[NukeNet] AP, Record on our GREEN Bid for Livermore lab

[Marylia Kelley]

Tri-Valley CAREs and its partners are pleased to announce the official
submittal of an innovative bid to manage the Livermore Lab and transition
it from nuclear weapons to civilian science within 5 years. The bid was
submitted to the Dept. of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration
in advance of the Friday afternoon deadline.

Read all about it in the Associated Press wire story and Stockton Record
article, both reproduced below. Additional articles available on request.

Peace,
Marylia

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Scott Lindlaw
Oct. 27, 2006

3 teams vie to manage research at Lawrence Livermore Lab

SAN FRANCISCO - Three teams have submitted bids for the right to manage
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, including one consisting of nuclear
watchdogs, academics and a "green" energy firm, the groups said Friday.

Livermore Lab GREEN, as the team calls itself, would halt the nuclear
weapons research that has been the lab's primary mission since its
inception in 1952.

For the first time in its history, the federal government opened up the
process for securing the management contract for Lawrence Livermore to
competitive bidding.

Lawrence Livermore, one of the nation's nuclear-weapons research sites, is
currently overseen by the University of California, but its contract ends
in September 2007. UC and Bechtel National Inc. submitted one of the three
bids ahead of this week's deadline. Their proposed team also includes BWX
Technologies Inc.; Texas A&M University; Washington Group International;
and Battelle.

A UC-Bechtel partnership last year won the government contract to continue
managing the Los Alamos National Laboratory that built the atomic bomb.
That management team also includes Washington Group and BWX.

Another team that bid for Lawrence Livermore this week is led by Northrop
Grumman Corp. Northrop earlier this year beat out incumbent Bechtel for the
contract to manage the Nevada Test site, the area where nuclear weapons
were once tested - now used for testing conventional weapons, emergency
response training and other purposes.

The Northrop Grumman team also includes Nuclear Fuel Services; CH2M Hill;
AECOM; and Wackenhut.

The three teams submitted their bids to the National Nuclear Security
Administration, a semi-autonomous branch of the Department of Energy. A
panel of government experts will make their decision by March 31, 2007.

The consortiums led by UC-Bechtel and Northrop Grumman declined to discuss
specifics of their proposals, citing the ongoing competition.

But Livermore Lab GREEN provided a detailed overview of its bid, and
pledged to place the full text on its Web site by Saturday.

Its management team would consist of Tri-Valley CARES and Nuclear Watch of
New Mexico, two watchdog groups that have been critical of practices at
Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos respectively.

The team also would include New College of California and WindMiller Energy.

"Our management proposal is both innovative and complete," said Marylia
Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley CAREs. "I expect that NNSA will be
reluctant to consider genuine change. However, in our view, that is exactly
what is required. The country deserves more than it is presently getting
from its national labs."

An array of highly classified research is currently conducted at Lawrence
Livermore, including work for the Department of Homeland Security, which is
attempting to open a biodefense campus where lethal agents would be tested.

The Livermore Lab GREEN bid would transform Lawrence Livermore into an
unclassified "World Class Center for Civilian Science" within five years.
Plutonium and highly enriched uranium would be removed in four years.

ON THE NET

NNSA's overview of the Lawrence Livermore competition:
http://www.doeal.gov/llnlCompetition/

Tri-Valley CARES: http://www.trivalleycares.org/

Bechtel: http://www.bechtel.com/

Northrop Grumman: http://www.northropgrumman.com/

***********

STOCKTON RECORD
Alex Breitler
Oct 28, 2006
Watchdog group wants to turn weapons lab green
Environmental group bids to run Livermore site

LIVERMORE - It has filed more than 20 lawsuits, testified at dozens of
hearings and hosted at least 200 community meetings.

Now a group of environmentalists that has long focused its fury on the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is taking that watchdog role to a
new level by filing a bid Friday to take over the lab entirely.

Lawrence Livermore, which employs about 2,000 San Joaquin County residents,
has been managed for the past 50-plus years by the University of
California. But for the first time ever, a competitive bidding process is
under way to determine who manages the national security-oriented lab in
the future.

Even the environmental group, Livermore-based Tri-Valley Communities
Against a Radioactive Environment, admits its bid is a long shot.

"We don't expect they will choose us," said Executive Director Marylia
Kelley. "But we're extremely happy with our proposal. We believe it's
technically feasible and fiscally sound."

The group's goal is to convert the lab from nuclear weapons work to more
"socially beneficial" science: the study of sustainable energy, global
warming and other environmental issues. Tri-Valley CAREs in its proposal
has partnered with another nuclear watchdog group, a small wind energy
company and the San Francisco-based New College of California.

Congress three years ago voted to require competitive bidding for the
management of laboratories whose previous contracts had spanned at least a
half-century. UC has already won its bid to continue running the Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico.
The university and one of its partners, San Francisco-based engineering
company Bechtel, filed a bid for Lawrence Livermore earlier this week, said
Mike Kidder, a Bechtel spokesman. The old contract ends in September.

"We are officially in," Kidder said. "We'll await the process."
Under its watch, UC officials say Lawrence Livermore has become one of the
world's "premiere scientific centers," examining not only national security
but making other technological contributions, such as a laser that can
break up blood clots before they cause a stroke. The lab employs 8,500
people and receives an annual budget of $1.6 billion from the federal
government.

Tri-Valley CAREs says the lab dedicates too much time to nuclear weapons
study and does so behind a veil of secrecy that does not encourage
accountability.

The group also questions laboratory safety; Lawrence Livermore officials
were scolded by the federal Department of Energy earlier this year for
violations that occurred in 2004 and 2005.

If awarded the bid, Tri-Valley CAREs would open an office for
whistle-blower protection and promises more transparency for an inquiring
public.

"We're challenging the other bidders to show how they would handle these
same goals," Kelley said.

The National Nuclear Security Administration - an office within the
Department of Energy - is expected to pick a lab manager by spring 2007,
said spokesman Al Stotts. He did not know Friday how many bids have been
filed.

But all of them will be considered, Stotts said.

Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or abreitler at recordnet.com

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Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia at trivalleycares.org or marylia at earthlink.net