As the University of California (UC) finishes the last seven months of its current contract to manage the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, controversy and change have become the two constants for the weapons lab’s staff. Over the past several years, the lab has been under assault by critics in the administration, Congress, and DOE for a litany of perceived breaches in security, safety, and accounting. The last director was forced to resign, and the current director, G. Peter Nanos, is at odds with many on his staff over his recent shutdown of the lab and his charges that the scientists created a “cowboy culture” at the facility.
The result of all the turmoil, according to many scientists and managers, is low morale and serious worry about what happens if UC loses its management contract. In the absence of hard facts, rumors abound about what a change...
