nuclear-news

Fire at Idaho nuclear research laboratory

Fire prompts evacuation at nuclear research lab in Idaho  SALMON, Idaho, April 16 (Reuters) – A welder’s torch ignited a small fire on the roof of a building at a nuclear research laboratory in Idaho on Monday, prompting an evacuation, but no one was hurt and no radioactive material was involved, lab officials said.

Nearly 100 employees were cleared from the building, part of a complex that includes facilities housing spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory, the U.S. Energy Department’s leading facility for nuclear reactor technology.

The fire damaged 4 square feet (0.4 square meter) of the roof and was extinguished about 2-1/2 hours after smoke was first detected, the lab said in a statement.

No radioactive material was affected or involved in the fire, and
there was no release of radiation, the lab said…… In November
2011, 16 Idaho lab workers in an adjacent building were exposed to
radiation during an accident that occurred while they were preparing
to remove an old plutonium fuel cell from a decommissioned reactor….
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/17/usa-nuclear-idaho-idUSL2E8FH0H020120417

April 18, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | incidents, USA