自然災害ってやつは待ってはくれないのだ

ネブラスカ州では大洪水で原発がピンチ。http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/us/21flood.html?_r=1
そして、米国の核研究の中心、ロスアラモス国立研究所は山火事の危機。Thousands flee Los Alamos as wildfire advances - CBS News

The fire scorched a section of what is known as the Tech Area, 49, which was used in the early 1960s for a series of underground tests with high explosives and radioactive materials. Lab officials said the fire was safely extinguished.
Lab spokesman Kevin Roark said environmental specialists from the lab were mobilized and monitoring air quality on Monday, but that the main concern was smoke.
The anti-nuclear watchdog group Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, however, said the fire appeared to be about 3 1/2 miles from a dumpsite where as many as 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste were stored in fabric tents above ground. The group said the drums were awaiting transport to a low-level radiation dump site in southern New Mexico.
Lab spokesman Steve Sandoval declined to confirm that there were any such drums currently on the property. He acknowledged that low-level waste is at times put in drums and regularly taken from the lab to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project site in Carlsbad.

山火事はテック49という、1960年代に地下核実験を行った敷地の一部を襲った。研究所幹部らは、火事がは無事消し止められたと言った。研究所の広報官は、環境の専門家らが派遣され月曜日に大気の測定を行ったが、彼らの関心は煙にあったと語った。核安全を憂慮する市民の会は、火事はプルトニウムを含む放射性廃棄物の入った55ガロン容量のドラム缶3万個が置かれている地上のテントから3マイル半のところまで迫ったと言っている。これらのドラム缶は、ニューメキシコ州南部の低レベル放射性廃棄物用処理場に運ばれる予定だという。研究所の広報官は、そのようなドラム缶が現在敷地内にあるかどうかについて明言を避けた。低レベル廃棄物が時にドラム缶に入れられ、カールスバッドにある廃棄物隔離プロジェクトの敷地に定期的に運ばれていることは認めた。
あちゃ〜

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy's inspector general issued a report that said Los Alamos County firefighters weren't sufficiently trained to handle the unique fires they could face with hazardous or radioactive materials at LANL.
Lab and fire department officials at the time said the report focused too much on past problems and not enough on what had been done to resolve them. Some problems also were noted in previous reports.
On Monday, lab and fire officials said they were confident that if the flames reached lab property they would be able to protect its sensitive facilities.
"We're in a much better place than we were 11 years ago," said Rich Marquez, executive director of the lab, noting the lab has thinned out potential fire hazards and has enacted a number of emergency protocols.
"Our day to day activity is about appropriate stewardship of those resources. We take precautions just in our normal existence and the way we plan, the way we manage materials like that. We assume the worst."

2009年に、米国エネルギー省の監査長官報告書で、ロスアラモス郡の消防士らは研究所で火事が起きた際の危険物質への対処に準備できていないと指摘されている。当時の研究所と消防の幹部らは、報告書は過去の問題点にとらわれており、対処への努力を見ていないと反論していた。月曜日には、幹部らは火事が研究所施設に迫っても、重要施設を保護できると語った。｢我々は最悪を想定している」

核施設って、ひとたびことが起こればプライスレスな被害を出しちゃうのよねー。なのに、自然災害の脅威に無防備すぎ。地震、雷、火事、おやじは死語ではないのだなあ。おやじは最近怖くなさげだけど。