New Mexico wildfires threaten DOE laboratory

Wildfires in New Mexico have shut down the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, Reuters reported Monday.

A voluntary evacuation order has been issued in Los Alamos and the laboratory, which focuses on national security research, has been closed for non-essential employees, Reuters says.

Here’s more from Reuters:

Jeff Berger, a spokesman for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where the world's first atomic bomb was developed, said the fire was rapidly advancing but had not yet reached lab property.

"Lab emergency crews have been dispatched across the lab. Their job is to protect key facilities and materials," Berger said. "Protected areas include all hazardous and radioactive facilities and our proton accelerator and supercomputing centers."

Laboratory officials will hold a press conference later Monday on the fire.