Posted on 06/29/2011 10:24:11 AM PDT by RummyChick
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.
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(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
The nuclear waste is contained in “fabric type “buildings that could catch fire.
And are on pavement so there is no ground fuel.
And is in steel casks. Plus, have you ever heard of flame-resistant fabric?
Pay attention to an actual former employee
“”It contains approximately 20,000 barrels of nuclear waste,” former top security official Glen Walp said. “It’s not contained within a concrete, brick and mortar-type building, but rather in a sort of fabric-type building that a fire could easily consume. “
Caught that too. There were many downplaying the seriousness of Fukashima as well. Better to err on the side of caution in a situation like this.
I know our government is really, really stupid, but they would not just toss a pile of nuclear waste into a tent.
it’s in steel drums stacked three high.
Supposedly what is in these drums are items that have come in contact with radioactive material.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/29/national/main20075315.shtml
Lab Director Charles McMillan said the barrels contain transuranic waste — gloves, toolboxes, tools — and other items that may have been contaminated through contact with radioactive materials. Top lab officials declined to say how many barrels were on site or how they are stored. An anti-nuclear group has estimated there could be up to 30,000 gallon-drums.
Typical media worst case hype. Los Alamos was evacuated not because of a fear of a Fukashima type incident but because the city is surrounded by forest and 220+ plus homes were destroyed in the 2000 fire. The area of stored waste (in barrels on pavement) is two miles from the lab boundary. Even if an ember ignited the fabric covering the barrels, the steel barrels themselves would not burn.
As far as radiation in the air goes, the worst case would be if fire goes down the canyons below the site where waste was dumped in the early years. Clean up has occurred but any particles close to the surface could be picked up by the fire draft. Unlikely, but possible.
Having built Nuclear Weapons over fifty years ago,
every Kleenex, pair of latex gloves, paper gown, screwdriver
and wrench ever used for the past 65 years are in those barrels.
...LANL has stored drums of contact-handled transuranic (CH-TRU) waste and remote-handled transuranic (RH-TRU) waste onsite to be retrieved in the future. (A "drum" means a 55-gallon drum of waste or its equivalent volume.) 35,000 of these drums are stored in fabric tents or domes in Area G.
So what happened to the 747 water bombers? There were supposed to be some at Kirtland AFB. Never waste a good crisis.
Yea, the only thing dumber would be to ground most of the nation's air tankers used for fighting these types of fires. But then it is the governments job to keep us safe!
(Massive forest fire of sarcasm - OFF)
Is the ‘fabric’ asbestos-containing material? (Just wondering).
Don’t know.
Don’t know.
...but I repeat myself.
Doubt it. Asbestos is hazardous, don’t ya know?
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