- Testing continued all last night for
possible radiation fall-out from a severe fire at a uranium munitions factory
in Staffordshire.
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- Eighty firefighters and 15 pumps attended
when uranium swarf caught fire at the Royal Ordnance depot in Featherstone
yesterday.
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- With a plume of smoke reaching 2,500
ft, fire fighters in radiation suits used foam on the fire, in case water
washed contaminated material down drains. Police ordered residents of the
villages of Featherstone and Brinsford to stay indoors in case radioactive
particles were carried by smoke. Prisoners in Featherstone jail were moved
to another wing as a precaution. Depleted uranium is used in shells fired
by tanks; such shells were used to destroy enemy tanks in the Gulf War,
and are suspected as one cause of deformities and cancers in Iraqi children
born since.
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- After four hours the fire was contained
but still burned fiercely. A major emergency was declared, but last night
it was believed that there had been no radiation leak although monitoring
was continuing. The Environment Agency said that its staff, and those of
the National Radiological Protection Board, would be remain all night as
the damping-down continued. "We are concerned radioactive material
may be still be dispersed into the drains."
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- Royal Ordnance said first tests showed
that no toxic substances had been released.
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