A raging wildfire is threatening to engulf the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Los Alamos likely contains more nuclear weapons than any other facility in the world.
The anti-nuclear watchdog group Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, however, said the fire appeared to be about 3 1/2 miles from a dumpsite where as many as 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste were stored in fabric tents above ground. The group said the drums were awaiting transport to a low-level radiation dump site in southern New Mexico.
Lab spokesman Steve Sandoval declined to confirm that there were any such drums currently on the property.
Later, Los Alamos confirmed the allegation:
Lab officials at first declined to confirm that such drums were on the property, but in a statement early Tuesday, lab spokeswoman Lisa Rosendorf said such drums are stored in a section of the complex known as Area G. She said the drums contain cleanup from Cold War-era waste that the lab sends away in weekly shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
She said the drums were on a paved area with few trees nearby and would be safe even if a fire reached the storage area. Officials have said it is miles from the flames.
The lab has called in a special team to test plutonium and uranium levels in the air as a "precaution".
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fire-threatens-plutonium-and-uranium-release-los-alamos-national-laboratory
Evacuations Ordered As Fire Threatens Los Alamos
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/137468916/mandatory-evacuations-ordered-as-wildfire-threatens-los-alamos?ps=cprs
Jet Stream Forcast
http://www.intellicast.com/National/Wind/JetStream.aspx
Surface Wind Forecast
http://www.intellicast.com/National/Wind/WINDcast.aspx
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