Y-12 gives update on fire now contained at its nuclear weapons plant
Y-12 gives update on fire now contained at its nuclear weapons plant
The fire at Y-12 in Oak Ridge is now contained. There are no reports of injury or contamination as a result. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Content
0.48 -> good afternoon we are following breaking
2.82 -> news right now at noon a fire at Y-12
6.299 -> National Security complex is contained
9 -> we are about to hear from officials in a
11.639 -> press conference we're going to take you
13.019 -> to Oak Ridge right now where vinay
15.36 -> simlot is standing by with the latest
17.34 -> vinay what can you tell us
20.88 -> Abby we know around 9 15 somebody
23.22 -> reported a fire at building 9212 here at
26.46 -> Y-12 the officials here say that they
28.74 -> were working with uranium when that fire
30.66 -> happened but the uranium and the fire
32.94 -> was contained to that building they
34.739 -> don't expect any outside impacts beyond
37.32 -> what happened here at Y-12 the city of
39.899 -> Oak Ridge says it's standing by to
41.94 -> monitor the situation but they're not
44.16 -> involved and neither is the Roane County
45.84 -> EMA all of the cleanup and all of the
48.36 -> response has been handled here by the
50.64 -> contractors who run Y-12 now we do know
53.46 -> a little bit about that building where
54.96 -> this happened building 9212. it is
58.5 -> um a chemical processing and uranium
61.739 -> production facility that they've been
64.08 -> using here since 1945. we don't know how
68.22 -> large the fire was but the officials
70.08 -> here say that it was contained to the
73.799 -> area inside the building there's nothing
76.26 -> that happened to the people outside in
78.24 -> Oak Ridge or in Roane County and there's
80.82 -> nothing for anybody else to worry about
82.74 -> they did have to evacuate that building
85.259 -> building 9212 they had a lockdown for
88.68 -> most of the area and a curfew but that's
91.56 -> all been lifted right now so we are
94.2 -> waiting to get another update from the
96.18 -> folks here at Y-12 in just a few minutes
100.02 -> we've talked about the fact that uranium
102.84 -> processing
104.28 -> and processing building was affected by
106.079 -> this fire do you know anything about
108.479 -> this material or the material that was
110.399 -> involved in the fire
113.939 -> yeah this is goes back to the history of
116.28 -> Y-12 and and they've been doing stuff
119.159 -> with uranium since it started back in
121.56 -> the 1940s but so far they say that it
124.02 -> was contained The Experiment was uh
126.36 -> being held in an area where there used
128.099 -> to be using that kind of uh doing those
130.739 -> kinds of experiments and they followed
132.959 -> all of the procedures and were able to
134.64 -> put the fire out
136.26 -> um when it when when it happened so
138.36 -> they're really not concerned about the
140.52 -> procedures or the uranium spreading
143.099 -> around the area right now Abby well
145.02 -> thank goodness for that vinay we know
147.06 -> that some of the building or that one
149.4 -> building at least was evacuated a few
151.02 -> hundred people affected and that the
153.66 -> community is safe do you know about the
155.28 -> larger Y-12 complex have those buildings
157.98 -> that all been affected or those
159.18 -> employees been affected
162.42 -> yeah they did have a soft lock down here
164.879 -> at Y-12 and there was a curfew so if you
167.22 -> were in a building you had to stay in it
168.66 -> we're actually expecting right now to
170.459 -> hear a little bit more from the
172.08 -> officials here at Y-12
175.56 -> we are listening in on the press
176.94 -> conference there at Y-12 we'll let you
178.62 -> listen again thank you for being here
180.239 -> this afternoon my name is Gene Patterson
182.4 -> I'm the public information officer for
185.16 -> the Y-12 National Security complex
187.44 -> specifically for Consolidated nuclear
189.72 -> security which is the managing operator
192 -> of the site to my left is Stephen Wyatt
194.22 -> with the nnsa production office and Tony
196.56 -> Bowzer who's also with CNS our technical
199.019 -> advisor so up front good news we have
202.44 -> accounted for all employees there were
204.84 -> no injuries as a result of this
206.159 -> situation now to go through the timeline
208.26 -> with you I'm going to ask Steve to do
210.12 -> that
210.84 -> okay good morning again uh my name is
213.12 -> Stephen Y and I'm with the national
214.44 -> nuclear Security Administration uh there
217.62 -> was a fire at approximately 9 15 a.m
219.84 -> this morning involving uranium and
221.94 -> building 9212. this is a production
224.34 -> facility on site again as we've stated
227.459 -> previously there are no offside impacts
229.56 -> as a result of what occurred today our
232.08 -> emergency response organization
233.58 -> responded to the emergency
235.4 -> employees were evacuated from building
237.84 -> 9212 as well as other buildings nearby
241.14 -> and for 9-12 we're talking about a
243.299 -> couple of hundred employees who are who
245.159 -> are directly involved there are no
247.799 -> reports of injury or contamination also
251.159 -> in the facility itself we have what are
254.22 -> known as continuous air monitors they
256.859 -> did not alarm as a result of that which
258.78 -> would indicate that there's no no
260.639 -> release of radioactivity and Tony can
262.979 -> address this further further explanation
265.08 -> that's all I have thank you
267.54 -> all right so questions
270.6 -> fire at this point no we we don't we
273.84 -> don't know the cause of the fire our
275.479 -> focus is entirely on responding to the
278.22 -> emergency we have accounted for
279.479 -> employees you know we're still we're
281.94 -> still responding to the emergency we'll
283.68 -> determine what took place uh at a later
286.259 -> time but right now our focus is on the
288.66 -> emergency itself
292.259 -> you're right
295.259 -> what I mean that caused us
297.12 -> look uh we don't have we don't have
299.28 -> information regarding the exact cause of
301.32 -> the fire but it was involving a uranium
303.419 -> compound
304.44 -> will this building be opened up in the
306.84 -> next couple of days will be closed for
308.46 -> investigation what is the next couple of
310.32 -> days of life that's yet to be determined
311.94 -> again there'll be a full examination of
314.34 -> what took place today as well as our
316.139 -> response I wouldn't want to speculate on
318.479 -> how long it will take for us to go back
320.1 -> into to routine operations
328.02 -> Tony uh yeah so that building does
331.68 -> uranium processing for all of our
334.44 -> uranium-based missions as the uranium
337.199 -> Center of Excellence for the nnsa we we
340.38 -> process
341.539 -> materials in support of Nuclear Navy
344.4 -> Mission as part of non-proliferation and
347.16 -> as part of our classical NSA Mission so
350.039 -> there's a lot of different forms of
351.36 -> material there this happened to be a
353.639 -> uranium that was in a metal type form
356.9 -> to the question of what started the
359.88 -> event we don't have those details but I
362.039 -> can say that we do have measures in
364.199 -> place to uh to address the risk of a
367.5 -> fire and to be able to react as you've
369.9 -> seen today to a fire event and the good
372.6 -> news is was mentioned is we have
374.52 -> positive indications that the event was
377.82 -> contained to the Process Equipment but
379.8 -> there's been no spread of contamination
381.419 -> outside of the processing equipment
383.58 -> proper no impact to Personnel in the
387.36 -> building and certainly on to the general
389.58 -> population of the plant or the public
391.08 -> yeah and just to give you a little bit
392.58 -> of a behind the scenes thing as soon as
394.44 -> this event occurs you know our emergency
396.3 -> response starts in action and part of
399.3 -> that is contacting all our local
400.74 -> stakeholders and our congressionals so
402.84 -> they they have all been apprised of this
404.94 -> situation from early on in this uh
407.28 -> incident uh and at this point uh I I and
410.46 -> you could I can't speak for them but you
412.139 -> may speak to those folks I I think
414.6 -> they're comfortable with where we are
416.52 -> and what we did today
418.199 -> and as far as the contamination goes
420.84 -> what was the concern there and what
422.88 -> level is that concern right now
426.12 -> um so the the concern is to understand
428.039 -> if any material spread as part of this
430.08 -> event outside of Process Equipment could
432.3 -> affect Personnel in the building could
434.1 -> affect Personnel on the plant and again
435.9 -> we have monitoring equipment in place
437.639 -> that has confirmed no release of
439.8 -> material outside of our processing
441.419 -> equipment so that means all of those
443.4 -> features performed as expected as
446.759 -> designed and a lot of conservative
448.639 -> decisions made as far as the Emergency
450.9 -> Response Team to confirm that as as part
453.9 -> of this event
454.86 -> you see how the fire was extinguished
458.699 -> uh
460.199 -> not at this time yeah
467.88 -> may you have your attention please this
469.86 -> is the black glove operations center
472.259 -> Daniel Neil please call
476.18 -> 574-7172 as soon as possible Daniel Neil
480.919 -> 574-7172 so that's a great question
483.68 -> absolutely each each process is part of
487.68 -> that process development the training
489.479 -> and the protocols have specific
491.52 -> procedures in place depending on what
493.62 -> type of fire is expected chemical fires
496.44 -> versus maybe combustible type fires and
499.62 -> those type of things so yes we we do
502.319 -> have specific fire response procedures
505.5 -> for that those were what was followed
507.18 -> and uh and as per those procedures the
510.36 -> folks that were part of processing took
513.36 -> their initial actions and then did
514.919 -> exactly the right thing by requesting
517.26 -> emergency response to come in and and
520.14 -> take the next steps all right other
521.88 -> questions
522.959 -> you see how large the fire was
525.48 -> other than contained within the Process
527.58 -> Equipment yeah we haven't carried grass
529.14 -> that lastly for me
535.08 -> it's roughly in the west Western portion
537.959 -> of the Y-12 side
540.3 -> okay question here
543.12 -> yeah talk a little bit about the new
544.56 -> Command Center and the new Fire
546.54 -> Department that we just dedicated and
549 -> how they played a role in
552.44 -> Plano well I I can tell you the fire
555.6 -> department is not we did cut the ribbon
558.66 -> on that facility recently but we have
560.279 -> not fully moved in so they're still
563.04 -> working out of old quarters I can tell
564.6 -> you from speaking with those
566.339 -> firefighters they're very happy about
568.019 -> those new uh the new accommodations and
570.66 -> certainly the access in and out from
573.18 -> that building will be much better than
574.74 -> where it is today so thank you for the
576.899 -> question and and I'm sure the
578.16 -> firefighters appreciate it as well how
579.899 -> much Command Center the new Command
582 -> Center play in this well they're at the
585.24 -> heart of any emergency they they're the
587.16 -> conductor they direct us and and all the
589.5 -> pieces that uh that follow uh so it
592.14 -> they've played a direct role in that
595.44 -> all right again uh oops sorry sorry
599.66 -> uh all right so again to reiterate uh
603.24 -> we're very happy to report to you that
605.76 -> all employees have been accounted for
607.5 -> that there were no injuries as a result
609.3 -> of this incident this fire that occurred
611.64 -> about 9 15 this morning uh that there
614.1 -> were no impacts beyond the immediate
616.019 -> area of that fire which was in building
618.6 -> 9212 in the west side of the site we
623.22 -> have contacted our stakeholders they are
625.08 -> pleased and comfortable with our with
627.3 -> our response and at this point uh we are
630.839 -> happy to you know continue on with you
632.88 -> all but uh for now I think the the story
635.82 -> is good news our process has worked uh
638.94 -> the the public was never in any danger
640.68 -> the environment is safe and we're going
643.26 -> to move forward from here so thank you
644.88 -> all thank you
648.72 -> and we are just listening in on a press
651.18 -> conference Gene Patterson the
652.56 -> spokesperson at Y-12 giving us an update
654.779 -> on the situation developing at this hour
657.3 -> what we know at this point is at 9 15
660 -> there was a fire situation in a uranium
662.64 -> processing building on the west side of
665.94 -> the Y-12 site they evacuated several
669.06 -> hundred employees all of those employees
671.22 -> are okay and according to the
673.44 -> spokesperson you just saw everything is
675.66 -> okay and contained in that machine that
678.06 -> was processing the metal form of uranium
681 -> the outside Community is not impacted a
683.88 -> lot of the outside buildings most of
685.98 -> them all of them are okay at this hour
687.899 -> we do want to mention that some did have
690.36 -> to evacuate and some were put on
692.279 -> lockdown you can stay with WBIR and
694.519 -> wbir.com for the latest again no
697.56 -> contamination concerns this afternoon
699.899 -> which is the big headline
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNKWH7YECBI