Nuclear Materials At Los Alamos Said To Be Safe From Raging Fire
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, WORLD NEWS: In the southwestern United States, a fire that is burning out of control has forced the evacuation of the entire town of Los Alamos, New Mexico. Firefighters had to pull back from entire neighborhoods because the fires were so intense, and the fire is of particular concern because Los Alamos is home to one of the most critical nuclear laboratories of the United States. And we are joined now by U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who is in San Diego, California, and who is responsible for the safety of the nuclear plant. Secretary Richardson, how safe is this sensitive material?</s>BILL RICHARDSON, U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY: Well, the nuclear materials are secure and safe. We have all personnel and equipment needed to handle the situation. Our critical security systems are operational. They are safe because the majority of our special nuclear materials are about five miles from the fire line in a building constructed to withstand disasters. A lot of these high explosives are kept in concrete bunkers surrounded by earth. We don't see a problem. What we're really concerned about is the Los Alamos community. We've got a lot of homes devastated. A lot of our nuclear lab employees are hurting. I'm going to go out there tomorrow to make a first-hand assessment of the situation. The president has declared Los Alamos a major disaster area, but about the only good news is that our nuclear weapons and nuclear materials are secure and safe, and we intend that that will happen.</s>MCEDWARDS: All right. Secretary Richardson, I just want to point out that as you're talking, we are looking at live pictures from one of CNN's U.S. affiliates in the area. Is there any scenario under which the safety of that material could change?</s>RICHARDSON: Well, you can never say never. But we do believe that our nuclear materials are secure and safe. We have a lot of personnel, a lot of equipment needed to handle the situation. We have contingency plans. As I said, a lot of the high explosives are kept in concrete bunkers surrounded by earth. We don't see a problem. We've anticipated these kind of problems in the past because there are a lot of fires in that Santa Fe National Forest. So we should be in good shape. My concern is with the Los Alamos community, our lab personnel, and this is why we're going out there. And the president has declared it a disaster area, so there will be all types of federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts to help some of the community by the severe fire threat.</s>MCEDWARDS: All right. U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, thanks very much. END TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com