Fire at South Carolina nuclear site triggers emergency response

An emergency response was triggered at a Department of Energy nuclear site near Aiken, South Carolina, on Wednesday after a fire broke out at a laboratory. Fox News reported that the fire started at the Savannah River National Laboratory at the Savannah River Site around 5:39 p.m. local time. [1][8][9]

Crews extinguished the blaze roughly two hours after it was reported, according to Fox News. Fox News and posts on X both noted that site officials reported no contamination was detected outside the facility, with the fire kept within the room where it started. [1][10]

Fox News reported that barricades at the site entrances were closed as a precautionary measure during the incident. [1]

South Carolina borders Georgia to the west and south across the Savannah River. The state is composed of 46 counties and has an estimated population of 5.5 million people. [11]