Nevada Fire Marshal Cites Rainwater, Corrosion in Fire

The agency released this and other details Wednesday in a press release concerning an investigation led by the fire marshal, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, and the state Department of Health and Human Services Radiation Control Program. The fire marshal also concluded that the Oct. 18 incident at the state-managed site resulted in no personnel injuries, the fire was contained to the site, and there was no release of radioactive materials.

“As detailed in our report, this investigation found corrosion of the steel drums containing the metallic sodium over time allowed the packing fluid to seep out leaving the metallic sodium exposed to the underground elements,” Nevada State Fire Marshal Chief Peter Mulvihill said in a statement. “Heavier than normal rainfall seeped into the ground reaching the metallic sodium through a compromised cover causing the fire.”

The fire burned from Oct. 18-19 in Beatty, Nev., at a permanently shuttered waste site formerly managed by US Ecology, and resulted in the expulsion of several 55-gallon drums. Officials allowed the fire to burn itself out.

Nevada acquired the site in 1961 for disposal of low-level radioactive waste, which was buried there from 1962 until 1992, when the site was closed. Materials were buried and covered with earth fill in a number of trenches. The incident occurred in a trench near the east perimeter of the disposal site.