Morale has fallen among scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory because of layoffs that followed the federal government’s decision to switch the facility’s management contract last fall from the University of California system to a corporation-led consortium, the Contra Costa Times reported.

The nuclear-weapons lab laid off more than 150 scientists and engineers in late May, including 110 with at least two decades of experience there. Some 290 other workers were also let go. Since 2006 many other workers have left voluntarily, and the facility’s total work force has fallen from nearly 9,000 to about 7,000.

Before the change in contract, many scientists said they feared losing the stability and professional status that came with being employees of the university. Some told the Times that the new management team, led by Bechtel International, had emphasized cutting costs at the expense of scientific quality.

The lab’s leaders have justified the layoffs as needed to deal with budget cuts in federal weapons programs and have said that further layoffs were not expected, the Times reported. Lab officials acknowledged that the financial squeeze had been created in part by increased fees paid to the new management team and to increased costs associated with the new contract. —Jeffrey Brainard