The wildfire that's burning its way toward the Los Alamos Nuclear Lab in New Mexico is growing rapidly. And the more you look at the nuclear waste that's piled up at that facility, the scarier the fire becomes. Today the federal bomb-makers confirmed what anti-nuke activists have been saying for a few days now -- that there are tens of thousands of drums of nuclear waste sitting out in the open, essentially under a tarp:

Los Alamos lab officials are now confirming that tens of thousands of 55-gallon drums containing radioactive waste are stored in the open, near the site of the fire. KSFR had earlier spoken with two watchdog groups who characterized the number as 30,000....

They say the drums are on a paved area with few trees nearby and would be safe even if a fire reached the storage area. Officials have said it is miles from the flames. Watchdog groups put the distance at about three miles.

Beyond the drums, there is a horrible variety of nuclear waste in the ground all over the Los Alamos site. This interactive map of the various makeshift nuclear dump sites on the property makes it pretty clear that there's a lot of loose radioactivity in that neighborhood. If it burns, people downwind will be breathing it.