At least one person is dead and 100 others were injured following a fatal accident at a uranium enrichment facility in central Russia's Ural Mountains, according to Russian media on Friday, while the injured are currently being checked for radioactive contamination.
According to the Moscow Times, the plant's website stated that "there was one victim in the depressurisation of a cylinder containing depleted uranium hexafluoride," but it made no mention of any other casualties.
The enrichment procedure, which produces fuel for nuclear power plants and weapons, depends on uranium hexafluoride.
The local population was not in danger as a result of the incident, according to state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom, which reported that radiation levels at the plant and in the neighbourhood were normal.
"We are deeply saddened to announce a tragic incident at the Ural Electrochemical Plant, resulting in a worker fatality," Rosatom said.
It said the worker died "from a mechanical injury caused by a breach in a container of uranium hexafluoride, a chemical compound used in uranium enrichment."
"There is no danger of any kind for residents of the city of Novouralsk or the staff of the plant," the plant’s deputy production manager, Yuri Mineyev, said.
The facility claimed to be the biggest of its kind in the world and to enrich uranium for use in nuclear power plants. It said that an investigation into the incident's causes is ongoing.
The Urals Electrochemical Combine, located in the abandoned town of Novouralsk in the Sverdlovsk region, reported that workers at "the workshop where the incident took place were evacuated and sanitation work was underway at the site."
It also said: "The causes of the incident were being investigated.”
The Sverdlovsk region branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee, which investigates major crimes, launched an inspection into the matter.
Nearly a dozen countries rely on Russia for more than half of their enriched uranium, according to a report by The New York Times.
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