Fire on the Mountain
New Mexico
Fire on the Mountain’s campaign goal: move the radioactive waste at LANL to safer storage at WIPP before the next wildfire threatens it and us. Persuade the governor to use New Mexico’s legal tools to force DOE to move it as promised.
*This image is an artist's conception of a wildfire near waste storage tents.
Dangers of Legacy Waste at LANL
Welcome to our informative blog dedicated to giving the public what the DOE isn’t: awareness about the dangers of legacy waste at LANL. Here, we share crucial information about the hazardous legacy waste at LANL, its potential impact, and what steps can be taken to address this pressing issue.
New Mexicans are at risk from nuclear waste that sits in the forest at Los Alamos National Labs (LANL). This highly radioactive waste is in canvas tents in a wildfire zone. It should be moved to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), which the federal government has already agreed to do. WIPP is the appropriate place to store radioactive waste because it’s not vulnerable to natural disasters.
Radiation in the drums comes from plutonium-239. When released in a fire, plutonium is vaporized into tiny particles and inhaled. Particles remain in the lungs, irradiating cells for years. The Nobel Prize winning group, International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, says that there is no safe level of plutonium and that, when inhaled as particles, it causes cancer 100% of the time.
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These particles would blanket northern New Mexico. A report by Sandia Labs states that particulate plutonium is almost impossible to clean up, so a release would permanently contaminate the land. Buildings would need to be abandoned; you couldn’t live in your home or sell it and there is no insurance, public or private, to protect you against radioactive contamination. The contaminated land would still be heartbreakingly beautiful but would have to be seen at a distance because you couldn’t go there. The Land of Enchantment would become the Land of Contaminants.
In the last 50 years, forest fires have almost reached this waste four times. Climate change makes fires more likely, and the federal cuts in forest service personnel further reduces our ability to respond to them.
The good news is that we can avoid this disaster. New Mexico can require the Department of Energy (DOE) to move the waste to WIPP before a catastrophe occurs. New Mexico’s Governor and Environment Department (NMED) have the authority and tools to make DOE move the waste now. Join us in pressuring the state to protect us. We have nothing to lose but our land and health.
Join us. Get involved!
Mini Info Lesson You Can Tell Those Who Ask:
Our community is in danger because nuclear waste sits, unprotected on the mountain at LANL, in canvas tents in a wildfire zone. They’ve almost been reached by fires and would blanket northern NM if they are. The inept Department of Energy (D.O.E.zo the Clown) needs to move the waste to a safer, underground repository and the governor can make this happen, but she needs to hear from us.