we checked on a nuclear dump site where old radioactive mateal was buried more than a half century ago. our gadi schwartz shows us why some are worried about the fire burning into tech area 21. over the last few days- i've been hearing from local residents who say they trust the labs and how they are storing recent nuclear waste but area 21 is the place that makes them nervous... because of what happened here during the dawn of the nuclear a... the deafening roar of air continously being filtered at tech area 21 across the street- the distinct hiss of air quality monitors- constantly checking for containments around one of the lab's first radioactive waste dumps and an old plutonium factory. they went in at the birth of the nuclear age, they helped win the cold war, they went up very quickly and the reality is that the risk there at technical area 21 today is a lot worse than it was just 2 years ago we were there a few years when they were working to make it safer. the federal government---spe nding hundreds of millions of dollars cleaning up the low level radioactive waste, demolishing buildings- and digging up things like old tanks that held radioactive sludge and radiation suits that were buried in the dirt above los alamos canyon. the metal buildings protect the dig sites - and now with the threat of fire- crews have gone in and covered any exposed materials inside. where ever there was any hazardous waste showing we covered that up with an addition 2 feet of dirt so that even if a fire was able to get in there it would stop at the dirt nothing would burn and nothing would be released in the atmosphere. in addition to dirt... the buildings are now set up to spew a special firefighting foam . if its higher than 400 degrees on the inside it will automatically trigger the fire supression inside the buildings the national lab website lists a history of tritium, uranium plutonium and polonium containments in the dig area. the lab says 90 percent has now been removed but the lab says there's another radioactive dump site in ta 21 where waste removal has not yet started. some people---even lab employees have said they're worried what could happen if the fires burns into the area...but lanl officials insist there's no danger. i've been researching this area all day- and i've learned one of the worlds first nuclear reactors was built decades ago at the bottom of los alamos canyon. today firefighters have worked to reinforce a strong fire line down los alamos canyon to prent the fire from spreading and the area has been thinned of heavy fuel.
