Cargo vessel carrying uranium collides with chemical tanker off Swedish and Danish coasts
On July 3, 2009, at 13:30 h, two ships collided in Drogden Rende on the Danish side of Öresund strait just north of the Öresund bridge. The hulls of both ships got heavy damage. Malta-registered cargo vessel "Kapitan Lus", loaded with aluminum and 182 t of "raw" uranium, was rammed in the side by the Norwegian chemical tanker "Sundstraum", carrying methanol. The uranium transport was on the way from St Petersburg in Russia to Le Havre in France; its uranium cargo is marked UN 2912 for "Radioactive material, low specific activity, not otherwise specified" [this code is used for uranium ore concentrate]. No persons were injured and no environmental releases occured. There was sunny weather with excellent visibility in the Öresund region and none of the vessels had reported any technical problems before the crash.
(Dagens Nyheter/The Swedish Wire/Politiken/Greenpeace Sweden, July 3, 2009)
The crew of the "Sundstraum" has declared that they had technical problems with the steering system.
(Dagens Nyheter July 4, 2009)
Brazilian police discover 450 kg of contraband uranium ore
Police in the north Brazilian state of Amapa have unearthed a cache with 450 kg of enriched uranium ore [?!], a dangerous mineral used for nuclear arms production.
The operation to seize radioactive material was a result of four-month work by investigators, who found a bag of pitchblende on Friday (Jan. 22) in a remote area of tropical rainforest.
(RIA Novosti Jan. 23, 2010)
Report: Iran seeking to smuggle raw uranium from Kazakhstan
The U.S. Energy Department has canceled plans to put into the market during 2011 extra government-owned surplus uranium supplies, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told Congress on Thursday (Feb. 4), but the uranium transfers will continue for this year.
The department had planned to transfer next year up to 1,125 tonnes, or about 2.48 million lbs, of its surplus uranium a year to raise money to pay for the cleanup of the Portsmouth uranium enrichment plant in Ohio.
The uranium would have been transferred to USEC Inc.
However, Chu told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that the department did not want to put too much uranium in the market because it would go against an earlier agreement with uranium producers.
Not only would business be taken away from domestic uranium producers, but the additional government supplies in the market could have depressed prices, making it difficult for producers to expand operations.
The department is continuing with its uranium transfers planned for this year to USEC to fund the cleanup of the Portsmouth plant, a department spokeswoman said.
Again, up 300 tonnes a quarter with a 1,125-tonne cap on total uranium transfers will be allowed this year, the spokeswoman said.
The Energy Department has 59,000 tonnes of inventories of natural uranium built up for military purposes during the Cold War and is releasing the stocks gradually over about 25 years.
(Reuters Feb. 4, 2010)
U.S. DOE plans to sell more uranium from inventories
On August 4, 2006, the U.S. Department of Energy presented to industry representatives its draft strategy for the proposed near- and long-term sale of its uranium inventory.
> View: U.S. DOE Nuclear Energy - Presentations
