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New Mexico is the home of Los Alamos Laboratories and the Trinity Site, birthplace and testing ground for the first atomic bomb. The largest open pit uranium mine in the world is located on the Laguna Reservation near Grants. And the Waste Isolation Pilot Project, better known as WIPP, rests in the salt beds not far from Carlsbad Caverns (see Carlsbad feature).
The Trinity site produces a chain reaction in another dimension. The 100-foot steel tower above Ground Zero vaporized during the explosion, and the earth melted into a crater 400 yards wide. Over fifty years later, the site elicits strong reactions from visitors.
The Trinity Site is open twice a year for viewing, but the WIPP site is off limits. This controversial "permanent" deposit for radioactive materials suffered years of public vilification before it opened, and falls short of its projected purpose as the final solution to the HAZMAT problem.
How Do You Say Keep Out?
Exposure to sufficient quantities of radioactivity can be hazardous to your health. Even the low grade uranium ore (0.20% U3O2
), emits gases like radon that are known carcinogens. The ten-foot chain link fence enclosing the Trinity Site is posted with the familiar three pronged radioactive hazard signs. In the interests of preventing incursions by future generations of industrial archeologists and nuclear terrorists, the WIPP site needs a permanent "Keep Out" sign. Should it be one massive landmark or perimeter of signposts? Should it pinpoint the location, discourage surveys or should there be no sign at all? Bear in mind that the half-life of some elements buried here is over 10,000 years.
At one time the world's largest open pit uranium mine, near Grants, New Mexico.
Waste Isolation Pilot Project, near Carlsbad
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