Editor's note: Randa Safady, UT System vice chancellor for external relations, responded in writing to columnist JJ Hermes' questions about Los Alamos. The questions, and Safady's answers, are reprinted here.
Daily Texan: What portions of the management contract for Los Alamos National Laboratory will the UT System pursue?
Randa Safady: No decision has been made to submit a proposal. Whether or not to pursue any portion of the contract will be entirely dependent on the expectations and requirements set by the Department of Energy and expressed in the final request for proposal, and any teaming or partnering arrangements that the UT System may enter into in the preparation of a proposal.
DT: If awarded the management contract, would the relevant aspects, offices and resources within UT System report to the Department of Energy?
RS: We would expect that an office would be created within the UT System that would be responsible for oversight and management of Los Alamos consistent with our role in the overall management contract. That office would be responsible for reporting to the Department of Energy, much as the University of California's Office of the Vice President for Laboratory Management does today.
DT: What percentage of research conducted at Los Alamos relates to nuclear weapons?
RS: Total current fiscal year funding for Los Alamos is $2.076 billion. Of that total budget, $1.489 billion is funds for the National Nuclear Security Administration part of the Los Alamos budget (72 percent). Of that portion of the LANL budget, $1.193 billion is for nuclear weapons-related activities (58 percent of the total budget). The remainder of that portion of the NNSA budget is for nonproliferation activities and security. Most of the $1.193 billion earmarked for nuclear weapons-related activities is for assuring and certifying to the president and to Congress the safety of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile.
There has been no new nuclear weapons development conducted at Los Alamos since 1992 and, therefore, no monies included in these figures for that purpose. There is no way to determine what percentage of the $1.193 billion spent on the NNSA portion of the Los Alamos budget that is spent on nuclear weapons research beyond that research contributes to the larger mission of assuring and certifying the safety of the current stockpile, not in developing new nuclear weapons.
DT: If the UT System is awarded the management contract, in what direct ways will the prestige of the System be affected?
RS: There are a number of benefits to managing a national lab:
* Increased access to research and development programs at the laboratory.
* Increased visibility of faculty, graduate students and researchers engaged in research and development programs among other government agencies.
* Increased advanced research opportunities for postdoctoral students.
* New educational and research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students.
* Increased opportunities for UT and affiliated and collaborating faculty members at other universities and colleges to participate in programs at the lab.
* Opportunities for locating more Los Alamos-directed research activities on UT System campuses and at other universities.
* Additional national and international prestige for UT institutions, faculty, researchers and students from participation and experience in cutting-edge, national research.
* An ability to recruit and retain top national scientists, faculty, research fellows and graduate students to participate in cutting-edge research conducted by the UT System and Los Alamos.
Managing a national research laboratory is not simply a matter of prestige; it is a service to the students, faculty and institutions of the UT System.
As a consequence of managing Los Alamos, the UT System, faculty and students have the opportunity to participate in and have access to the world's best science and research being conducted by the Department of Energy's network of advanced research facilities and programs.
The educational, employment and economic benefits from that participation will have an enormous impact on the System, our communities, our state and the nation.
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