List Narrows to 5 Finalists to Head Lab at Livermore

A list of five finalists to become director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of the nation’s two major nuclear weapons research facilities, has been submitted to University of California President David Gardner.

The new director will replace Roger Batzel, 66, who is retiring after holding the post since 1971, nearly half the time that the facility has existed. An announcement of the choice could be made as early as March.

Under Batzel, the lab grew from a facility with 5,253 employees and a $126-million budget to one with a staff of more than 8,000 and a budget of $880 million. The laboratory director must certify to the President that the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile is functional, and often testifies before Congress about weapons systems.

The lab has come under criticism recently by some who contend the lab has oversold some developing weapons systems.

In a notable example, Roy D. Woodruff, former head of weapons research at the lab, quit his post after Batzel refused to intervene when physicist Edward Teller gave President Reagan what Woodruff saw as an overly optimistic assessment of the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars, weapons system.

Might Have Been Candidate

Woodruff might have been among the candidates for Batzel’s job before the falling out. His successor, George H. Miller, 42, who has been at the lab for 15 years, is among the five candidates for the job, sources familiar with the selection process told The Times.

The list of finalists includes two other scientists with administrative positions at Livermore: John Nuckolls, 57, who runs the physics department and has been at Livermore since 1955, and James I. Davis, 50, a laser specialist who is the lab’s executive officer and has worked there since 1974.

Also on the list are Robert B. Barker, 48, who is on a leave of absence from the lab while he serves as assistant to the secretary of defense for atomic energy, and his predecessor, Richard L. Wagner, 51. None of the candidates could be reached for comment Friday.

The University of California administers the weapons laboratories at both Livermore and at Los Alamos, N.M., for the U.S. Department of Energy, which funds the bulk of their research. Energy Secretary John S. Herrington met with Gardner earlier in the week to discuss the finalists.

Significance Stressed

Selection of the new director is viewed as the most important aspect of the university’s oversight function. A committee selected by Gardner and composed of UC regents, scientists from the lab and outsiders began looking for a new director last April.

Gardner has final say over the selection, and is not obligated to choose from the list submitted by the search committee. In 1985, Gardner selected a new director, Siegfried S. Hecker, for the nation’s other weapons lab at Los Alamos, N.M., who was not on a list of finalists there.

The lab, founded in 1952 at the urging of Teller, so-called father of the hydrogen bomb, is involved primarily in weapons research, but also is involved in energy, biomedical, environmental and other research.