Active shooter alert at US nuclear waste site

A portion of the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state has been put on lockdown, and employees told to prepare to “run, hide, fight” amid reports of an active shooter in the area. Local police is responding as well.

Employees at the 2750E Building in the 200 East Area of the site have been evacuated, all site personnel have been directed to go indoors, and the entire Hanford site has been put on lockdown, the Department of Energy said on Tuesday.

“No actions are necessary for the public,” the DOE said, adding that Hanford Patrol is on the scene and there is “no confirmation of shots fired at this time.”

Around 10:30 local time, Hanford employees received a text message warning them of an “active assailant” in the area and announcing the lockdown, along with the instruction to prepare to “run hide fight.”

Benton County Sheriff’s Office deputies were also dispatched on the scene and helped the Hanford Patrol search the building, along with the others nearby. They “didn’t locate any victims or any evidence of shots being fired,” according to Seattle’s KCPQ-TV.

Hanford is located in south-central Washington, along the Columbia river. It was established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, producing plutonium for the atomic bomb used on Nagasaki, Japan. Weapons production was halted at the end of the Cold War, leaving a large amount of radioactive waste in storage tanks, which the facility has been working to safely contain ever since.