Workers at the Hanford Site in Washington State have been warned on Tuesday morning by managers to "take cover" after a 20-foot-long  portion of the tunnel collapsed that is used to store contaminated radioactive materials. The Department of Energy has already declared a state of emergency, as Hanford is also known as "the most toxic place in America," and "America's Chernobyl," after one of the former governors called it "an underground Chernobyl waiting to happen."

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The accident happened near the 200 East Area, home of various solid waste sites. The collapsed tunnel operates to the Plutonium Uranium Extraction (PUREX) facility which was loaded with highly radioactive train cars that previously carried out used fuel rods with very dangerous uranium and plutonium from a reactor on the Columbia River to the processing facility. These reactors generated plutonium for America's nuclear arsenal, but the production stopped in 1980.

Meanwhile, the workers have been told to stay indoors, and one manager reportedly instructs workers to secure ventilation in the building and refrain from eating or drinking. That only means the nuclear emergency is alarming since the water was already contaminated.

Jay Inslee, Washington Governor, says that the accident is a serious situation and their top priority is to maintain the safety of the community as well as workers.

As of the moment, it is still not clear on what will be the cleanup process. But officials from Energy Department said there's no sign of a contamination released at this point, while crews are still investigating the area and employing a robot to survey and take video of the damage.

But, just like the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the area becomes highly radioactive zones and almost impossible to secure considering the radiation tends to fry everything that goes inside, even a special radiation-resistant robot cannot survive the trip within Fukushima's damaged reactor earlier this year.