A 6.5 magnitude earthquake shook Idaho at around 6 p.m. local time Tuesday, with the epicenter about 120 miles from the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed.
“While ground shaking was felt, there was no damage to any INL facilities,” INL spokesperson Sarah Neumann said in a Wednesday email.
It was the most powerful earthquake in Idaho since 1983, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported. There were no reports of fatalities, although some roads were closed due to rockslides.
A Fluor subsidiary that manages the Naval Nuclear Laboratory at INL said no workers were injured by the earthquake and preliminary inspections suggest no damage to its nuclear facilities. Engineers are doing a full inspection.
“The containers used for spent fuel storage are robustly designed to survive an array of conditions,” and the event did not cause any radioactive contamination, said spokesman Gene Terwilliger.
The site is already in a minimum operational status to help stem the potential spread of COVID-19. As of last week, about 1,000 people were still reporting to work at INL facilities, with another 3,900 working remotely.
