Small Fire Extinguished at Nuclear Weapons Plant

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Small Fire Extinguished at Nuclear Weapons Plant

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) - Officials at the federal government's Y-12 nuclear weapons plant say a small fire today at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, facility was quickly extinguished.

A spokesman for government contractor B-W-X-T says uranium chips spontaneously ignited at 9:36 a-m, Eastern Time, but no workers
were hurt and there was no damage to the building.

Spokesman Bill Wilburn says the Y-12 building, about 23 miles west of Knoxville, was evacuated. Wilburn says workers extinguished the fire with powdered graphite before the plant firefighters arrived.

The plant enriches uranium for use in nuclear weapons. It is also the primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium.

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