Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015 | 10:40 a.m.
Heavy rains caused an industrial fire at the low-level radioactive waste disposal site near Beatty in October, the state Department of Public Safety said today.
There were no injuries and no radioactive materials were released at the Oct. 18 fire at the 40-acre site, said the agency.
State Fire Marshal Peter Mulvihill said the investigation “found corrosion of the steel drums containing the metallic sodium over time allowing the packing fluid to seep out leaving the metallic sodium exposed to the underground elements. Heavier than normal rainfall seeped into the ground reaching the metallic sodium, through a compromised cover causing the fire.”
The waste material was stored underground and was closed in 1992. The state oversees the property, about 12 miles from Beatty.
Mulvihill presented his report to Nevada’s Public Safety Department today.
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