A tunnel storing radioactive waste at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state collapsed on May 9 but no one was endangered.
Workers were ordered to immediately seek shelter as a safety precaution, but no radiation was released and no one was injured.
“Our fundamental concern is employee safety,” said Hanford Emergency Center spokesman Destry Henderson.
“In a situation like this, first responders don’t rush into a situation. They work their way in slowly, checking for contamination and determining if there’s contamination as they approach the area,” he said.
Hanford stores over 50 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste.
Until it was closed in the early ’70s Hanford produced plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Hanford stores over 50 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste. It is the most contaminated nuclear site in the nation.
