- The Longmont Fire Department's hazardous material unit responded to Twin Peaks Charter Academy, 340 S. Sunset St., on Wednesday afternoon after school officials found a small container of oxidized sodium.

The sodium was in a locked science chemical storage area, according to school officials.

Principal B.J. Buchmann said the substance was discovered at about 12:30 p.m. Students were moved to a different area of the school for the rest of the day, he said.

After school was dismissed, firefighters removed the substance from the school, Buchmann said.

PORTLAND -- Several people were injured and the science wing was evacuated after an explosion at David Douglas High School Friday morning, officials said.
Portland firefighters were called in to the school, at 1001 SE 135th Avenue, just before 11 a.m., according to Tommy Schroeder with Portland Fire and Rescue.
When a student turned on the faucet of a sink in the chemistry lab, the water mixed with a sodium metal compound and caused the explosion, Schroeder said.
Twelve people were taken to nearby hospitals and treated for respiratory discomfort, according to Paul Corah with Portland Fire and Rescue. He said several more people were evaluated at the school. He estimated a total of 25 people were exposed to the chemicals.
Fire crews were ventilating the area to clear out the chemical residue, Schroeder said. The affected area was closed for the remainder of the day.

Light Fixture Behind Father Judge High School HazMat
Officials: Broken Sodium Fixture Released Gas

Updated: Monday, 05 Dec 2011, 11:07 AM EST
Published : Monday, 05 Dec 2011, 7:47 AM EST

PHILADELPHIA - Father Judge High School became off-limits and two local emergency rooms were temporarily quarantined, according to fire department sources, after a hazardous materials incident was traced back to the school.

At least five to 10 victims, several of them cheerleaders, have been complaining of eye irritation and visited two or three emergency rooms, FOX 29's Sean Tobin reported.

We're told parents are also among the patients who are being treated with the cheerleaders after they visited the all-boy school Sunday to participate in a competition being held there.

For some of the patients the problem was so bad that they were taken to the hospital to have their eyes flushed, Tobin reported.

Victims went to as many as three hospitals in Northeast Philadelphia, and officials soon figured out that the common bond was they had all been at Father Judge.

Hazardous materials crews responded to the school, located on Solly Road in Northeast Philadelphia, before dawn to investigate.

Shortly after 7 a.m., fire officials said says a sodium light fixture broke in the auditorium, releasing a gas that caused the irritation.

The cases led to the quarantining of those two hospital emergency rooms, and the Department of Homeland Security was even notified, Tobin reported.

Separate incidents at Idaho nuke facility wake-up calls for downwind Wyoming

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-It was a rough week at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) last week. The 890-square-mile nuclear energy facility located between Arco, and Idaho Falls, Idaho, experienced two unrelated emergencies three days apart.

On November 8, 16 employees at the Zero Power Physics Reactor (ZPPR), a fast reactor core decommissioned in 1992, were exposed to radioactive material when a shipping container of nuclear fuel accidentally opened. Seven of those employees showed external skin contamination and were immediately decontaminated; six of them had positive nasal swipes. A lung scan performed on at least two employees showed traces of Americium-241, an isotope that indicates the employees may have inhaled plutonium.

Four of the 16 workers received treatment for internal radiation exposure. INL officials said ongoing tests and monitoring of exposed workers will likely continue for several weeks. Officials at the lab also said all radioactive material was contained within the facility and there was never any threat to the public.

On November 11, emergency personnel were again scrambled at the lab when a fire was reported some time before 10 a.m. on Friday. INL spokesman Erik Simpson reported that 11 Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) employees were evacuated for medical attention. One worker was transported to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center for burns.

Crews were able to reenter the building at 2 p.m. that day and confirmed the fire was caused by a sodium reaction. Sodium was used as a coolant for the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II until the early 1990s. When the reactor was shut down, the sodium coolant was drained; however, ICP employees are currently tasked with removing residual sodium from the Sodium Boiler Building before demolishing the facility.

(Reuters) - A sodium fire erupted on Friday at a U.S. Nuclear laboratory in Idaho, burning one worker, but the incident posed no risk to the public, the lab said.

The incident was the second this week at the sprawling facility. Earlier this week, at least six workers were contaminated by low-level plutonium radiation and 11 others were exposed following a mishap at the lab.

The chemical fire on Friday broke out in a building adjacent to a decommissioned, experimental reactor at the U.S. Department of Energy's sprawling Idaho National Laboratory that is cooled by sodium, lab spokeswoman Sara Prentice said.

The fire may have been caused by a sodium reaction, Prentice said.

CONCORDIA Lutheran College students were given a brief reprieve from classes this morning when a chemical spill caused a mass evacuation.
 

An amount of sodium was spilt in a "prep room" near the science laboratories just after 11am, forcing the school to initiate its evacuation procedures.


The highly reactive metal can explode when combined with water or moisture.