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Hanford Nuclear Site: No, the Accident Isn’t an Apocalyptic Disaster

This isn't Hanford. (Flickr Creative Commons: The Official CTBTO Photos -- XX-34 BADGER test from 1953. License 2.0)

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No, post-apocalyptic fans, it looks like the accident at the Hanford Nuclear Site isn’t going to trigger an apocalyptic disaster. (Whew!) The Associated Press announced that officials detected no release of radiation and no workers were injured. That is GOOD news.

So what exactly happened?

A tunnel collapsed Tuesday morning that was full of highly contaminated material, including trains that transport fuel rods, King 5 reported. According to King 5, crews doing nearby road work might have created vibrations that caused the tunnel to collapse.

Nearby workers were evacuated and workers farther away were told to stay indoors.  And in a series of messages that may remind you of some apocalyptic movies you’ve seen, nearby personnel were told to secure ventilation and refrain from eating and drinking:

Of course, officials are still evaluating what happened, so stay tuned to news updates. But it’s looking like no one was hurt.

Hanford’s had some problems lately

Hanford, unfortunately, has had some other problems recently. The plant itself is located on the Columbia River in eastern Washington, near the Oregon border. It was part of the Manhattan Project, built during World War II. For decades, the site was used to make plutonium for nuclear weapons. Now it’s the largest depository of radioactive defense waste that officials are trying to clean, AP reported. It still has about 53 million gallons of high-level nuclear waste, according to RT.

It’s huge: the site itself is half the size of Rhode Island.

Back in April 2016, some workers were potentially exposed to toxic waste leaks, RT reported. Officials said the personnel were evaluated for exposure to vapors after a tank may have leaked thousands of gallons of radioactive waste, while the waste was being moved from single-shelled to double-shelled tanks. One person said the vapors hurt his lungs and he’d been sick for six months after, according to RT. Here’s a report on that:

If You’re Interested in Nuclear News, We Have More Details For You

If you’ve come to this site because you’re interested in nuclear news, we have more articles you might want to read. First, you can watch declassified nuclear explosion videos from the U.S. here. And if you want to learn about that time Dallas thought it was under attack, see our article here.

We recommend also buying this great book about preparing for and surviving nuclear fallout. It’s on Amazon here.

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