Fire at South Carolina nuclear site triggers emergency; restrictions lifted after no contamination detected

A fire at the Savannah River National Laboratory in US' South Carolina triggered a site-area emergency on Wednesday, disrupting road, rail and air movement around the nuclear facility. Traffic restrictions have since been lifted after the fire was extinguished and officials confirmed that radiological surveys detected no contamination outside the site.The emergency was terminated at 9:45 pm local time on Thursday, following which site barricades were reopened and protective measures lifted, according to the SRS. Employees were asked to report for their shifts as usual.“A fire was reported at the Savannah River National Laboratory but has since been extinguished. Radiological surveys indicated no detectable levels of contamination. Highway 125 remains open at this time. SRS officials are directing response efforts and have notified the appropriate state and local government agencies,” the site said in a statement.The fire triggered restrictions on incoming traffic and affected air and rail movement in the surrounding area. Officials declared a “Site Area Emergency”, the second-highest of three emergency categories at the facility, indicating that a significant incident had occurred.The Savannah River Site is a major US government installation that once produced materials used in nuclear weapons, primarily tritium and plutonium-239. Opened in the early 1950s during the Cold War, the complex now focuses on environmental cleanup, nuclear waste management and the handling of nuclear materials, according to the US Department of Energy.The laboratory, located in the north-western part of the site, conducts experiments involving nuclear materials and processes radioactive substances. It also operates a facility that recovers radioisotopes from used nuclear fuel.Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the confirmation of no contamination beyond the site was reassuring. However, he stressed the need for caution when fires occur in facilities handling radioactive materials.“If you have a fire where there is radioactive material, you need to take extreme precautions because of the potential dispersal of that material and the potential for contamination, potential for the public to be exposed,” Lyman said.While officials have confirmed that the fire is out and no detectable off-site contamination was found, the incident has renewed attention on emergency preparedness at facilities handling radioactive materials.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.