New Mexico Fire Threatens Plutonium Stored at Los Alamos Lab

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By JOE NEWMAN

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about the big brush fire in New Mexico. Perhaps, the biggest reason is what would happen if the fire breaches the Los Alamos National Laboratory's perimeter. With more than 6 metric tons of plutonium on site, a fire at the facility could cause a monumental tragedy.

If you consider the myraid safety problems that have plagued the Los Alamos nuclear lab, we have plenty of reasons to be worried about the the lab's ability to withstand a fire. Senior sources in the Department of Energy have told POGO Senior Investigator Peter Stockton that the wildfire is beyond the lab's "design basis."

Stockton, who is featured in the NBC Nightly News clip above, also talked with Time.com this week about the fire and the lab's vulnerability. Read his Q&A.

Joe Newman is POGO's director of communications.

Comments

[belvadavis]

I was going to make a thread about the possible conspiracy behind nuclear plant disasters in 2011.
Hint, Hint somebody... I don't want to piece together info or do the work necessary to make decent thread on that subject so I hope someone does it for me. http://bit.ly/mF4Sxq

[Labrat87544]

For someone who is an "expert" on nuclear materials, Peter's interview is
riddled with errors. First, LANL does not manufacture uranium pits. With the exception of small uranium programs, the majority of work on uranium is done at the Y-12 plant. Second, plutonium isn't the most toxic and lethal substance on earth. There are many
biological and chemical agents that are much worse gram for gram. A spec of plutonium in the lungs does not guarantee a death sentence with cancer. I know several ppl with body burdens who
lived well into their 80's cancer free.

As Los Alamos has evacuated, the press has done a wonderful job sensationalizing the radioactivity scare and gave focused less on the human factor and how the fire has uprooted families and their pets. I suppose this type of story doesn't garner media attention and propagate scare tactics, ESP from people who don't know what they are talking about (e.g POGO).