Truck used to haul waste catches fire in center of Hanford nuclear reservation

The engine of a truck used to haul waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation caught fire Monday morning.

No radioactive materials were involved and the driver of the truck was not injured.

The truck was hauling an empty container used to transport non-radiological materials, such as construction debris, to a central Hanford dump, according to the Department of Energy.

The fire was quickly put out, according to DOE. The truck was in the center of the 580-square-mile Hanford site in the 200 East Area near the Effluent Treatment Facility.

Environmental cleanup is underway at the nuclear reservation, which was used from World War II through the Cold War to produce nearly two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 12:42 PM.