USAupdated 1h ago2 min read
Archive photo · 16 March 2006Fire Triggers Nuclear Emergency at Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina
“WRDW/WAGT reported that an emergency dispatch described an ‘unfiltered ground-level radiological release’”
“radiological surveys detected no contamination outside the site.”
Photo: ENERGY.GOV / US federal government, Public domain · Cropped for layout
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Fire at Savannah River National Laboratory triggers site emergency; flames extinguished; no contamination outside facility. One employee minor injury; emergency prompted traffic restrictions and radiological monitoring; no external release detected.
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Fire, emergency, and containment
A fire broke out at the Savannah River National Laboratory inside the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, prompting emergency procedures and restrictions on incoming traffic, according to the Savannah River Site statement cited by Daily Beirut. The Savannah River Site declared a “nuclear emergency,” and the FAA restricted airspace while the site said outside the affected building there was no contamination, according to DIE WELT.
Emergency teams extinguished the fire about two hours after it was reported, after it began around 5:39 p.m. local time in a room at the Savannah River National Laboratory near Aiken, according to El Universo. WJBF said the Savannah River Site Area Emergency was terminated at 9:45 p.m., and the site’s radiological surveys “indicated no detectable levels of contamination.”
Radiological release claims
WRDW/WAGT and local media described an “unfiltered ground-level radiological release” associated with the incident, while Savannah River Site officials said no contamination had been reported outside the affected facility, according to Interesting Engineering. Officials told WRDW that there was a “ground-level radiological release without filtration,” and no contamination outside the affected facilities nor indications of consequences beyond the boundaries of the complex had been reported, according to El Universo.
Authorities lifted the alert after more than four hours and ruled out detectable contamination, after the emergency began at 17:07 and ended at 21:45 local time, according to Negocios. The Times of India quoted the Savannah River Site statement saying, “Radiological surveys indicated no detectable levels of contamination,” and it added that Highway 125 remained open at that time.
What the site does next
The Savannah River Site is a federal complex where the federal government produces materials used in nuclear weapons, notably tritium and plutonium-239, and Daily Beirut said the laboratory is located in the northwest corner of the complex. The SRS covers about 800 square kilometers and stores weapons-grade plutonium, and it described the Cold War origin of the site as producing plutonium-239 and tritium for nuclear weapons, according to DIE WELT.
The fire triggered restrictions on incoming traffic and affected air and rail movement, and officials declared a “Site Area Emergency,” the second-highest of three emergency categories at the facility, according to the Times of India. Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said, “If you have a fire where there is radioactive material, you need to take extreme precautions,” while the same article noted officials confirmed no detectable off-site contamination was found.