The Hindu : National : ‘No spillage of yellow cake after accident’

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Thursday, Jul 26, 2007
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National

‘No spillage of yellow cake after accident’

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: A trailer transporting a container with 62 drums of radioactive yellow cake from Jaduguda in Jharkhand to the Nuclear Fuel Complex at Hyderabad overturned at Narsannapeta in Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday morning.

According to S.K. Malhotra, Head, Environment and Public Awareness Division, Department of Atomic Energy, there was no spillage. DAE officials found no change in the background radiation-levels, Mr. Malhotra said. Jawans of the Central Industrial Security Force were escorting the trailer.

The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, which monitors safety in nuclear installations, was informed about the incident. Teams of DAE officials from Jaduguda, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad went to the accident site on National Highway 5 and were making arrangements to put the container in another trailer and ensure its journey to Hyderabad.

Police officials at Narsannapeta said the trailer overturned and fell into the fields when it swerved to avoid a bus overtaking it on the wrong side.

Natural uranium ore mined in different places in Jharkhand is processed into magnesium diuranate, popularly known as yellow-cake, at a mill at Jaduguda.

This yellow-cake, which is in a thick slurry form, is transported in drums kept in a container to the Nuclear Fuel Complex at Hyderabad, where it is converted into fuel rods.

The rods power the nuclear reactors.

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