A wildfire near the desert birthplace of the atomic bomb advanced on the Los Alamos laboratory and thousands of outdoor drums of plutonium-contaminated waste as authorities stepped up efforts to protect the site and monitor the air for radiation.
Officials at the premier US nuclear-weapons lab gave assurances that dangerous materials were safely stored and capable of withstanding flames from the fire, which at one point was as close as 50 feet from the grounds.
A small patch of land at the laboratory caught fire on Monday before firefighters quickly put it out.
