No radiation reports after tunnel collapse at Hanford nuclear site

No radiation reports after tunnel collapse at Hanford nuclear site

Non-essential personnel instructed to shelter in place after a tunnel cave-in at the Hanford nuclear waste site in Washington state on Tuesday have been released, authorities said.

So far, radiation dangers and injuries appear to have been averted, but tests and monitoring are continuing, they say, with emergency responders on the scene.

Soil collapsed over a 20-foot square section of a tunnel housing contaminated material at Hanford -- a former nuclear weapons production site in the south-central part of the state, about 45 miles from Yakima.

The collapse of the tunnel -- made of wood and concrete -- was spotted by workers doing routine surveillance.

"This hasn't happened before," US Department of Energy spokesman Mark Heeter told CNN. "There are various projects in this site and occasionally there is spread of contamination."

But never, he said, has there been a tunnel collapse.

Read the full article at CNN.com