Emergency crews were fighting a fire Wednesday in the U.S. government's underground nuclear waste repository in southeastern New Mexico. Officials said a truck carrying salt caught fire Wednesday at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The plant issued a statement saying all employees have been evacuated and none of the radioactive waste has been impacted. But "multiple employees" were taken to a hospital for potential smoke inhalation. Emergency officials said all waste-handling operations were suspended and rescue teams have been activated. The repository takes plutonium-contaminated waste like clothing, tools and other debris from Los Alamos National Laboratory and defense projects. The waste then is buried in rooms cut from underground salt beds.
