Energy will help rebuild Los Alamos
Dateline: 05/12/00
Complete list of Los
Alamos homes and buildings destroyed
Addresses of all Los Alamos County homes and buildings destroyed by the
fire. From Los Alamos County.
Department of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson was quoted in a Reuters
news story of May 11, 2000 as stating that his department would help rebuild
the wildfire ravaged town of Los Alamos, New Mexico.
The town grew up in the early 1940s alongside and largely because of the Energy Department's Los Alamos National Laboratory, site of the development of America's first successful nuclear bomb.
"This is a tragedy for this community. They helped us win the Cold War and we will stand behind them,'' Richardson told reporters at the lab's airport on Thursday.
According to the Department of Energy's 1998 Paths to Closure report, The Laboratory, established in 1943 to design, develop, and test nuclear weapons, actively processed deadly plutonium metal from 1945 to 1978.
Since the end of the Cold War, the Laboratory's nuclear role has been to guarantee the safety and functionality of the nation's remaining stockpile of nuclear weapons.
The Energy Department is in the process of removing all remaining nuclear waste from the Laboratory in an environmental restoration project scheduled for completion in 2013. (For details see: Los Alamos: After the Fire, by your About.com Guide.)
The wildfire, which has consumed hundreds of homes in and around the Los Alamos area, was started last Thursday by National Parks crews in the nearby Bandelier National Monument as a "controlled" burn. Driven by high winds, the fire grew out of control on Monday.
President Clinton declared the area a federal disaster area on Wednesday, thus qualifying victims to receive assistance from Federal Emergency Management Agency programs.
Reference Links
CNN report of May 12, 2000: Thirty-day ban will stop prescribed fires across the western U.S.
CNN report of May 12, 2000 on the Cold War-driven history of Los Alamos, New Mexico.
The most current and complete data on each of the fires involved. Data includes estimated containment, personnel and equipment being used, and accumulated costs to fight the fires.
Gives updates on all current U.S. Wildfires and phone numbers to call for additional information.
"Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos schools and county offices (except for emergency services) remain closed."
A detailed presentation of the research now being done at Los Alamos.
Download the entire DOE report on closing down and cleaning up America's nuclear weapons facilities.
New Mexico Burning
Albuquerque/Santa Fe, NM Guide Phyllis Gonzales covers the tragic wildfire from right next door. Get the latest shelter and relief information here.
Total coverage of this disastrous fire from U.S. Current Events Guide Clare Saliba.
Southwest US for Visitors Guide Boise Matthews' personal and lyrical take on the fires. She has also assembled a host of informative links to wildlife articles, ecology and climate backgrounders, and general Los Alamos and area reading.
Composites Guide Berry Berenberg provides updates, maps and more local information on the New Mexico fires.
What will happen to the nuclear devices and waste stored at the Los Alamos National Laboratory once the fire is out? From your About.com Guide.
Report on the scope and cost of the Energy Department's nuclear weapons production clean up project. From your About.com Guide
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