Whistlebower Policies
And Protections

The University of California has adopted revised Whistleblower and Whistleblower Protection policies. These revisions bring the Berkeley Lab policies into compliance with State law. The revised policies replace those currently found in RPM §2.05(J). Rather than having both policies under one section as they have been in the past, they have been divided into RPM §2.05(J), Reporting and Investigating Allegations of Suspected Improper Governmental Activities ("Whistleblower Policy") and RPM §2.05(K), Protection of Whistleblowers from Retaliation and Guidelines for Reviewing Retaliation Complaints ("Whistleblower Protection Policy").

It is Berkeley Lab policy that all regulated hazardous, radioactive, mixed and medical wastes be managed in compliance with all federal, state, local laws and regulations. This policy covers the areas where wastes are generated and at the Hazardous Waste Handling Facility. Of primary concern is the health and safety of Lab personnel and the protection of the public and the environment. Berkeley Lab has enjoyed success in all of its waste management activities over the years because of the cooperation of Lab employees. The Waste Management Group is available to assist in determining the appropriate regulations and management of wastes and to identify recycling and waste minimization opportunities. More information can be found here or from one of the Waste Management Generator Assistants assigned to support your division or department, listed here.

The fate of the Universe is to end not with a bang but with a whimper, as TS Eliot famously wrote. This is the current view of cosmologists, who believe the Universe will expand forever. However, physicists in the US have now pointed out a radically different cosmic endgame, called the Big Rip. And the key to understanding the Big Rip is dark energy. To further explore this theory, physicists may soon get a way to distinguish the three different incarnations of dark energy: a space probe called the SuperNova Acceleration Probe (SNAP). "How the dark energy changes with distance, or 'look-back time' is the key observation that will allow us to distinguish between the different types of dark energy," says one of SNAP's originators, Greg Aldering of Berkeley Lab. Full Story.