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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Officials say a wildfire burning on the sprawling grounds of the remote Idaho National Laboratory nuclear research site has grown and pushed closer to buildings.
Officials with the National Interagency Fire Center said Wednesday that some buildings are threatened by the fire, which grew to an estimated 155 square miles (401 square kilometers). That's up from 140 square miles (362 kilometers) on Tuesday.
Laboratory spokeswoman Kerry Martin was unable to provide information about how close the fire was to the threatened buildings or exactly which buildings were threatened. Because of that, it was not immediately known what the threatened buildings contained.
Martin says air quality and radiological monitoring shows the amount of radiation remains at normal levels at the nation's primary federal nuclear research laboratory.
The site includes nuclear reactors and research materials, as well as facilities for processing high-level nuclear waste and other radioactive waste. Martin says the fire is not currently near the waste processing facilities.
Wildfires are frequent at the high desert site and the Martin said the fire appeared to be "in good shape" Wednesday morning.
An evacuation order for non-essential laboratory employees that went into effect Tuesday was still in place on Wednesday.
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