RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) – The collapse of an underground tunnel containing radioactive waste that forced workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation to shelter in place is the latest incident to raise safety concerns at the sprawling site that made plutonium for nuclear bombs for decades after World War II.
Officials detected no release of radiation Tuesday and no workers were injured, said Randy Bradbury, a spokesman for the Washington state Department of Ecology.
No workers were inside the tunnel when it collapsed, causing soil on the surface above to sink 2 to 4 feet (half to 1.2 meters) over a 400 square foot (37 square meters) area, officials said.
The tunnels are hundreds of feet long, with about 8 feet (2.4 meters) of soil covering them, the U.S. Department of Energy said.
The anti-nuclear group Beyond Nuclear said the incident helped show “radioactive waste management is out of control.”