The Department of Energy and local law enforcement are investigating a fatal head-on collision that occurred Wednesday evening inside a Hanford Site security gate after a speeding car, reportedly driven by an ex-Hanford worker, dodged the check point and struck a DOE Hanford Patrol vehicle.
The Tri-City Herald reported Thursday that a Toyota Camry driven by a 49-year-old former employee of the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., believed to be traveling between 80 and 100 miles per hour, got around the Wye Barricade by crossing into the wrong lane to avoid the security arm barrier.
The speeding vehicle, traveling north in the southbound lane, made it about four miles into the Hanford Site before crashing head-on into a Hanford Patrol security truck, according to the local newspaper, which cited Benton County Sheriff Mike Clark.
The crash, which occurred around 7 p.m. local time Wednesday, took the life of the speeding ex-employee, according to the Tri-City Herald, which said two members of the Hanford Patrol sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
“The Hanford Field Office is partnering with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office to collect information regarding the vehicle collision reported at the Wye Barricade this evening,” DOE said in an emailed statement the following day to Exchange Monitor. “Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.”
Hanford, which for decades made plutonium for the U.S. nuclear weapons program, is today the site of DOE’s largest nuclear cleanup project. Roughly 13,000 people are employed at the site, most of them work for government contractors.