Oak Ridge National Laboratory was locked down for more than four hours on Sunday as officials investigated a security-related concern that turned out to be unsubstantiated, a spokesman said.
Officials took the proper precautions and stopped people from entering or leaving the lab during the lockdown, which lasted from about 8:40 a.m. to about 1:15 p.m. Sunday, ORNL Communications Director David Keim said.
“When we investigated, we found that the concern was unsubstantiated,” Keim said.
He said the security concern was reported by a U.S. Department of Energy contractor employee at ORNL. Keim said he couldn’t give more information on the nature of the report since the concern wasn’t substantiated.
“Everything appears to have been okay all along,” Keim said.
Keim said there are about 100 support staff members at ORNL on Sundays, including at the Spallation Neutron Source and High Flux Isotope Reactor, and possibly another 50 researchers at the lab.
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