One Dead in Accident at World’s Biggest Uranium Enrichment Plant

An accident at a nuclear enrichment facility in Russia’s Sverdlovsk Region has left one worker dead, the plant’s administration said on Friday.

A cylinder containing depleted uranium tails ruptured after a pressurization failure at the Urals Electrochemical Plant (UECP), owned by Russian state nuclear energy firm Rosatom.

UECP, which is the largest uranium enricher in the world, described the incident as a “local” one, and stressed that the danger has been contained within the affected section.

A plant technician, aged 65, died after suffering a “fatal mechanical trauma,” the statement said.

All other staff who were in the section at the time the cylinder burst were evacuated and sent to hospital for medical checkups. Most have since been released and are “out of danger,” UECP said.

The plant administration gave assurances that the radiation level in the rest of the plant and in nearby areas remains “normal,” and that the radioactivity of the leaked material was even lower than that of regular uranium ore.

Rosatom also published data on the background radiation in the nearby city of Novouralsk, which it said remained within normal boundaries.

The leaked material, which is a byproduct of uranium enrichment, is used as a secondary uranium source in fuel production for nuclear power plants, as well as in the manufacture of industrial fluorine. It is classified as a nuclear substance and is subject to state controls in Russia.

UECP describes itself as the biggest uranium enrichment enterprise “not only in Russia but in the world.” Its facilities account for 48% of Russia’s enrichment capacity, its website says. The plant plays a key role in fuel production for both nuclear power stations and “other nuclear power systems,” it adds.