Radioactive gas auctioned off in Swiss bankruptcy sale
The 20 tonnes of radioactive gas sold at auction are stored on the site of the Tricastin nuclear power plant in France, near Avignon.
Keystone / Michel Euler
Twenty tonnes of uranium hexafluoride belonging to a bankrupt Swiss company in Olten in central Switzerland have been sold at auction for CHF 17 million ($19.2 million).
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The name of the sole bidder and new owner of the radioactive gas was not disclosed. The item in question is 20.8 tonnes of uranium hexafluoride stored in 14 cylinders on the site of the Tricastin nuclear power plant in France, near Avignon, the bankruptcy office for the canton of Solothurn said on Friday.
Uranium hexafluoride is a highly volatile, toxic, radioactive and corrosive compound. It is used in the uranium enrichment process. This gas is part of the bankruptcy estate of the Olten-based trading company Nuexco Exchange. The company was dissolved in 1996.
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The company was founded by the American uranium trader Oren Lee Benton, who himself went bankrupt. It traded uranium with various former states of the Soviet Union on behalf of nuclear power plants in the West.
The purchase of uranium hexafluoride requires authorisation from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE). Due to European Union sanctions, this gas cannot be transported directly or indirectly to Russia. Furthermore, trade in this gas is subject to the safety provisions of the European Atomic Energy Community.
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