Los Alamos Fire: EPA Testing for Radiation

[IScreamSundays]

Source: ABC News

The wildfire that surrounds the nuclear lab in Los Alamos, New Mexico, has grown to at least 61,000 acres amid mounting concerns about what might be in the smoke that's visible from space.

Such fear has prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to bring in air monitors, along with a special airplane that checks for radiation levels. So far officials have not been able to find anything.

"Our facilities and nuclear material are protected and safe," Laboratory Director Dr. Charles McMillan told ABC News.

The Los Alamos facility -- the birthplace of the atomic bomb -- was shrouded in secrecy long before it was surrounded by smoke after the Las Conchas fire began Sunday.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/los-alamos-fire-epa-testing-radiation/story?id=13953953

[MineralMan]

1. It's highly unlikely that the fire will burn the Los Alamos

installation. People really do understand the need to keep fire away from such places. You can look at satellite images of the lab and its location on Google Maps and see what I'm saying. Forest fires burn in forests. There's no forest on the lab's property.

[chervilant]

3. hmm...

Is it even remotely likely that the heat from the fire could cause the 'storage containers' to reach high enough temperatures to spew radioactive steam into the environment? Are the feds monitoring radiation levels so that they can further delude the hoi polloi? If there's nothing to burn at or near Los Alamos, what IS fueling this massive fire?

Sadly, I must pose these questions here in DU because of the astonishing dearth of information from the M$M.

[Sabriel]

5. It's highly unlikely we'll ever get the straight story

If there's one thing the Fukushima event showed me, it's that I'm pretty much on my own in terms of info gathering.

I can't even get my own federal or state authorities to provide needed information.

[oldhippydude]

6. i remember

the fire 11 years ago that got on to lab property.. there was concern, from historical recollection i wouldn't worry about it.. the other contributors are right, these guys are on the ball..

[caseymoz]

8. The heat from the blaze could be high enough to combust other things.

I don't know how hot it is from how far away, though.

[jwirr]

2. I wondered about that - that is old testing grounds. The facility is not

the problem. The soil is probably still holding radiation from those long ago tests.

[TalkingDog]

4. What jwirr said.

Plants uptake radiation at various levels. Updrafts carry contaminated soil.

While there is probably little cause for alarm, I've always been a proponent of 'better safe than sorry'. (especially with radioactivity)

[thereismore]

7. Exactly right. I lived there. There are places, canyons, still off-limits because of radioactive

dumps of the past. i think that's what they are worried about.