LOS ALAMOS SHUTS DOWN ROAD AFTER WASTE ACCIDENT

DP road, the place where the town of Los Alamos comes closest to lab property, was closed for part of Wednesday after a 60-year-old chemical canister “flared” while it was being examined during cleanup work. The area, which dates to the Manhattan Project era, is in the midst of a major cleanup project, with work being done in metal enclosures built over old waste pits. The incident happened when a worker was extracting a gas sample from a bottle of liquid. A chemical reaction caused the gas to “flare,” lab officials said in a statement, and the work area was evacuated. The road, which among other things passes in front of the Los Alamos Monitor, the town’s newspaper, was briefly closed as hazardous material teams responded to the incident. A survey found no radiological or serious chemical hazards, the lab said. The workers involved were wearing protective clothing and breathing apparatus and suffered no exposure.