Fire breaks out at Department of Energy nuclear site in South Carolina, emergency declared

The fire, which was reported at 5:39 p.m. Eastern, has since been extinguished and no contamination has been reported outside the affected facility.

By Misty Severi

Published: October 28, 2026 9:48pm

Department of Energy officials said Wednesday that an emergency was declared at a nuclear energy facility, after a fire broke out at the Savannah River National Laboratory near Aiken, South Carolina.

The fire, which was reported at 5:39 p.m. Eastern, has since been extinguished and no contamination has been reported outside the affected facility. The laboratory was placed in a shutdown amid the fire, but the order has since been lifted.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.