SRS ends emergency in site area after laboratory fire

AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – Savannah River Site officials ended the site area emergency declared Wednesday evening at the site near Aiken.

SRS officials declared an emergency for the site area at 5:07 p.m. and ended it at 9:45 p.m.

Protective measures have been lifted and the barricades at the site have been reopened, officials told us.

An incident at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River site prompted a “site area emergency” response Wednesday evening. It was not a danger to the public outside the vast SRS border, News 12 was told.

However, the DOE said one employee was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

According to SRS, it was a single-room fire at the Savannah River National Laboratory, and there was “an unfiltered radiological release at ground level.”

Radiological examinations revealed no detectable levels of contamination. The report, along with an SRS press release, states that there is no indication of contamination beyond the boundaries of the site.

They said employees in the lab area, Zone A, had to shelter behind barricades for about 30 minutes.

After a while, people were allowed to leave, but others were not allowed to enter. SRS officials said employees who are not involved in emergency response or shutdown operations have been sheltered as a precaution.

SRS also said barricades at the entrances to the site had been closed to incoming traffic. Rail, river and air traffic in the surrounding area has also been restricted.

Highway 125 remains open at this time. SRS officials are leading response efforts and have notified the appropriate state and local government agencies.

Oncoming shift workers should report to work as usual, and all other employees should report to work as scheduled on Thursday, the SRS said.

News 12 learned of a possible problem when we received calls about traffic near the main entrance on Atomic Road around 6:15 p.m.

What is SRS?

The Savannah River Site is a 310-square-mile U.S. Department of Energy complex spread across Aiken, Barnwell and Allendale counties.

Within the SRS, the Savannah River National Laboratory is a Department of Energy facility that conducts research on nuclear materials, environmental cleanup, and related technologies, making the site both a cleanup project and an active center for national security and nuclear science.

Built in the early 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, the SRS was originally known as the Savannah River Plant and was intended to produce key materials for nuclear weapons, particularly plutonium-239 and tritium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

As weapons production ended after the Cold War, the site’s mission shifted from manufacturing nuclear materials to managing the legacy they left behind.

Today, SRS focuses on environmental cleanup, long-term management and disposal of nuclear materials and waste, and continued tritium-related operations that support the nation’s nuclear deterrent.

The site stores and processes excess plutonium and spent nuclear fuel at specialized facilities such as H-Canyon and K-Area, and processes millions of gallons of highly radioactive waste and solid waste from decades of weapons production.

Wednesday’s emergency is the kind of thing SRS emergency teams train for every year.

Each year, SRS conducts one site-level emergency preparedness exercise, three ERO activation exercises, more than 40 facility-level exercises, and several tabletop exercises.

The type and location of each scenario is determined by a five-year plan that reviews all areas and potential hazards of the site.

A Centerra-SRS spokesperson told News 12 that “at no time was any responsible material lost.”

For example, a few years ago, an exercise simulated a radiological release and contamination emergency during an exercise in which nearly 250 people participated.

FY 2024 took place at the site’s Area K, responsible for the disposal of South Carolina’s plutonium.

After a simulated thunderstorm microburst developed rapidly over the area, a delivery truck lost control and simulated a crash onto the Area K criticality control overpack.

The “accident” resulted in a simulated radiological release from a CCO drum, resulting in several simulated injuries, a simulated death, and protective measures issued for the area. SRNS personnel quickly responded to the release, using personal protective equipment to assist the contaminated and injured individuals, and transferring them to off-site medical facilities.