Uranium Capsule Takes a Fall at Nevada Plant

A capsule containing uranium fell out of a portable X-ray machine Wednesday night at a Kerr-McGee Corp. plant that makes fuel for the space shuttle program, and authorities closed off a section of the plant.

No one was injured and there was no immediate danger in the second emergency in a week at a Kerr-McGee plant, said Doug Downs, a Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman. An area 400 feet in diameter was sealed off, he said.

One worker was killed when a shipping container ruptured at the Sequoyah Fuels Corp. plant near Gore, Okla., on Saturday, spewing toxic gas into the air. More than 100 workers and people living nearby were examined at hospitals.

On Wednesday, only three or four people out of more than 100 employees were in the plant 15 miles southeast of downtown Las Vegas, said John Papageorge, a deputy chief with the Clark County Fire Department.

The capsule was emitting some radiation, but Papageorge called the accident a “minimal incident.”

‘No Danger’

“There’s no danger to anybody,” he said. “We’re just taking our time here. We’re taking precautions to make sure no one is hurt.”

Firefighters using radiation monitors found no trace of leakage more than 200 feet from the capsule, Downs said.

State health officials were called in with a shield device, which Downs said would be used to pick up the capsule and put it back in the plant’s X-ray machine, which is used to examine welds at construction sites.

The X-ray equipment and the people involved were from Eagle Intermountain Testing in Las Vegas, Kerr-McGee spokeswoman Donna McFarland said.