"LANL: Investors, Scientists And Community Members Invited To New Mexico Demo Day July 30"
Re: https://losalamosreporter.com/2026/07/28/lanl-investors-scientists-and-community-members-invited-to-new-mexico-demo-day-july-30/
Dear friends and colleagues --
The announcement above was published this morning.
For those who don't know, LANL is currently spending $4.34 billion (B) on nuclear weapons this year, out of its $5.13 B total Department of Energy budget. (LANL also has other sources of funding, mostly three-letter agencies, in the low hundred million dollar range.)
Next year, NNSA is proposing to spend $6.03 B in nuclear weapons at LANL, out of $6.75 B total. You can find this information on pp. 44-46 here.
LANL is a nuclear weapons lab and little else. As you can see at the link, the budget category called "science" will, come next fiscal year, comprise less than 1% of LANL's budget. LANL is not a science lab. It's a nuclear weapons lab, and an international dominance lab, that uses science.
The idea behind this event is, apparently, to raise money for "LANL-embedded" "artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced energy solutions, innovative materials and aerospace."
This is the direction many influential people think the state should go. These folks are working to make it a reality, with hyperscale data centers, rocket manufacturing, plutonium manufacturing, fusion (supposedly), and so on. Meanwhile LANL will be able to present itself as something it is not, furthering myths that continue to harm northern New Mexico.
Do any of you want to protest at this event? Does anyone want to go to raise a voice of opposition here? It is short notice but that's all we got. Greg and Trish cannot go, and neither can our interns. So it's up to folks in Santa Fe. It's an opportunity, that's all. You will need to do your own networking among your friends, or go alone.
From our perspective, any protest at this event would be the nonviolent version of the "Iranian defense."
"Attack our community with your plutonium bomb factory, and we will also protest your little profit-making ventures, that pretend to be beneficial to the public."
What IS this about, really?
- "Artificial intelligence." Do we need more of this?
- "Quantum computing," aka the end of privacy. Break any just about any ordinary passcode. Who needs this power, and why?
- "Advanced energy solutions, no doubt meaning mostly nuclear power. LANL has no renewable energy research in its budget.
- "Innovative materials" and
- Aerospace, i.e. mostly military aerospace, applications.
I also don't really like LANL doing this in the Farmer's Market space. That was built with quite a different vision for our culture, and for our future, in mind.
Greg Mello
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