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March 20 (UPI) -- A convoy of trucks carrying uranium to a nuclear factory came under small arms attack in Brazil, authorities said. The police-escorted convoy was traveling near Rio de Janeiro Tuesday when the gunfire started. It was taking the uranium to a plant in Angra dos Reis.
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Plant operator Eletronuclear said the convoy was not deliberately targeted in the shooting, as the gunfire continued after the convoy left. News reports described the attack as an armed gangster assault on a dangerous stretch of highway.
"The convoy was never interrupted," Eletronuclear said.
No one was hurt and there were no immediate arrests, O Globo reported. Police spokesman Jose Helio said criminal attacks against police are common in the area.
Eletronuclear officials said the uranium was in a natural state and has only low levels of radioactivity. Traces of uranium can be found in rocks, soil, water, food and the human body, the World Nuclear Transport Institute says.
Uranium Ore Concentrate is not toxic and cannot trigger a nuclear reaction, nor is it flammable. It emits only small amounts of radiation at any given time.
Tuesday's shooting occurred in the same area where a British tourist was shot in 2017 after she entered an impoverished urban area to buy bottled water, Rio Times Online reported Wednesday.
