Uranium gas leak at enrichment facility in Germany

On January 21, 2009 one room in the container preparation unit of the URENCO enrichment plant in Gronau, Germany, was accidentally exposed to radioactive material. The worker, who was exposed to the radiation, was taken to a hospital, reportedly as a precaution. According to URENCO no radioactivity was released outside of the facility.

It is not immediately clear what was the cause of the accident. The radioactive material in question was uranium hexafluoride.

UPDATE 02/03/10: According to later accounts, the cause of the accident was a container originated from Westinghouse's nuclear fuel assembly plant in Vasteras, Sweden, that was not properly cleaned before being sent to the URENCO facility.