Savannah River Site Fire Showcases Risks Facility Poses to the Public

SRS handles and processes nuclear materials and is the site at which the NNSA is building its second plutonium pit production plant, in support of the federal government's effort to produce new nuclear weapons. Pit production has not yet begun at SRS, though the site does host other radiological materials and legacy waste.

Separate fires within enclosures used to handle radioactive materials, known as gloveboxes, have been a recurring concern for the NNSA, with a recent "trend" of glovebox fires at Los Alamos National Laboratory, in New Mexico. Glovebox fires at the Rocky Flats facility in Colorado led to significant exposure of the public to radiation.

A recent study showed that the NNSA likely drastically underestimates the impacts of fires involving radiological materials at both Los Alamos and SRS. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) also released a report last year warning that the rush to produce new plutonium pits could increase health risks to workers and nearby communities while also contributing to larger geopolitical risks.

Below is a statement from Dr. Dylan Spaulding, a senior scientist in the Global Security Program at UCS. Dr. Spaulding authored the UCS report on the United States' plans for new plutonium pit production.

"Last night's fire and emergency declaration at SRS, which was serious enough to result in shelter-in-place orders for the facility, flight restrictions in the area, and the shutdown of nearby road and rail traffic, is just the latest in a long and troubling series of incidents that could easily have been much worse.

"This accident underscores that the risks from nuclear weapons production sites are not hypothetical. UCS, other watchdog groups, and even the federal government's own Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board have been calling out the NNSA for its lack of public transparency and accountability around safety at both SRS and Los Alamos. The public is owed clear accounts of what happened at SRS last night, whether there was any release of radioactive materials, and what the NNSA is doing to ensure the safety of SRS workers and the community."