Bavarian environment officials have banned the movement of all nuclear
fuel and containers for fuel rods from a Siemens factory in Karlsteinbie-Aschaffenburg.
The ministry halted shipments after a lorry driver unwittingly drove 50
fuel rods containing 109 kilograms of uranium across Germany last week.
It was not until the lorry arrived at a fuel plant 350 kilometres away
at Lingen that workers discovered the rods. The lorry was supposed to be
carrying empty containers. According to the ministry, the mix-up happened
because workers at the Karlstein plant did not check the load properly.
Shipments are banned until Siemens can guarantee ‘satisfactory’ inspections.
