Overview
- Workers at the Circularity plant in Río Cuarto discovered a metal block marked “uranio empobrecido” during routine sorting on Wednesday night, triggering an immediate emergency response.
- Firefighters, Defensa Civil, local and federal police established a safety perimeter and ordered nearby evacuations and traffic closures as specialists were summoned.
- At least eight employees who handled the block were isolated and medically screened and initial dosimetry showed low radiation doses with no life-threatening exposure.
- The Autoridad Regulatoria Nuclear removed a roughly 30 cm by 10 cm block for detailed laboratory analysis and technicians from the Embalse center performed on-site measurements.
- Authorities are investigating how regulated material entered the recycling stream, raising questions about disposal controls and chain-of-custody for radioactive and dense industrial wastes.