Watchdogs want US to address extreme plutonium contamination in Los Alamos’ Acid Canyon

Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Watchdogs are raising new concerns about legacy contamination in Los Alamos, the birthplace of the atomic bomb and home to a renewed effort to manufacture key components for nuclear weapons. A Northern Arizona University professor emeritus who analyzed samples taken along a popular hiking and biking trail in Acid Canyon says Thursday that the concentrations of plutonium found there were more extreme than other publicly accessible sites he has researched in his decades-long career. That includes the former weapons plant at Rocky Flats in Colorado. Michael Ketterer says state and local officials should warn people to avoid coming in contact with water in the canyon.