Activist group warns Los Alamos wildfire 3 1/2 miles from dumpsite with plutonium-contaminated waste

Date: 6/27/2011

A serious New Mexico wildfire 78 square miles in size has forced a mandatory evacuation of the town of Los Alamos, which is where Los Alamos National Laboratory is located.[1] This laboratory is one of the three sites where the secret Manhattan Project was conducted resulting in the development of the world's first atomic bomb, as well as the hydrogen bomb. At the time, the responsibility of Los Alamos National Laboratory was weapons research and design.

According to the AP an activist group called Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety warned that the wildfire is 3.5 miles away from 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste stored on the grounds of the Los Alamos National Laboratory: ... 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.[1] ...

The media contact for Los Alamos National Lab when asked refused to confirm the statement by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety: ... Lab spokesman Steve Sandoval declined to confirm that there were any such drums currently on the property. He acknowledged that low-level waste is at times put in drums and regularly taken from the lab to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project site in Carlsbad.[1] ...

The wildfire has already encroached upon the grounds of Los Alamos National Lab, having burned part of Tech Area 49, which in the 1960's was used conduct underground testing of high explosives and radioactive materials.[1]

Sources:

[1] Wildfire Shuts Los Alamos Lab, Forces Evacuations, AP via ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=13942429

[2] (VIDEO) Nightly News with Brian Williams, MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619//vp/43555573#43555573

FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• wildfire
• New Mexico
• LANL
• plutonium
• nuclear waste
• Los Alamos

[bearishtrader]

@Codybear77 The AP article did not say the source of the information, but Los Alamos lab does store a lot of nuclear waste on their grounds from the manufacture of nuclear weapons, so it does seem likely to be true. Check out the lasg.org (Los Alamost Study Group) website they have identified in photographs some radioactive waste dump sites on the grounds of the Los Alamos Nation Lab

[Codybear77]

@freedom4kaz I am under the impression that the drums of which you speak contain iodine 131, and not plutonium. Which makes sense, as the plutonium should all be stored underground or behind lots and lots of steel and concrete. I'm not saying that iodine 131 is not dangerous, but to say that there are 30,000 drums full of plutonium sitting on a tarmac somewhere is a bit sensational.

[freedom4kaz]

@Codybear77 Not full of crap!! 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste.

Research it, it's there!!

[TeslaTechnologyRocks]

Los Alamos fire is now reaching the nuclear labs and the Missouri River is threatening 2 reactors. Also a Tyson factory released chlorine gas today and 170 people hospitalized. Chlorine factory releases gas in China yesterday and 100 people hospitalized. Electromagnetic war started. The US is now under attack by what is called "Tesla Scalar Weapons" and if you Google it then you will find hundreds of informative links.

[Codybear77]

How does the activist group know where the waste is stored? I think they are full of crap.