Sequoyah Fuels Corporation

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Sequoyah Fuels Corporation owned and operated a uranium processing plant near Gore, Oklahoma. The company was created in 1983 as a subsidiary of Kerr-McGee. In 1988 it was sold to General Atomics. [1]

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Uranium processing plant

The plant is located near Gore, Oklahoma, close to the Illinois River and Interstate 40. The plant started construction in 1968 and began operation in 1970. It converted yellowcake uranium into uranium hexafluoride. In 1987 it started converting depleted uranium hexafluoride into depleted uranium tetrafluoride. The plant ceased operation in 1993. A leak and explosion in 1986 left one worker dead and extreme groundwater and soil contamination across the 600-acre site. [2]

The plant was operated under Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corporation. [3] In 1983 KMNC split into Quivira Mining Corporation and Sequoyah Fuels Corporation. The latter was given control of the plant. In 1988 Sequoyah Fuels Corporation was sold to General Atomics. [2]

In 2008 a company named International Isotopes said it would buy equipment and intellectual property from the Sequoyah Fuels Corp plant. The equipment would be used in a new location. It would be used for converting depleted uranium hexafluoride to depleted uranium tetrafluoride. [1]

The 1986 Sequoyah Corporation Fuels Release in Oklahoma

Photograph of the rupture in the uranium hexafluoride container UF6 cylinder rupture bw.png
Photograph of the rupture in the uranium hexafluoride container

On January 4, 1986, Sequoyah Fuels Corporation experienced a rupture of an overfilled cylinder which killed 26-year-old worker, James Harrison and hospitalized 37 of the 42 onsite workers. [4] 60 area residents were also hospitalized. [5] The American Journal of Public Health describes the plant as having "never fully recovered" from the accident. [6]

"By 8:45 AM much of the UF6 had solidified and no more could be removed. Workers were then instructed to liquefy the UF6 by heating it in a steam chest, a direct violation of company policy." [7]

Toxic clouds from the event drifted across the plant and nearby rural areas, which exposed workers and raised immediate alarm among residents and state officials. Subsequent research identified the Sequoyah event as one of the least-publicized yet most severe radiological accidents in the Southwest. [8]

Another accident involving the release of UF6 occurred in 1992. The plant ceased production operations in 1993 and was decommissioned. [6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Yurman, Dan (2008-06-19). "UF6 Deconverter Plans First New U.S. Plant" (PDF). Fuel Cycle Week. 7 (283). Retrieved 2009-10-03.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. 1 2 See Kerr-McGee article for citations
  3. ↑ Although exact date of KMNC formation is unknown to author, it was at least the early 1970s, and before that would have been simply KMC.
  4. ↑ Brugge, Doug; deLemos, Jamie L.; Bui, Cat (2007). "The Sequoyah Corporation Fuels Release and the Church Rock Spill: Unpublicized Nuclear Releases in American Indian Communities". American Journal of Public Health. 97 (9): 1595–1600. doi:10.2105/ajph.2006.103044. PMC   1963288 . PMID   17666688.
  5. ↑ "Up and Coming". Independent Voices. Reveal Digital. 3 (3). 1986-03-01.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. 1 2 Doug Brugge, et al, "The Sequoyah Corporation Fuels Release and the Church Rock Spill", American Journal of Public Health, September 2007, Vol, 97, No. 9, pp. 1596–1597.
  7. ↑ Brugge, Doug; deLemos, Jamie L.; Bui, Cat (September 2007). "The Sequoyah corporation fuels release and the Church Rock spill: unpublicized nuclear releases in American Indian communities". American Journal of Public Health. 97 (9): 1595–1600. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.103044. ISSN   1541-0048. PMC   1963288 . PMID   17666688.
  8. ↑ Brugge, Doug (2007). "The Sequoyah Fuels Corporation Release and the Church Rock Spill: Unpublicized Radiological Contamination in the U.S. Southwest". Environmental Health Perspectives. 115 (12): 1806–1812.

35°30′09″N95°04′59″W / 35.5024°N 95.0830°W / 35.5024; -95.0830

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