondents said they have a clear understanding of the Lab's goals and objectives, up 9 percent from last year. And 73 percent said they are sufficiently informed about the Lab's mission, up 8 percent from 1996.
Forty-three percent of employee respondents said division management communicates decisions to employees, up slightly from last year, but 18 percent above 1994, when only 25 percent responded favorably.
Stokes credited the LLC with fostering improved communications and promoting the Lab's goals and missions. "It's been a real concerted effort on their part to get the word out, to share information," said Stokes.
In the area of job satisfaction, 82 percent of employees who responded to the survey said they are proud to be associated with the Lab, up 6 percent from last year.
And while less than half of the employees who responded - 45 percent - said morale in their group is generally high, it was 8 percent greater than last year and 14 percent greater than 1994 when only 31 percent of employee respondents said morale in their group was high.
In the area of management, employee respondents said their managers are generally doing a better job of establishing priorities in their group or division. For example, 60 percent of the employee respondents said group management is doing well in establishing priorities for the group, up slightly from last year.
However, only 28 percent of the employees responding to the survey believe Lab management will act on problems identified in the survey. This figure, however, is up 3 percent from last year.
Stokes acknowledged that the figure is still low, but said improved communication will help employees understand that Lab senior managers are taking actions based on the employee survey. He cited communication, which has shown steady improvement since 1994, as an area that the LLC chose to focus on.
"Things are happening as a result of the survey, but the connection between the survey and the improvements doesn't seem to be apparent," said Stokes, noting that the LLC reviews the survey results then chooses two or three areas to work on improving.
Stokes said the LLC is reviewing the survey results and is in the process of selecting some specific areas to concentrate improvement efforts this year.
Thirty-five percent of the employee respondents believe Lab management is doing better at providing a clear sense of direction, up 8 percent from 1996 and 22 percent from 1994.
Employees gave their highest marks in the area of safety: 99 percent said they take personal responsibility for their own safety. And 97 percent said they would intervene if they saw a co-worker doing something unsafe.
Eighty-seven percent of those responding said corrective action is taken when unsafe conditions are brought to management's attention. And 90 percent said group management doesn't allow safety to be compromised in the workplace.
In the area of productivity, 77 percent of employee respondents said they are personally taking appropriate steps to cut the cost of doing business. The figure was down 2 percent from last year.
Forty-seven percent of the employee respondents said Lab management is promoting increased productivity. However, only one-third of those responding said Lab managers are taking necessary steps to cut the cost of doing business.
And 59 percent of the employee respondents agree that there is too much duplication of effort across groups in the Lab.
In the area of teamwork, only 39 percent of employees responding said teamwork is rewarded at the Lab. Sixty-two percent of respondents said there is good cooperation between teams in their group, down 2 percent from last year and 7 percent from 1994.
And 64 percent of employees responding said they are treated with respect, regardless of their position.
The survey results also revealed a wide difference between favorable responses of technical staff members and technicians on some items, Stokes noted.
For example, 75 percent of technical staff members who responded said group management recognizes the value of diverse perspectives and backgrounds. But only 57 percent of the technicians responded favorably to the same question.
And 74 percent of technical staff members who responded said employees are treated with respect, regardless of their position. Yet only 54 percent of the technicians who responded agreed with the statement.
"Those are two groups of employees who work very closely together, and to have such a difference in perception between how employees are treated is a concern," said Stokes. "We don't know what's driving that difference. We're hoping to better understand the issues involved in it."
Stokes said managers are encouraged to share the results of the survey with employees.
Groups and divisions should begin receiving results from this year's survey this week.
Results from the Upward Appraisal also are scheduled to be released this week.
The Upward Appraisal results generally show improvement in all 20 questions this survey asked, said Blair Stephenson of HR-6 (see box below).
--Steve Sandoval
How employees view their immediate supervisors Using a five-point scale, employees rated their immediate supervisors on 20 items, with five being high and one low. Following are the averages for 1994 through 1997.
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Black inventors exhibit coming to public library
The "Black Inventions Museum," a traveling exhibit, will be at the Mesa Public Library in Los Alamos July 29 through 31. The exhibit is sponsored by the Lab's African American Diversity Working Group.
The museum, which has been displayed around the country since 1988, highlights African-American achievements in science and engineering and features inventions by African Americans from the early 1800s to the present.
A reception is scheduled for July 29 at 5:30 p.m., with the opening ceremony immediately following at 6 p.m.
Betty Harris of Organic Chemistry (CST-12), who arranged for the museum to come to Los Alamos, strongly encourages Lab employees to attend. "The museum is a wonderful learning experience. It will surprise and enlighten," says Harris.
DOE issues surplus plutonium disposal plan
The Department of Energy has released a document proposing an approach to select private-sector help in implementing the MOX fuel alternative for disposing of surplus plutonium. The plan seeks public comment on the proposed strategy. More information, including an electronic link to the document, is available in a DOE news release.
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