One employee suffered minor injuries in a fire at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Energy said. The injured person was taken to a hospital.
The fire broke out at the Savannah River Site complex near Aiken, near the Georgia border. According to site management, the alarm was raised on October 28 at 5:39 p.m. local time. The fire has been extinguished, but a “Site Area Emergency“ has been declared due to the incident.
“No contamination has been reported outside the affected facility“, the Savannah River Site said. Radiological inspections have not reported measurable levels of contamination outside the site.
Traffic restrictions and employee sheltering
As a precautionary measure, the entrances to the complex were closed to incoming traffic. Land and rail traffic, as well as river and air traffic in the area, were temporarily restricted.
The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed a temporary flight restriction within a radius of 15 nautical miles around the complex and up to an altitude of 10,000 feet. The measure was related to a nuclear incident identified by US authorities.
Employees in the areas affected by the fire who were not involved in emergency operations or the shutdown of facilities were sheltered on site. Local authorities have been notified, and residents have been advised to monitor radio and television broadcasts for any instructions.
State of emergency lifted
The state of emergency was lifted at 9:45 p.m. local time. The precautions were then lifted, the barriers at the entrances were opened, and traffic was restored. Workers on the next shift were scheduled to report to work as scheduled.
The cause of the fire, the extent of the damage, and the exact nature of the incident were not announced. Local television station WRDW/WAGT reported that the fire was in one room of the laboratory and that there was an “unfiltered radiological release at ground level“. This information was not accompanied by data on the amount of material released, and official statements emphasized that no contamination was found outside the affected facility.
A Cold War Legacy Complex
The Savannah River Site is a complex of the United States Department of Energy, located on an area of about 310 square miles in Aiken, Barnwell and Allendale counties. It was built in the 1950s to produce plutonium and tritium used in the US nuclear program.
Today, the site is focused on nuclear materials management, radioactive waste cleanup and scientific research. The investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.
Sources: investing.com, southcarolinapublicradio.org, live5news.com