Safety upgrade urged for nuclear lab

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Federal safety experts are urging immediate action to protect New Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory in the event of a massive earthquake.

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board says major deficiencies in the lab's safety planning has left it vulnerable to releasing deadly radioactive material if an earthquake triggered a fire, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

The laboratory is the country's primary plutonium fabrication facility for nuclear weapons and is believed to house thousands of pounds of plutonium.

In a report sent to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the safety experts said Tuesday a previously known fault has the potential to cause greater ground movement than they had calculated.

They say in a worst-case scenario, a quake could trigger a fire by toppling equipment that contains plutonium-melting furnaces.

A spokesman for the Energy Department says the board's recommendations are being evaluated.