The University of California expects to bank some $22.5 million in fees in 2019 for its part in managing the two main U.S. nuclear-weapon design laboratories, the university’s Board of Regents estimated this week.
The University of California (UC) is a senior partner on Triad National Security, which has managed the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico since November, and Lawrence Livermore National Security, which has managed the Livermore National Laboratory in California since 2007.
The university’s share of the estimated fees, for work to be performed from October 2018 through December, would represent around 25% of the total fee-take available under the labs’ management and operations contract for that period.
The single largest part of UC’s expected 2019 fee award — $10 million, or roughly half the total — would go to the system’s Laboratory Fees Research Program. The program provides research grants for work that teams university graduate students and faculty with laboratory scientists.
The fees also pay for the University of California’s oversight of the labs, and for future construction projects “that would foster increased collaboration between the UC-affiliated National Laboratories and the UC campuses and medical centers,” according to the budget the regents approved this week.
Triad National Security features senior nonprofit partners UC, Battelle Memorial Institute, and Texas A&M University, along with integrated industry partners Fluor and Huntington Ingalls Industries. With options, the NNSA-funded portion of the pact is worth about $20 billion over 10 years.
Lawrence Livermore National Security is led by UC, Bechtel National, AECOM, and BWX Technologies, with Battelle as a subcontractor. Work on the Livermore contract began in 2006 and, with options, runs through 2026 at a total value of about $20 billion.
The Livermore contractor follows a government fiscal year that ends in September, while the Los Alamos contractor observes a financial year that ends in December. Each individual team member shares in the fee take.
The University of California managed both labs solo for most of their history.
The university might also pick up some lab fees in 2019 from departed Los Alamos contractor Los Alamos National Security: a company nearly identical to the current Livermore contractor.
Los Alamos National Security was on the job at the world’s oldest continuous nuclear weapons lab from 2006 through October 2018. The group lost its lab contract well before the final option period following a series management and nuclear safety lapses.
