John Arthur Flam

John Arthur Flam died July 4, 2024. He was 84.

Flam was an Air Force veteran. After his discharge, he was hired by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the late 1960s and assigned as a mechanical technician at the Nuclear Explosives Assembly Facility (NEAF) at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). He was responsible for coordinating the assembly of nuclear explosive test devices for the Livermore testing program and performing hands-on assembly operations as necessary. This required a lot of close coordination with the testing program, DOE security, the WSI guard force and various test directors at ground zero operations. In the 1980s, he was assigned to auxiliary systems, known as gas passers. When operations changed again, he was reassigned back to the NEAF in the same capacity as before. When the test ban treaty took effect, he was responsible for coordinating the assembly of sub crits and hands-on assembly as required. During this time in the explosives program, he was assigned to the Device Assembly Facility (DAF). Flam was instrumental in bringing all the safety and security in line for the DAF. 

He is survived by his wife Cathy Kirk Flam of Paris, Tennessee, his son and daughter-in-law Greg and Kathleen Flam of Maui, Hawaii, his stepdaughter Kari and husband Jarard of Seattle, Washington, and a sister Sylvia Kirchman of San Diego, California. He is preceded in death by his parents, John Milton Flam and Myrtle Irene Nordness Flam, a son, Kenneth Flam, and a granddaughter, Tara Flam.

If you would like to send a note to his family, you can contact his good friends Richard Dalson at arvydee1957 [at] gmail.com (arvydee1957[at]gmail[dot]com) or Terry Butler at terryinlivermore [at] yahoo.com (terryinlivermore[at]yahoo[dot]com).