A Y-12 National Security Complex facility was evacuated yesterday after a flammable chemical solvent was spilled. Andy Huff, a manager for Y-12 contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security, told reporters during an afternoon press conference that less than a gallon of acetonitrile was spilled at 10:34 a.m. at Y-12’s Purification Facility, triggering alarms and forcing the evacuation of less than 10 employees to nearby Building 9731, a facility that once contained uranium enrichment operations at the plant. When firefighters entered the facility in the afternoon, the acetonitrile had dissipated and was no longer a hazard, according to Huff. The severity of the spill was lessened because employees turned off the facility’s production lines as they evacuated the building. Y-12 spokesman Steven Wyatt said that no employees were harmed as a result of the spill, and he emphasized that the plant activated its emergency response protocols as a precaution. “It’s a flammable solvent so you have to treat it with respect but it’s well below reportable limits,” Wyatt said.
When inhaled, acetonitrile can cause respiratory problems. The chemical is believed to be used in production at Y-12, but not in enriched uranium production. Wyatt would not comment on the use of the solvent, but Y-12’s Purification Facility is where a material code-named Fogbank, an interstage material used in nuclear weapons, is produced. It is not known when work will resume at the Purification Facility, which unlike other facilities at Y-12 was built relatively recently, having been completed in 2007.