Fire breaks out at US nuclear weapons facility

The South Carolina site plays a key role in maintaining America’s nuclear arsenal, including processing tritium for warheads

A fire broke out at a major nuclear research complex in South Carolina that supports the US nuclear weapons program, the Department of Energy has said.

The blaze started at Savannah River National Laboratory, part of the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, on Wednesday evening and was subsequently extinguished, officials said. “No contamination has been reported outside the affected facility,” the department said in a statement.

Emergency protocols were activated, with employees not involved in response efforts ordered to suspend operations and shelter in place as a precaution. The site was closed to incoming traffic, while nearby rail, river and air traffic was restricted.

Officials lifted the emergency declaration at 9:45pm, saying radiation surveys had found no detectable contamination. Protective measures were lifted, and the site was cleared to resume normal operations on Thursday.

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Local media reported that the fire broke out in a single room and involved an unfiltered, ground-level radiological release. One employee was reportedly hospitalized with minor injuries.

Established in the early 1950s during the Cold War, SRS originally produced plutonium and tritium for US nuclear weapons. Although its production reactors have since been shut down, the complex continues to play a key role in maintaining the American nuclear arsenal.

SRS processes and replenishes tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen used to boost the explosive yield of nuclear warheads. It also manages nuclear materials, treats radioactive waste and carries out environmental cleanup.

The US government is also developing a facility at SRS to manufacture plutonium cores for nuclear warheads as part of efforts to modernize the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

The incident comes less than two weeks after a fire swept through Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta, killing four soldiers and injuring 39 others during a live-fire training exercise. According to the Canadian military, strong winds caused the blaze to spread rapidly, overtaking an area occupied by troops.

The Canadian Armed Forces said last week that 27 personnel remained hospitalized, while 12 had been discharged. Military police have launched an independent investigation into the incident.