LIVERMORE  (AP) — The director of a preeminent nuclear and national security research facility in Northern California has announced that he is stepping down.

Parney Albright, who has been director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, said in a statement on the lab's Web site on Thursday that he is resigning his post to pursue broader interests.

He is also leaving his role as president of Lawrence Livermore National Security, which manages the lab for the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The University of California will be leading a national search for a new lab director.

In the interim, Bret Knapp, who helps lead weapons programs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, will be the lab's director and the LLNS president.