Fire at Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina Triggers Site Area Emergency, Lifted Same Night with No Detectable Contamination
A fire broke out on the evening of October 28 at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site near Aiken, in Aiken County, South Carolina. The fire, at the Savannah River National Laboratory on the site, prompted officials to declare a Site Area Emergency at 5:39 p.m. that day. The emergency was terminated at 9:45 p.m. the same night, protective actions were lifted, site barricades reopened, and employees were told to report to work as scheduled on Thursday, October 29.
According to News Releases No. 2 and No. 3 issued that night by the Savannah River Site Emergency Response Organization, the fire has been extinguished, radiological surveys indicated no detectable levels of contamination, and no contamination was reported outside the affected facility. During the emergency, barricades at site entrances were closed to incoming traffic, and rail, river and air traffic in the vicinity was restricted, while employees in affected areas who were not involved in the response sheltered in place as a precaution. Highway 125 remained open. Site officials said the appropriate state and local government agencies had been notified and that further information would be provided through the site's website.
The Associated Press reported that traffic and airspace restrictions were put in place after the fire and that employees sheltered for about 30 minutes. Officials have not yet released the cause of the fire or details of any material involved.
The Savannah River Site covers about 310 square miles and was built in the early 1950s during the Cold War, when it produced materials for nuclear weapons, primarily tritium and plutonium-239. Its work today focuses on environmental stewardship and cleanup, nuclear waste management and the disposition of nuclear materials. The Savannah River National Laboratory is one of the Department of Energy's 17 national laboratories and the only one sponsored by the department's Office of Environmental Management.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：能源部萨凡纳河场址（Savannah River Site）设施航拍资料图。美国能源部，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Aerial file photo of the U.S. Department of Energy Savannah River Site. U.S. Department of Energy, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
