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A high-level task force summoned by the US Department of Energy (DoE) charges the DoE with mismanagement of the ten national laboratories under its control. The task force suggests the bureaucracy and the lack of credibility of the department as possible causes of decline in the maintenance of the laboratories. It has recommended corporatization of the national laboratories that will detach them from the direct control of the DoE.

A high-level task force urges comprehensive reforms for the management of the 10 national laboratories controlled by the US Department of Energy (DoE). The task force suggests that corporatization of the national labs will permit them to function like industrial corporations and remove the control of DoE over these labs. It recommends repealing of the legislation that restricts lab operations.

The world's most powerful particle accelerator has begun warm-up stretches for its 2012 run. On 14 March, beams of protons again began to circulate in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) [...]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was originally set up in 1952 as a rival to the Los Alamos National Laboratory to conduct research in nuclear weapons and thermonuclear fusion. However, LLNL's weapons research now accounts for less than 30% of its research programmes. The laboratory has branched into almost every kind of applied science, environmental science and even contributes to the Human Genome Project. Much of its expansion can be traced to the efforts of a small part of its operation, the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program, which nurtures the small, speculative projects in the interests of curiosity-driven research.

The UK prevented the privatization of government-owned laboratories and research organizations. The decision was an outcome of a 1983 evaluation of government laboratories to determine the feasibility of privatization. Scientists and researchers of the British Geological Survey and Medical Research Council also expressed their approval of the government's decision. Furthermore, the government's decision was aided by the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy which necessitated government access on scientific research and advice.

Bill Clinton determined that requiring Lawrence Livermore, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories to use private industry cost saving reorganization techniques was more effective both economically and for public confidence than consolidation or privatization. The trend in research funding is toward basic research with any programs having industrial applications being funded by industry sources. A $25 million to $75 million cut has been requested from the $875 million research budget.

The agreement between the National Biotechnology Center (CNB), which is under Spain's Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), and a subsidiary of Pharmacia, a Swedish pharmaceutical company, that allows the company to use the laboratory space at CNB has resulted in the resignation of three scientific directors and a deputy director of CNB. The deal also gives intellectual property rights to all research conducted at the laboratory. The agreement is worth $60 million to the CSIC and is encouraged by the authorities, but scientists feel that the new deal is an exploitation of the public institute by a private industry.

The Energy Dept's (DOE) weapons labs face a difficult path. Their work on new devices has largely been canceled, and private industry finds many obstacles to collaborative agreements. Congress's Office of Technology Assessment recommends that the DOE streamline its authorizations for cooperation with industry, and finds that large individual programs cannot adequately occupy the labs. Legal mandates from Congress also obstruct agreements.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking a new corporate manager of its Sandia National Laboratory to replace the American Telephone and Telegraph Co (AT&T), which intends to give up its non-profit management of the laboratory in 1993. AT&T has managed the weapons laboratory since its creation during World War II as a site for nuclear research. DOE officials may permit AT&T's successor to manage Sandia for a profit as a means of making the difficult task more attractive.