Safety Lapses Criticized After US Nuclear Plant Fire
A fire which sparked the evacuation of a major underground US nuclear waste plant last month was preventable, according to a report highlighting safety lapses at the site.
Poor training, badly maintained equipment and unclear procedures were criticized in the report into the subterranean blaze at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico.
Eighty-six workers were underground when the fire broke out on a salt-hauling truck on February 5, in a rare accident at the site used to dispose of material including plutonium-contaminated waste.
Six workers were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation. Less than two weeks later a low-level radiation leak was detected, although it was not clear whether it was linked to the fire.
The report into the fire detailed a list of problems, including that the "fire protection program was less than adequate," and that both the maintenance and emergency management response programs were "ineffective."
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