Apr. 25—Trace amounts of plutonium from decades of weapons work at Los Alamos National Laboratory have contaminated the Rio Grande at least as far as Cochiti Lake and could be in the regional aquifer that serves a large population of New Mexicans, a nuclear watchdog says. “That’s been long known,” Nuclear Watch New Mexico Director […]
Apr. 14—It’s been almost 80 years since the first atomic bomb was detonated, and scientists say there’s still much to learn about how nuclear devices function as they reach the point of exploding. The estimated 1,054 explosive tests conducted in the U.S. before they were banned in 1992 and the 33 subcritical or non-explosive tests […]
Dec. 19—A sealed compartment with safety gloves attached caught fire at Los Alamos National Laboratory in November, resulting in officials shutting down a portion of the site’s plutonium facility for 10 days, according to the lab’s and government watchdogs’ reports. Employees were pulverizing 40-year-old legacy materials that were removed from the facility to create more […]