Fire at South Carolina nuclear lab triggers rare emergency declaration

The Savannah River Site in South Carolina declared a second-level emergency on Wednesday after a fire broke out at the Savannah River National Laboratory. The declaration halted incoming traffic and limited air and rail service in the area until the flames were out.

The Savannah River National Laboratory sits in the northwest corner of the U.S. Department of Energy complex. The site is located in Aiken County and was originally built during the Cold War. It is one of the few places where the federal government produced tritium and plutonium-239 for nuclear weapons.

Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, explained that the laboratory still conducts experiments with nuclear materials. He noted that the facility processes radioactive material, including a unit that recovers radioisotopes from used nuclear fuel.

Lyman said the response was warranted because fires near radioactive material carry a risk of dispersal. "You need to take extreme precautions because of the potential dispersal of that material and the potential for contamination, potential for the public to be exposed," he stated.

A site statement confirmed that firefighters extinguished the blaze by Wednesday night. Operations returned to normal once the emergency declaration ended. Officials said they found no detectable levels of contamination outside the site boundaries.

The Savannah River Site uses a three-tier system for emergencies. The level declared on Wednesday is the second-highest, indicating a serious incident. The site is now focused on environmental cleanup and nuclear waste management after its weapons production era ended.