Radiation safety

Hanford Nuclear Reservation tunnel collapse triggers alert

Thousands of workers were warned to take cover after a tunnel collapsed Tuesday in a shuttered Washington plutonium uranium extraction plant that was previously used in nuclear weapons production.

The tunnel at the Hanford plant building known as PUREX was full of contaminated particles, including radioactive train cars that transported fuel rods, KING5 reported. The entire site is about half the size of Rhode Island, Q13 Fox added. Hanford is located about 200 miles southeast of Seattle.

The 20 feet-by-20 feet area that suffered the collapse was built during the Cold War, and sits over a tunnel which is hundreds of feet long. Eight feet of soil covers the tunnel and the soil appeared to have collapsed into the tunnel, authorities said.