nuclear-news

Workers exposed to radioactive uranium

Canadian workers exposed to yellowcake http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/canadian-workers-exposed-to-yellowcake/story-fn3dxix6-1226419628561  July 07, 2012  Three workers at a uranium processing plant in Canada were exposed to radioactive yellowcake when the lid blew off of a bulging container imported from the United States, US nuclear regulatory officials say.

THE incident occurred on June 23 at a uranium refinery in Blind River,
Ontario, according to a US Nuclear Regulatory Commission statement.

An estimated 26kg of uranium oxide were ejected into the air “when a
worker loosened a ring clamp” on a drum that contained the yellowcake,
officials said.

At least two of the three workers were not wearing respirators, and
all were exposed to airborne uranium. Several other drums shipped to
Blind River were “found to be bulging from internal pressure” after
the incident, the NRC said.

The material had been exported to Canada from the Willow Creek
Facility in the western US state of Wyoming, which brought the
incident under the purview of US nuclear regulators.

“We would do a follow-up inspection, and if any violations are
identified, they will be subjected to enforcement actions,” Lara
Uselding, a Texas-based NRC spokeswoman, told DPA.

The Willow Creek plant is owned by Uranium One, a Canadian-based
uranium mining company with operations in Australia, Canada,
Kazakhstan, South Africa and the United States.

Yellowcake is a kind of uranium concentrate powder obtained from
crushed rocks through a leaching operation.

The town of Blind River is located on Lake Huron in Ontario.

July 7, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, incidents, Uranium