A part of an underground tunnel in Washington state collapsed.
TUNNEL – A part of an underground tunnel with nuclear waste collapsed at Hanford Site in Washington State.
Due to the collapsed part of an underground tunnel with nuclear waste, site workers were asked to leave the area. Based on a recent report in ABC News, the part that collapsed contained rail cars that bear radioactive wastes.
According to the spokesperson of the Washington state Department of Ecology, Randay Bradbury, the authorities found that none of the workers of the site got hurt by the incident.
Based on the news report, the United States Department of Energy expressed that the tunnels have a length of hundred feets and they are covered with around 2.4 meters of soil.
The authorities expressed that when the tunnel collapsed, none of the site workers was inside it. The cause of the incident was not yet identified. An inspection which is regularly done led to the discovery of the collapse.
Based on the news report, the federal agency expressed that the workers which are near the site where a part of an underground tunnel collapsed were moved to other places and some of them were instructed to stay inside their homes.
According to the Hanford officials, they are already examining the part that collapsed to know how to make a division between the outside air and the contaminated equipment.
Department of Energy announced that “there is no indication of release of contamination at this point”.
Based on the news report, according to estimates, the work expenses will not fall below $100 billion and it can take decades. The work is eyed to reach until 2060.
As to the Energy Department, the people living in Franklin and Benton counties, around 300,000 residents, are not required of any action to make.