
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 9, 1990                   TAG: 9007090116
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

SPILLED RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL HARMLESS, OFFICIALS TELL POLICE

Four canisters of fuel pellets for a nuclear reactor fell from a tractor-trailer that overturned on Interstate 81, but the Virginia State Police said none of the material leaked.

Trooper R.M. Freeman said Sunday that the uranium dioxide pellets are rated at a low level for radioactivity. He said officials at Babcock and Wilcox, which manufactures the material, told police "you could hold it in your hand and it wouldn't hurt you, as long as you don't ingest it."

Freeman said the accident occurred about 7:50 p.m. Saturday when Bobby Emery Moore Jr., 29, of Concord lost control of the truck in a curve. Moore was treated and released at Wytheville Community Hospital, the trooper said.

Moore was charged with reckless driving, driving on a suspended license and using a radar detector, Freeman said.

The chemical containers fell from the truck near Exit 25, Freeman said. Traffic traveling both northbound and southbound near the accident site was rerouted onto Virginia 610.

Freeman said northbound traffic was restored at about 11 p.m. Saturday and southbound traffic was allowed on the emergency lane beginning around 1 a.m. Sunday.

The scene was cleared by 4 a.m., Freeman said.

Staff writer Mark Morrison contributed some information to this report.

by CNB