Los Alamos fire emergency
Evacuations ordered as wildfire threatens Los Alamos, N.M.
Authorities have ordered residents to evacuate as a wildfire threatens Los Alamos, N.M., home to the laboratory that developed the atomic bomb.
Update at 5:24 p.m. ET: The fire has crossed onto lab property and jumped across State Route 4, New Mexico fire officials say. A one-acre spot fire was reported in Water Canyon, within Technical Area 49, on the lab's southwestern boundary.
Update at 5:10 p.m. ET: In an interview with the Weekly Alibi, lab spokesman Kevin Roark said there are several metric tons of uranium, plutonium, americium and other nuclear materials among the facilities. He said these radioactive materials are kept in the most secure facilities - deep inside vaults within concrete and steel buildings.
"There is no threat from wildland fires," he said.
A wildfire 11 years ago consumed 7,500 acres of lab property, and no nuclear or hazardous materials were released, he added.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/06/evacuations-ordered-as-wildfire-threatens-los-alamos-nm/1
Authorities have ordered residents to evacuate as a wildfire threatens Los Alamos, N.M., home to the laboratory that developed the atomic bomb.
Update at 5:24 p.m. ET: The fire has crossed onto lab property and jumped across State Route 4, New Mexico fire officials say. A one-acre spot fire was reported in Water Canyon, within Technical Area 49, on the lab's southwestern boundary.
Update at 5:10 p.m. ET: In an interview with the Weekly Alibi, lab spokesman Kevin Roark said there are several metric tons of uranium, plutonium, americium and other nuclear materials among the facilities. He said these radioactive materials are kept in the most secure facilities - deep inside vaults within concrete and steel buildings.
"There is no threat from wildland fires," he said.
A wildfire 11 years ago consumed 7,500 acres of lab property, and no nuclear or hazardous materials were released, he added.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/06/evacuations-ordered-as-wildfire-threatens-los-alamos-nm/1