Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Oct 29

Savannah River Site Extinguishes Fire, Finds 0 Detectable Contamination After 1 Injury

Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Oct 29

Savannah River Site Extinguishes Fire, Finds 0 Detectable Contamination After 1 Injury

Q: What sparked the Savannah River lab fire, and what was inside the facility when emergency crews locked down the area?

The cause of the fire had not been publicly identified in the reporting available, so officials had not said what sparked it. What was known is that the blaze broke out in a single room at the Savannah River National Laboratory and prompted a Site Area Emergency. Officials and local reporting said there was an “unfiltered ground-level radiological release,” but they also said no contamination was detected outside the affected facility and there was no indication of impacts beyond the site boundary. As for what was inside the facility, the available reports did not specify the exact materials in that room at the time of the fire. More broadly, Savannah River National Laboratory operates within the larger Savannah River Site, a Department of Energy complex that handles nuclear materials research, environmental cleanup, waste management and national security work. The wider site also stores and processes materials such as plutonium, spent nuclear fuel, tritium-related materials and radioactive waste in specialized areas, but the reports did not confirm which of those, if any, were in the room that caught fire. So the direct answer is that both the ignition source and the specific contents of the affected room were still unknown publicly when emergency crews locked down the area.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 29

A fire at the Savannah River National Laboratory was put out Wednesday after the Savannah River Site declared an emergency at 5:39 p.m.; one person was hospitalized with minor injuries.
A radiological survey found no detectable contamination, and officials said contamination was not detected outside the affected facility.
Employees not involved in the response or shutdown operations were told to shelter in place, while vehicle entrances closed and rail, river and air traffic around the site were restricted.
The federal complex in Aiken County was built in the 1950s to produce tritium and plutonium for nuclear weapons and now handles radioactive waste disposal and environmental remediation.