Uranium Truck Crashes in West Virginia

(Summers County, West Virginia) Shortly after midnight Sunday morning, a tractor-trailer carrying uranium hexafluoride (UF6) overturned on Interstate-64, prompting evacuation of the town of Sandstone and surrounding areas.

A news release from the West Virginia State Police says the driver of a pickup truck headed west on I-64 was drunk when he ran off the road and struck a guardrail, causing his truck to roll over through the median, landing in the shoulder of the east bound lanes.

The driver of the tractor trailer was headed east and locked up his brakes to avoid the debris from the pickup truck that was left in the road. The tractor trailer then veered to the right and hit a rock embankment, overturned and caught fire.

The tractor trailer was carrying a corrosive material that has been determined to be radioactive.

Just before 3:30 a.m., HAZMAT crews reached the scene and determined that the container holding the material was not damaged and none of the material leaked. The crews also tested the air around the wreck and found no contamination.

The key point of this report is that the uranium slurry, a mid-stage product in the enrichment process, was adequately protected by the design of its container.