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Fire sparks evacuation at New Mexico nuclear waste plant
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/05/fire-sparks-evacuation-at-new-mexico-nuclear-waste-plant/
Fire sparks evacuation at New Mexico nuclear waste plant
By Agence France-Presse
Wednesday, February 5, 2014 19:46 EST
Firefighters scrambled Wednesday to contain an underground blaze at a US nuclear waste plant which sparked an evacuation of staff, some of whom were treated in hospital, officials said.
The blaze erupted on a vehicle carrying salt at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico, the US Department of Energy (DoE) said in a statement.
Emergency response teams responded to “an operational emergency” at the plant, which is used to dispose of radioactive waste left from making nuclear weapons.
“All underground personnel are accounted for and have been safely evacuated to the surface,” it said, adding: “There is no waste in the vicinity of the fire.”