Energy Department lab fire sparks nuclear scare at SC facility

A fire at a US Department of Energy nuclear research facility in South Carolina triggered a nuclear scare on Wednesday evening – shutting down rail, river and air traffic in the area.

The blaze broke out inside a single room at the Savannah River National Laboratory just before 5:40 p.m. and was extinguished less than two hours later, officials said.

While no contamination was reported outside the “affected” building, the fire caused an “unfiltered ground-level radiological release,” WRDW reported, citing the Savannah River Site (SRS).

However, a spokesperson for the Department of Energy – Savannah River Operations Office later told The Post that “no radiological contamination has been reported.”

Employees in the Area A lab area had to hunker down in place behind barricades for about 30 minutes, sources told the local station.

Workers who were not involved in the emergency response or shutdown operations were also sheltered as a precaution, SRS said in a press release.

One employee was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, the DOE spokesperson said.

Rail, river and air traffic were restricted in the area — as well as site entrances to incoming traffic, the department said.

A Federal Aviation Administration temporary flight restriction alert reportedly cited a “US Govt Nuclear Incident” as the reason for the shutdown, according to a post on X.

By 9:45 p.m., the emergency advisory at the site and resulting protective actions were lifted, SRS announced on X.

The Savannah River Site is a 310-square-mile US Department of Energy complex spread across several counties in South Carolina — which includes the Savannah River National Laboratory where the fire broke out.

The lab conducts research in nuclear environmental cleanup and related technologies, meaning the site is both a cleanup project and an active hub for national security and nuclear science, according to the local outlet.

Constructed at the height of the Cold War in the early 1950s, SRS was built to produce key materials for nuclear weapons — including plutonium-239 and tritium for the US’s nuclear arsenal. 

After the Cold War, the site shifted from producing nuclear materials to managing them and is now focused on long-term management and continued tritium operations that support the nation’s nuclear deterrent, WRDW reported. 

The Post reached out to the Savannah River National Laboratory for comment.