A fire at the Savannah River National Laboratory prompted officials to declare an emergency response on Oct. 28, leading to the temporary closure of site entrances to incoming traffic and transportation restrictions around the nuclear reservation.
The emergency was declared at around 5:39 p.m. local time at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina, after a fire was reported at the laboratory. By 7:30 p.m., officials said the fire had been extinguished and that no contamination had been reported outside the affected facility.
"A fire was reported at the Savannah River National Laboratory but has since been extinguished," the Savannah River Site said in a statement. "Radiological surveys indicated no detectable
levels of contamination."
As a precaution, barricades at site entrances were temporarily closed to incoming traffic, and rail, river and air traffic in the vicinity of the site were restricted, according to officials.
Employees not involved in emergency response or shutdown operations were sheltered in place in affected areas while response efforts continued. Officials also advised residents near the laboratory to monitor local television and radio stations for any instructions from state authorities.
Officials later announced that the emergency had ended around 9:45 p.m. Protective actions were lifted, barricades were reopened, and workers were instructed to report to their shifts as scheduled.
The Savannah River Site was built in the early 1950s to produce materials used in U.S. nuclear weapons, including tritium and plutonium, during the Cold War. The sprawling reservation grew to include five production reactors and numerous processing and support facilities, according to its website.
In 1992, the Savannah River Site transitioned from weapons production to a mission focused on environmental cleanup, nuclear materials management, and research and development, according to the Department of Energy.
The USA TODAY Network's Augusta Chronicle reported earlier this month that the site was beginning a full-scale construction on a new $23.5 billion facility to manufacture triggers for nuclear weapons. The facility will make plutonium pits, the radioactive cores used in nuclear weapons.
Contributing: Joe Hotchkiss, Augusta Chronicle
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fire at South Carolina nuclear site triggers emergency response
