A blaze at the Savannah River National Laboratory, part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, sparked an emergency declaration on Wednesday, Oct. 28, according to Xinhua. The emergency was announced at 5:39 p.m. local time (2139 GMT) after the fire started, and the site suspended traffic at its entrances and restricted rail, river, and air activity in the nearby area.
Xinhua reports that firefighters quickly contained the fire, and the blaze was extinguished before it could spread beyond the facility. In a social‑media statement, the Savannah River Site said, “The fire has since been extinguished. No contamination has been reported outside the affected facility.”
Employees who were not involved in the emergency response or the shutdown operations were sheltered as a precautionary measure. The emergency response was officially concluded at 9:45 p.m. local time (0145 GMT Thursday), Xinhua reported.
Originally built in the 1950s to produce tritium and plutonium for U.S. nuclear weapons, the Savannah River Site now focuses on environmental stewardship, nuclear waste management, and the disposition of nuclear materials, the U.S. Department of Energy says.
