Climate change increasingly threatens some of the nation91裸聊视频檚 most sensitive sites, including research laboratories, military facilities and power plants with radioactive material.
Extreme heat and drought, longer fire seasons with larger, more intense blazes and supercharged rainstorms that can lead to catastrophic flooding are forcing a reckoning that environmentalists and experts say is long overdue.
Many sites are contaminated or warehouse decades of radioactive waste, while some perform critical energy and defense research and manufacturing that could be crippled by increasingly unpredictable extreme weather.
Among them: The 40-square-mile Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where a 2000 wildfire burned to within a half mile (0.8 kilometers) of a radioactive waste site. The Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Southern California, where a 2018 wildfire burned 80% of the site, narrowly missing an area contaminated by a 1959 partial nuclear meltdown. And the plutonium-contaminated Hanford nuclear site in Washington, where the U.S. manufactured atomic bombs.
In February, wildfires came within 3 miles (5 kilometers) of the Pantex Plant in Texas, which assembles and disassembles nuclear weapons and stores thousands of plutonium pits 91裸聊视频� hollow spheres that trigger nuclear warheads and bombs.
Fire didn91裸聊视频檛 reach the site, and officials said plutonium pits 91裸聊视频� in fire-resistant drums and shelters 91裸聊视频� likely would not have been affected. But the size and speed of the fires, urgent efforts to dig firebreaks and the decision to send workers home underscore what91裸聊视频檚 at stake.
The Texas fire season often starts in February, but farther west it has yet to ramp up.
91裸聊视频淚 think we91裸聊视频檙e still early in recognizing climate change and 91裸聊视频� how to deal with these extreme weather events,91裸聊视频� said Paul Walker, program director at Green Cross International and a former House Armed Services Committee staffer. 91裸聊视频淲hat might have been safe 25 years ago probably is no longer safe.91裸聊视频�
That realization has begun to change how the government addresses threats.
The Department of Energy in 2022 required sites to assess climate risks to 91裸聊视频渕ission-critical functions and operations,91裸聊视频� and plan for them. It cited wildfires at two national laboratories and a 2021 freeze that damaged 91裸聊视频渃ritical facilities91裸聊视频� at Pantex.
Yet the agency does not consider future climate risks when authorizing new sites or projects, or in periodic environmental assessments. It only considers how sites themselves might affect climate change, which critics call short-sighted and potentially dangerous.
Likewise, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers only historical climate data in licensing decisions and nuclear plant oversight, according to a General Accounting Office study in April that recommended NRC 91裸聊视频渇ully consider potential climate change effects.91裸聊视频� The GAO found that 60 of 75 U.S. plants were in areas with high flood hazard and 16 with high wildfire potential.
91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檙e acting like 91裸聊视频� (what91裸聊视频檚) happening now is what we can expect to happen in 50 years,91裸聊视频� said Caroline Reiser, a climate and energy attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. 91裸聊视频淭he reality of what our climate is doing has shifted dramatically, and we need to shift our planning.91裸聊视频�
The National Nuclear Security Administration91裸聊视频檚 environmental safety and health division, which oversees active DOE sites, will develop 91裸聊视频渃rucial91裸聊视频� methodologies to address climate risks in permitting and site assessments, said John Weckerle, the division91裸聊视频檚 director of environmental regulatory affairs.
91裸聊视频淲e all know the climate is changing. Everybody91裸聊视频檚 thinking about, what effect are we having on the climate?91裸聊视频� Weckerle said. 91裸聊视频淣ow we need to flip that on its head and say, 91裸聊视频極K 91裸聊视频� but what do we think is going to happen as a result of climate on a particular site?91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�
Experts say risks vary. Most plutonium and other radioactive material is in concrete or steel structures or underground. And many sites are remote, where public risk likely would be minimal.
Still, potential threats have arisen.
In 2000, a wildfire burned one-third of the 580-square-mile (1,502-square-kilometer) Hanford site, which produced plutonium for the U.S. atomic weapons program and is considered the nation91裸聊视频檚 most radioactive place.
Air monitoring detected plutonium in nearby populated areas at levels higher than background, but only for one day at levels not considered hazardous, according to a Washington health department report.
The state said the plutonium likely was from surface soil blown by wind during and after the fire.
A 2018 fire in California started at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a former nuclear research and rocket-engine testing site, and burned within several hundred feet of contaminated buildings and soil, and near where a nuclear reactor core partially melted down 65 years ago.
The state91裸聊视频檚 Department of Toxic Substances Control muti-agency sampling found no off-site radioactive or other hazardous material from the fire. But an outside study found radioactive microparticles in ash beyond of the lab boundary.
The state ordered 18 buildings demolished, citing 91裸聊视频渟ubstantial endangerment to people and the environment,91裸聊视频� because future fires could release radioactive and hazardous substances.
It ordered cleanup of old burn pits contaminated with radioactive materials, fearing fire or floods could damage tarps covering them.
A 2000 wildfire burned 7,500 acres (3,035 hectares) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, coming within a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) of more than 24,000 above-ground containers of mostly plutonium-contaminated waste.
Most containers have since been shipped to offsite storage. Remaining radioactive material 91裸聊视频� including from the Manhattan Project 91裸聊视频� now is underground or in containers beneath fire-retardant fabric-and-steel domes.
The lab91裸聊视频檚 fire preparedness includes thinning forests, said Rich Nieto, manager of its wildland fire program. 91裸聊视频淲hat used to be a three-month (fire) season, sometimes will be a six-month season,91裸聊视频� he said.
Fire isn91裸聊视频檛 the only threat. Intense rainstorms can wash away contaminated sediment. Floods and extreme cold have forced the shutdown of several DOE sites in recent years.
In 2010, Pantex was inundated with rain that affected operations for almost a month and flooded a plutonium storage area. In 2021, it was shut down for a week because of extreme cold that officials said led to 91裸聊视频渇reeze-related failures91裸聊视频� at 10 nuclear facilities there.
Pantex has since adopted freeze-protection measures, upgraded fire and electrical systems and installed backup generators.
Other DOE sites are looking at their own needs, the nuclear security agency91裸聊视频檚 Weckerle said.
91裸聊视频淲e live in a time of increased risk,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淭hat91裸聊视频檚 just the heart of it (and) 91裸聊视频� a lot of that does have to do with climate change.91裸聊视频�
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The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Tammy Webber, The Associated Press
