It's still about 10 miles away from the fancy "advanced test reactor," but there's concern about a wildfire burning on the sprawling Idaho National Laboratory site west of Idaho Falls. So far, we're told, there's nothing to worry about.

Do the nukes ever say anything different?

There's a lot of nuclear waste on that site, not all of which is accounted for and under control, and so anything burning is not a good sign for air quality in the area. The weather forecast is for hot sun and dry for at least another week.

Of course, the media can't write about the Idaho lab -- which is a prime link in the United States nuclear weapons production chain -- without babbling about medical uses of nuclear materials:

The advanced nuclear test reactor, the largest of its kind in the world, is used to study radiation effects and to produce materials for treatment of cancer, according to the facility.

As even the feds will admit, the primary function of the reactor is to advance commercial nuclear power: "ATR is vital for testing materials for the nation's next generation of nuclear power plants." But it's part of a facility whose historical mission, still being felt today, has always included production of nuclear weapons.