Los Alamos Fire

[Vorticity]

I didn't see a thread on this, so...

There is a massive wildfire raging in the forests and mountains around Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), where I work. LANL is one of the oldest and largest national laboratories, home of the atomic bomb as well as of copious non-weapons related science (this includes my work). It is also the site of a lot of national security science, e.g. nuclear non-proliferation work.

It looks bad. In just two days, the fire has grown to 61,000 acres, and has begun to swing around behind LANL, partially encircling it. This is starting to look even worse than the Cerro Grande Fire which threatened the Lab and surrounding areas in 2000. So far, the township of Los Alamos has been involuntarily evacuated and the Lab closed until further notice.

If LANL is destroyed, the cost in terms of lost science, facilities, national security, and possibly human life will be incalculable, and that's not to mention the ecological holocaust that might ensue.

A couple of random news links:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/28/new.mexico.los.alamos/index.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13937781

 

[fuelair]

Been watching that - whenever the Casey trial crap hasn't overtaken everything of (hah-hah) lesser importance - and the Nebraska nuke plant potential floods. Best of "luck" to you and stay safe!!!

 

[Nosi]

What kinda safe guards are in place so no mushroom clouds go up? Daily Mail readers will wanna know. There's a story there too.

 

[Vorticity]

What kinda safe guards are in place so no mushroom clouds go up?

Not gonna happen. From your link:

'And the lab - knowing that it works with hazardous and nuclear materials - takes great pains to make sure it is protected and locked in concrete steel vaults. And the fire poses very little threat to them.'

Even if all the safeguards were to fail, there would be no possibility of a nuclear explosion. Worst-case scenario, you'd have a plume of airborne radioactive isotopes travelling with the smoke cloud... but the probability of that is vanishingly small.

 

[Fengirl]

My sister and her family live in Los Alamos, so I have been worrying and following the news as best I can since Sunday, bearing in mind there has been virtually zero coverage in the UK media. She texted me to say they left Los Alamos yesterday when the evacuation became mandatory. Sister, kids, dogs, husband, FIL ... all piled into their camper trailer and hit the road. They are about 25 miles away now. Any updates on the situation much appreciated.

 

[Vorticity]

My sister and her family live in Los Alamos, so I have been worrying and following the news as best I can since Sunday, bearing in mind there has been virtually zero coverage in the UK media. She texted me to say they left Los Alamos yesterday when the evacuation became mandatory. Sister, kids, dogs, husband, FIL ... all piled into their camper trailer and hit the road. They are about 25 miles away now. Any updates on the situation much appreciated.

Here is the New Mexico fire information website, which has info on fire progression and suppression, evacuations, forecasts, etc.

Here is the website of Los Alamos National Laboratory, which has sporadic brief updates.

Here (for what its worth), is the Los Alamos National Laboratory photo stream, which has images of the goings-on.

 

[Fengirl]

Thanks, Vorticity.

 

[Antiquehunter]

Presumably there are appropriate disaster recovery plans in place 'just in case', particularly since there was a similar threat in 2000? While this would be a major catastrophe, there must be mitigation strategies in place?

 

[Vorticity]

Presumably there are appropriate disaster recovery plans in place 'just in case', particularly since there was a similar threat in 2000? While this would be a major catastrophe, there must be mitigation strategies in place?

Oh yes, they drill for this kind of thing.

But there are only so many things that can be mitigated against. Human casualties and radiological contamination, yes. Destruction of forest, and fixed buildings and facilities... less so.

 

[korenyx]

The skies were smoky in Kansas yesterday; weird yellow light and the Sun was orange.
The city cancels the weekly tornado siren test if the weather is cloudy but they cancelled it yesterday because of the smoke.

 

[MG1962]

Oh yes, they drill for this kind of thing.

But there are only so many things that can be mitigated against. Human casualties and radiological contamination, yes. Destruction of forest, and fixed buildings and facilities... less so.

Any idea of what assets they have to deploy if they have to make a last stand at the facility?

 

[MG1962]

The skies were smoky in Kansas yesterday; weird yellow light and the Sun was orange.
The city cancels the weekly tornado siren test if the weather is cloudy but they cancelled it yesterday because of the smoke.

What part of Kansas are you in. I am up on I70 and there was this weird white cloud formation to the south that seemed to move east for most of the day

 

[Vorticity]

The skies were smoky in Kansas yesterday; weird yellow light and the Sun was orange.
The city cancels the weekly tornado siren test if the weather is cloudy but they cancelled it yesterday because of the smoke.

Yeah, that was probably the combined influence of the Los Alamos fire with the Pacheco fire.

 

[korenyx]

What part of Kansas are you in. I am up on I70 and there was this weird white cloud formation to the south that seemed to move east for most of the day

I'm in Wichita. In the satellite images the smoke moved from the state's southwest corner to right over Wichita. It thinned out quite a bit just north and east of the city. In the images I saw the smoke dissipated before it got to Salina.

 

[MG1962]

I'm in Wichita. In the satellite images the smoke moved from the state's southwest corner to right over Wichita. It thinned out quite a bit just north and east of the city. In the images I saw the smoke dissipated before it got to Salina.

Cheers, I must have been seeing the edge of a weather system or something. I am nearly 2 hours west of Salina (Hays) so no hope it was smoke

 

[korenyx]

Cheers, I must have been seeing the edge of a weather system or something. I am nearly 2 hours west of Salina (Hays) so no hope it was smoke

It was hard to tell because the cities weren't marked but I don't think it made it to Hays.

 

[Jim_MDP]

Lost my house to a non-wild fire in '07, so I try to avoid these stories. Best of luck to all.

Now, on a serious note...

I didn't see a thread on this, so...

There is a massive wildfire raging in the forests and mountains around Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), where I work. LANL is one of the oldest and largest national laboratories, home of the atomic bomb as well as of copious non-weapons related science (this includes my work).

Like we're gonna believe that.

Shill.

 

[Nosi]

Lost my house to a non-wild fire in '07, so I try to avoid these stories. Best of luck to all.

Now, on a serious note...





Like we're gonna believe that.

Shill.

Aren't the beakers behind concrete?