Romania has a nuke event - uranium is stolen

[ensho]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php


Officials say 73 kilograms of radioactive uranium ore have been stolen from a mining company in western Romania. Police spokeswoman Alina Dinu said the uranium, stored in eight metal pipes, was not enriched. She said the theft had been discovered on Oct. 26. Florin Dobra, an official at the Romanian National Commission for Nuclear Activities told Antena 3: "the potential for radioactive contamination in the environment is extremely limited." The uranium had been stored in a bunker at the plant in Stei, western Romania, he said, adding the theft could have occurred up to three months ago.
------------------------

update:

Eight cylinders containing 73.5 kilos of uranium ore were stolen from a radioactive materials storage depot in northern Romania, authorities said yesterday. “The commission for the control of nuclear activities (CNCAN) was informed on October 26 that eight 3.5-m long cylinders containing 73.5 kilos of uranium ore disappeared from the depot at Stei,” CNCAN said in a press release. “The ore extracted from Baita quarry has low radioactivity levels” and poses virtually no contamination risk for the environment, it added. “Even if the metal cylinders were broken or destroyed, the impact would be very limited” given the nature of the ore, the commission stressed. Local police said an investigation had been opened and several suspects would be interrogated soon. A local daily, Bihoreanul, said that the theft was discovered when several employees entered the depot in order to prepare the transfer of the uranium to a processing plant in Feldioara (centre).
-----------------

[MineralMan]

1. The uranium ore from the Baita quarry is

a byproduct from the mining there. Primarily a copper mining quarry, the uranium ore is a minor constituent of the minerals that occur there. It is separated from the other minerals mined in the operation and shipped for refining when enough has accumulated. As uranium ore, its radioactivity is low, and the ore cannot be used for any nefarious purpose until it is refined. When I was selling mineral specimens to collectors, I sometimes had specimens from this quarry in my stock. There are one or two rare uranium minerals of interest to advanced collectors that occur there. I never had any of those, unfortunately.

[ensho]

2. interesting info - thanks

nt