As firefighters struggle to extinguish the ball of fire in Los Alamos, New Mexico that came within 300 yards of a plutonium storage facility, charred 20,000 acres, and drove 20,000 people from their homes, all eyes turn toward the cloud of smoke that is slowly drifting over the city. Get Wired News delivered to your inbox or hand-held device. I have been sitting in here, watching my television, and looking out my window at the smoke, and it is crazy. Residents say they're worried that the smoke might be contaminated because the fire came so close to the Los Alamos National Laboratories , the nation's largest nuclear facility.
Officials say they're monitoring the air for contamination and have found nothing unusual.
And just because the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has stepped in to monitor the smoke doesn't mean anything, officials say. The smoke's really thick. He said the reason they were tracking the plumes had nothing to do with radiation concerns. Environmentalists and residents have a long history of worrying about the environmental damage that may have resulted from years of weapons work at the Los Alamos laboratory. Though lab officials say the facility is designed to withstand the impact of a 747 aircraft, area residents are concerned that not all the residue radioactive material is contained within the facility.