Site area emergency declared after fire and radiological release at Savannah River Site

Centre · 2A site area emergency was declared at the Savannah River Site, a federal nuclear complex near Aiken, South Carolina, at 5:39 p.m. on Wednesday 28 October after a fire was reported in a single room at the Savannah River National Laboratory. 1 2 Centre · 2Site officials told local station WRDW there had been "an unfiltered ground-level radiological release". 1 2 Centre · 1The fire was later extinguished. In a Facebook post, the site said no contamination had been reported outside the affected facility, and a site news release and dispatch said there was no indication of contamination beyond the site's boundaries. 2

Right · 3Fox News and the New York Post, citing the site, said crews put the fire out roughly two hours or less after it was reported, and Just the News said a shutdown of the laboratory had since been lifted. 3 4 5 Centre · 2As a precaution, site entrances were closed to incoming traffic and rail, river and air traffic near the site was restricted. Employees not involved in the emergency response or shutdown operations were sheltered, and the site said it had notified state and local agencies. 2 1 Centre · 1BNO News, citing WRDW, reported that employees in the laboratory area, known as Area A, sheltered in place behind barricades for about 30 minutes and were later allowed to leave, while others were not allowed to enter. It also reported that the Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary flight restriction citing a U.S. government "nuclear incident". 1

Right · 1GB News reported that the flight restriction covers a 15-nautical-mile radius and altitudes up to 10,000 feet above sea level. 6 Centre · 1The site urged residents to follow local radio and TV stations, where state officials would announce any actions the public needed to take. News 12 was told the incident was not a danger to the public outside the site's borders. 2 Centre · 1The cause of the fire, the nature and amount of material released, and whether anyone was injured were not immediately known. 1

Right · 1Just the News also said the cause of the fire was not immediately clear. 5 Centre · 2The Savannah River Site covers about 310 square miles across Aiken, Barnwell and Allendale counties along the South Carolina-Georgia border. It produced plutonium and tritium for weapons during the Cold War, and its work now includes nuclear materials management, environmental cleanup and research. 1 2