The University of California has managed Los Alamos National
Laboratories for 60 years, and should fight to retain its
leadership position despite competition from Lockheed Martin and
the University of Texas.
Unlike the UC, companies such as Lockheed are motivated almost
exclusively by the desire to make a profit ““ Lockheed only
re-entered the bidding process after the government promised to
raise the contract’s monetary value.
Lockheed Martin already manages Sandia National Laboratories
““ another major nuclear weapon research facility. It does not
need a monopoly on the premier U.S. nuclear facilities.
There is nothing magical about private companies that makes them
immune to the mistakes Los Alamos experienced under UC management
in recent years. From the near meltdown of Three Mile
Island’s reactor to the purposeful cover-up of radioactive
pollution levels 35,000 times above legal limits, the United States
has endured dozens of nuclear accidents ““ many of them the
result of corporate greed and silence.