GRAPEVINE

By DAVID ELLIS

Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque has been busy developing nuclear weapons ever since World War II. With the cold war over, lab planners shelled out $900,000 to hire Being First Inc., a consulting team from Berkeley, to help redefine Sandia's mission. But the consultants' New Age methods have produced grumbling among the lab's 8,500 employees. In one stress-reduction seminar, employees were asked to lie on the floor in a dark room for deep- breathing exercises. Lab officials insist that such efforts will help persuade their federal overseers that Sandia is keeping up with the times. "We want to be the most cost-effective and the most innovative in our management style," says Dan Hartley, whose title is vice president for corporate-change management.

With reporting by Linda Williams