Los Alamos nuclear facility threatened by wildfires

Bushfire reaches Los Alamos nuke lab

ABC News, Jun 28, 2011

The laboratory, which ensures the safety and reliability of the US nuclear stockpile, is a national security research facility located in the Jemez mountains of northern New Mexico. It was set up in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project to create the first atomic bomb and still maintains the nation’s largest nuclear weapons arsenal.

Firefighters were able to douse flames on a 4,000-square-metre “spot fire” just inside the south-western boundary of the lab site, about 40km outside Santa Fe, authorities said….

“This fire is going to be with us for a while. It has the potential to double and triple in size,” Los Alamos fire chief Doug Tucker said.

Nuclear watchdog groups are keeping a close eye on the fire, said Jay Coughlin, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico…….

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2

June 29, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | Leave a comment