Fire on the Mountain
New Mexico
Fire on the Mountain’s campaign goal: move the radioactive waste at LANL to safer storage at WIPP before the next wildfire threatens it and us. Persuade the governor to use New Mexico’s legal tools to force DOE to move it as promised.
*This image is an artist's conception of a wildfire near the actual waste storage tents at LANL.
Welcome to Fire on the Mountain!
Our website is new and will be expanding to keep you informed about this situation. The danger is yours, so you should have the information that allows you to take action to protect your health, property, and our land. The federal government must finish the original mission of disposing of nuclear weapons’ waste from the lab, as it promised.
New Content.
Why WIPP is still better than nothing.
On June 24, 2025, the Santa Fe New Mexican published an article titled: “Government Accountability Office: More than half of WIPP infrastructure in poor condition.” It illustrates why we say WIPP is not a stellar facility.
This led many readers to question why WIPP is the location of choice for the old, radioactive nuclear waste sitting in vulnerable canvas tents in a wildfire zone in the forest at Los Alamos National Labs (LANL).
The answer is that the waste is safer anywhere than in the forest in tents.
First, in WIPP it will be 2,000 ft. underground, where fires can’t reach it.
Second, if there is an explosion, an underground repository is where you want it to happen. This is because, as a Sandia Labs report on particulate plutonium says, it can’t be cleaned up. Tiny particles of plutonium, like those involved in a fire or explosion, are so small and dispersed that the lab claims it can’t be remediated. It can, however, be sealed off in a repository. That is exactly what DOE did when a drum of plutonium waste exploded inside WIPP on Valentine’s Day, 2014. Since it couldn’t be cleaned up, it was sealed off. This cost $2 billion and a 3-year closure.
This can’t be done above the surface. Land contaminated by particulate or vaporized plutonium would have to be abandoned. It would be off-limits for the 500,000 years the plutonium takes to decay. It would be a problem keeping it within the boundaries of the contaminated area because every breeze, wind, rainfall, and disruption by animals would move it off site.
This is why, with all WIPP’s faults, it is still the best place to put the unsafely stored waste outside at LANL.
Stay tuned for an explanation that explains why WIPP was never a serious attempt to store nuclear waste. It was merely a way to make the public think that there is a solution to nuclear waste.
Join Our Action Team
Fire on the Mountain Videos
On Earth Day this past April Cindy Weehler gave a presentation on the problem of nuclear weapons waste stored on the mountainside at LANL, how plutonium affects the community, and the solution to the problem.
How to Use DOE’s Community Forums So They Don’t Use Us
“Thank you” to everyone who participated in the WIPP Community Forum on April 30 .
DOE is famous for not sharing what it’s planning. NGOs fought for community forums so people would have a way to confront DOE publicly and we ask you to use them. They are your tools for knowing what DOE has planned for you. The next community forum will be on July 30 .​
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The Risk
New Mexicans are at risk from nuclear waste that sits in the forest at Los Alamos National Labs (LANL). This highly radioactive waste is in canvas tents in a wildfire zone. It should be moved to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), which the federal government has already agreed to do. WIPP is the appropriate place to store radioactive waste because it’s not vulnerable to natural disasters.
DOEzo the Clown
* This really happened! See the video, "When Kitty Litter Caused a Nuclear Catastrophe," at Practical Engineering on YouTube.
Hillhouse, Grady. "When Kitty Litter Caused a Nuclear Catastrophe." Practical Engineering, April 15, 2025.