Oct. 28, 2026 at 6:13 pm Updated Oct. 28, 2026 at 8:14 pm

A fire at a national lab in South Carolina that is in a complex where key parts for nuclear bombs were once made triggered an emergency declaration Wednesday that shut down incoming traffic and restricted air and rail service in the area.

The fire at the Savannah River National Laboratory on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site was extinguished by Wednesday night and the site returned to normal operations. No detectable levels of contamination were found, according to a Savannah River Site statement.

The Savannah River Site is a massive complex where the federal government once produced materials used in nuclear weapons, primarily tritium and plutonium-239. The lab is in its northwest corner, near the edge of the site.

The site was opened in the early 1950s as the Cold War was heating up.…