LAS VEGAS (AP) — Officials are checking air quality, conducting ground testing and monitoring for other problems Monday following a fire at a radioactive waste disposal site in rural southern Nevada.
No injuries were reported after the fire, which began Sunday afternoon in an industrial area near Beatty, Nevada, about 115 miles northwest of Las Vegas, said Bud Marshall, southern Nevada regional supervisor for the state Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
The Nye County sheriff said Monday afternoon that radioactive contamination hasn’t been detected in the air around the site of a fire. A statement from Sheriff Sharon Wehrly’s office said ground testing is still being performed and a highway past the site will remain closed for an undetermined length of time.
It was not clear how the fire started at the shuttered disposal site, which is about 8 miles from populated areas. Authorities say it closed in 1992 after accepting low-level radioactive waste for 30 years, which typically can include tools, protective clothing, and parts and machinery from nuclear plants.
A fixed-wing aircraft and a helicopter from the former Nevada Test Site were flying radiation detection equipment over and around the area, Nevada National Security Site spokesman Darwin Morgan said. The results were being turned over to state officials, he said.
Nevada Guard Maj. Mickey Kirschenbaum said four members from a hazardous-materials-detection team arrived Monday with equipment to detect radiation levels. No spills or air quality risks were immediately confirmed, Nye County sheriff’s Sgt. David Boruchowitz said.
Initial reports indicated that the fire started at a US Ecology plant. But the company said the blaze occurred at a nearby disposal area for low-level radioactive waste now controlled by the state Department of Health and Human Services. Officials with the state agency didn’t immediately respond to messages.
US Ecology operated that disposal site from 1962 until it closed in 1992, according to the nonprofit Nuclear Resource and Information Service in Takoma Park, Maryland.
The company treats, disposes and recycles hazardous and radioactive waste from commercial and government entities. Spokesman Dave Crumrine said it operates the current US Ecology Nevada regional facility to handle hazardous and nonhazardous waste. US Ecology’s facility is adjacent to the closed radioactive disposal where the fire started
He said a site manager reported the fire that started about 1 p.m. Sunday, which is in line with its emergency reporting plans. He said no evacuations were ordered.
Gov. Brian Sandoval said he activated the state Emergency Operations Center in Carson City to coordinate the response among agencies.
Several roads have been closed, in part because of a heavy rainstorm that hit southern Nevada on Sunday. The Nye County School District shut its two schools in Beatty because of the fire, while Amargosa Valley Elementary/Middle closed because of road conditions. The closures affected about 400 students in the rural county.
The site of the fire is about 10 miles south of the small unincorporated town of Beatty. U.S. Geological Survey studies in 1994 and 1998 found high concentrations of radionuclides underground, the Nuclear Resource and Information Service said.
Tritium was detected more than 350 feet below ground, and carbon-14 was found more than 110 feet below ground. The substances are radioactive isotopes of hydrogen and carbon, respectively. Radiation exposure generally can cause cell damage and increase the potential for some cancers.
Low-level waste is solid material that can be transported under U.S. Department of Transportation and Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations. Such material does not include used nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants or waste from U.S. defense programs, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry lobbying group.
It can include water purification filters and resins, tools, protective clothing and plant hardware such as steam generators from nuclear plants. It can also include medical items and protective gear that have come in contact with radioactive materials, glass and plastic laboratory supplies, and machine parts and tools.
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