By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
The government said Friday it failed to retrieve 2.7 kilograms of uranium samples accidentally sent to a garbage incinerator in May, leaving worries and suspicions on its loose control of radioactive materials.
The Ministry of Science and Technology said that the lost uranium is believed to have been taken out of the research facility by a garbage disposal company on May 17, and was burned and buried in a landfill two days later.
The uranium samples are harmless to humans as they emit very little radioactivity, the ministry said. But afraid of protests from residents nearby, it didn't disclose the locations of the incinerator and the disposal site.
``We believe that most of the uranium shattered into minuscule particles in the furnace and was buried in the ground along with other garbage,'' the ministry's official Park Jin-sun said in a release. ``Some of it could have been sucked into the dust collector. The buried particles could have dissolved as there was heavy rainfall in the region after the accident.''
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, located in Daejon, lost the samples in May when an unidentified employee removed the uranium container from the laboratory during maintenance work. Thinking it was garbage, cleaners moved it to a waste dump and later to the incinerator.
The state-run institute said it learned of the blunder on Aug. 6, a day before the planned inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Only the copper container was retrieved from the garbage disposal company, it said.
Uranium is used to fuel nuclear power plants, or in the making of ammunition and nuclear weapons. One kilogram of enriched uranium can theoretically produce as much electricity as 1,500 tons of coal. A large intake of uranium can cause kidney failure.
Included in the missing package were 1.9 kilograms of natural uranium and 0.8 kilograms of depleted uranium as well as 0.2 grams of enriched uranium. They were all under the supervision of the IAEA.
The ministry said that the radiation level would be only a fraction of what a person can be exposed to in over a year. But the issue would be taken up by the IAEA's regular safety inspection conference to take place next week in Vienna, it said.