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Los Alamos

Questions swirl around $6 billion nuclear lab

Last updated Sunday, December 4, 2011 - 5:14pm

SANTA FE, N.M. — At Los Alamos National Laboratory, scientists and engineers refer to their planned new $6 billion nuclear lab by its clunky acronym, CMRR, short for Chemistry Metallurgy Research Replacement Facility. But as a work in progress for three decades and with hundreds of millions of dollars already spent, nomenclature is among the minor issues.

Construction, Laboratory, Los Alamos, Nuclear, Research, National Read more Comments

(The Associated Press) This undated image provided by the Los Alamos National Laboratory shows lab contract worker, Kevin Miller examining a truck excavated from a location called Area B on lab property in Los Alamos, N.M. Over the past three years, lab workers laboring under highly specialized containment domes built literally just a mile or so from downtown Los Alamos -- have pulled up everything from a truck believed to have been used at the first nuclear test bomb explosion to whiskey bottles, calendars and about twice as much toxic waste and soil as had been thought to be buried at what is known as Area B.

Los Alamos under renewed environmental scrutiny

Jeri Clausing The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, October 1, 2011 - 4:55pm

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — Pickup trucks believed present at the world’s first nuclear bomb test, coke and whiskey bottles, a calendar and a toothbrush are just a few of the items unearthed by a cleanup of one of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s original toxic dump sites, where the detritus of the 1940s Manhattan Project was strewn through some of northern New Mexico’s most scenic mesas and canyons.

Cleanup, Los Alamos, Nuclear, Nuclear lab, Radioactive waste, International Read more Comments

Smoke and fire approach Santa Clara Pueblo on Thursday June 30, 2011. A raging blaze that has become one of the largest forest fires in New Mexico history left the leader of one Native American community with a sinking feeling Thursday as it burned through cultural sites and threatened an important water source for his people. (AP Photo/Natalie Guillén - The New Mexican)

Crews battle NM fire in canyon

The Associated Press The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, July 1, 2011 - 10:45am

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. -- Firefighters were confident Thursday they had stopped the advance of a wildfire that headed toward the Los Alamos nuclear lab and the nearby town that now sits empty for the second time in 11 years, even as they battled the blaze that crept into a canyon that descends into the town and parts of the lab.

Of 1,000 firefighters on the scene, 200 were battling the blaze in Los Alamos Canyon, which runs past the old Manhattan Project site in town and a 1940s era dump site where workers are near the end of a clean-up project of low-level radioactive waste. The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first atomic bomb, and workers from the era dumped hazardous and radioactive waste in trenches along six acres atop the mesa where the town sits.

Firefighters, Los Alamos, Nuclear lab, National Read more Comments

A tree burns during the Las Conchas fire near Los Alamos, N.M., Wednesday, June 29, 2011. As crews fight to keep the wildfire from reaching the country's premier nuclear-weapons laboratory and the surrounding community, scientists are busy sampling the air for chemicals and radiological materials. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

NM fire poised to be largest in state history

The Associated Press The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 10:20am

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — With firefighters bracing for another day of strong, erratic winds, a wildfire near the nation’s premier nuclear weapons laboratory and a northern New Mexico community was poised Thursday to become the largest in state history.

But fire officials remained confidant the fire will not spread onto the Los Alamos National Laboratory or into the town of Los Alamos. Crews lit brush to create a 10-mile long burned-out area between the fire and the facility that created the first atomic bomb.

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Airplane deployed to monitor air over NM fire

The Associated Press The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 6:00pm

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. -- The government sent a plane equipped with radiation monitors over the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory Wednesday as a 110-square-mile wildfire burned at its doorstep, putting thousands of scientific experiments on hold for days.

Lab authorities described the monitoring as a precaution, and they, along with outside experts on nuclear engineering, expressed confidence that the blaze would not scatter radioactive material, as some in surrounding communities feared.

Los Alamos, Nuclear lab, Smoke, Wildfire, National Read more Comments

The Las Conchas fire burns near the Los Alamos Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M., Tuesday, June 28, 2011. A vicious wildfire spread through the mountains above a northern New Mexico town on Tuesday, driving thousands of people from their homes as officials at the government nuclear laboratory tried to dispel concerns about the safety of sensitive materials. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Towns near NM fire, nuclear lab wary of radioactive smoke

The Associated Press The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 11:03am

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. -- Residents downwind of a wildfire that is threatening the nation's premier nuclear-weapons laboratory are worried about the potential of a radioactive smoke plume if the flames reach thousands of barrels of waste stored in above-ground tents.

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NM wildfire grows, shuts famed Los Alamos nuke lab

The Associated Press The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, June 27, 2011 - 4:12pm

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — Authorities ordered Los Alamos evacuated Monday as a fast-growing and unpredictable wildfire bore down on the northern New Mexico town and its sprawling nuclear laboratory.

The blaze that began Sunday already had destroyed an unspecified number of houses south of the town, which is home to some 12,000 residents. It also forced the closure of the nation’s pre-eminent nuclear lab while stirring memories of a devastating blaze more than a decade ago that destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings in the area.

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