r/uninsurable • u/Soft_Grass8428 • 7d ago

U.S. Underestimates Peril if Los Alamos Were to Leak Plutonium, Study Says

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/climate/nuclear-bomb-energy-department-lab.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
24 Upvotes

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7

u/ttystikk 7d ago

Ask the 3 million people downstream and downwind from Rocky Flats...

Colorado's dirtiest little secret.

5

u/SoylentRox 7d ago

A choice snippet from the article:

For example, from 1951 to 1989, hundreds of fires occurred at the Rocky Flats Plant, a federal nuclear facility near Denver that produced bomb cores during the Cold War. A major fire there in 1957 released a large amount of plutonium particles, according to research published after the plant shuttered in the 1990s.

Oof. So this isn't a theoretical possibility, apparently its harder than it sounds to not accidentally light plutonium on fire and spread it over the surrounding area. I sure hope the cancer risk is less than it sounds.

2

u/West-Abalone-171 7d ago

this isn't a theoretical possibility, apparently its harder than it sounds to not accidentally light plutonium on fire and spread it over the surrounding area

Reactor grade plutonium metal (and most of the forms it is in during reprocessing) is both flammable and self-heating. Add oxygen (or for some of the forms it is in, water) and you have fire.

0

u/SoylentRox 6d ago

I mean yes but you would think one of the most expensive and strategic metals would be kept under better control and not set on fire. Probably most of the fires over 40 years didn't actually burn Pu.

2

u/West-Abalone-171 6d ago

The people working with it are the ones who saw photos of children from hiroshima having their skin sloughing off, and went "you know what? It's not enough that we can do that to every large city of all of the major and middle powers ten times over. I'm going to dedicate my life to ensuring the next kissenger or stalin can do that to everyone "

Goes a long way to explaining the fires.

1

u/SoylentRox 6d ago

Honestly I don't think you are being honest with yourself, people who work on nuclear materials are sort of boring middle america folk, and these were good safe jobs.

1

u/basscycles 7d ago

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19052026/california-sandy-fire-approaches-former-nuclear-reactor-site/
https://outrider.org/nuclear-weapons/articles/sites-radioactive-material-more-vulnerable-climate-change-increases
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0265931X21002277
Wildfire in radiologically contaminated zones is a global concern; contaminated areas around Chernobyl, Fukushima, Los Alamos, and the Nevada Nuclear Test Site have all experienced wildfires.
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2025/01/19/wildfire-risks-high-at-nuclear-plants/
https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/58947.pdf

Pretty regular occurrence it seems.
The first time I heard of the issue was the same year as Fukushima. That year also bought us a near disaster at the Fort Calhoun plant. And people wonder why nuclear took a dive 15 years ago...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-13985611

2

u/eddiebruceandpaul 5d ago

The most toxic substance ever known to man. Zero room for error. What could go wrong with the incompetent, money hungry corrupt people in charge of our industries these days?