LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) – In a conference room at Los Alamos National Laboratory, employees interrupted their Christmas party banter to listen to the announcement that a new partner would join the University of California in running the nuclear weapons lab.

Then, without comment, they returned to the buffet for seconds and dessert.

But then the news started to sink in that UC and engineering giant Bechtel Corp. had prevailed over a rival team made up of the University of Texas and defense contractor Lockheed Martin to win the management contract.

Some employees began to demand change, while some said that after waiting nearly two years for the bidding process to play out, they were pleased that a new management team was named.

“I’m happy that they’ve made a decision and are moving forward,” said Bill Murray, an engineer in the physics division.

Murray and others said they will be watching how UC will participate in the new management team.

Employees are also concerned about how the team will bridge a sense of distrust that has developed between them and upper managers and what benefits the team will offer employees who will now work for a limited-liability corporation.

Bernie Foy, a 16-year veteran who works in the chemistry division, said he was “ambivalent” about who would manage the lab ahead of Wednesday’s announcement. But, he said, the UC-Bechtel team has a lot of work to do to mend relations with employees.

“UC must fix the gulf in trust between the scientific staff and the upper management at the lab,” Foy said.

The fissure came to a head last summer when former director Pete Nanos shut down lab operations, a move that lasted seven months before work returned to normal. Foy believes the shutdown was an “extreme overreaction” to the loss of classified disks later found never to have existed.

“They (the new managers) need to emphasize very strongly that they will not overreact to minor incidents,” Foy said.

Joe Ladish, a retired lab veteran and member of the Coalition for LANL Excellence, said Wednesday’s announcement did not bring much relief to employees still worried about their benefits.

“For the people at the lab, the anxiety is going to be there for many months until they see in detail what it means to them particularly,” Ladish said.

Early next year, UC and Bechtel must submit a pension plan and benefits package to the National Nuclear Security Administration for approval. The NNSA’s evaluation board has said the new manager would have to provide a compensation package that is “substantially equivalent” to employees’ current benefits.

Ladish said the UC-Bechtel team seems open to listening to concerns.

“They really look like they’ve got a good handle on what they want to do and how they want to do it,” Ladish said.

Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., whose district includes Los Alamos, greeted patrons at the Hard Rocks Java Cafe across the street from the main lab complex and encouraged them to voice their concerns.

One employee stopped by to tell Udall about another benefit of the UC-Bechtel win.

“At least we don’t have to speak Texan now,” joked Don Berryhill, who works in computer network support.