Los Alamos National Lab Worker Burned at Substation

A Los Alamos National Laboratory employee was burned Sunday while working at a substation. The incident occurred at a substation that supplies power to the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center in New Mexico.

Eight other employees were also transported to the Los Alamos Medical Center in connection with the accident. The incident is under investigation, according to a Lab spokesman.

Portions of the Science Center, which was built in the late 1960s and houses the Lab's linear accelerator, are without power.

According to a report from the Albuquerque Journal,  in 1997 a fire shut down the Center. An electrical fire broke out in a building near the linear accelerator when an extension cord to a portable fan apparently shorted out and dripped melted, burning insulation onto a box of anti-contamination clothing, lab officials said.

And in 1999, LANSCE was shut down again, this time for an extensive period, after a string of safety incidents, including when a worker touched a miswired and aging electrical transformer and received a small shock.