What to Do with Thousands of Tons of Radioactive Scrap Metal? Recycle It Into Consumer Goods
January 31st, 2013Via: Wall Street Journal:
The Department of Energy is proposing to allow the sale of tons of scrap metal from government nuclear sites—an attempt to reduce waste that critics say could lead to radiation-tainted belt buckles, surgical implants and other consumer products.
The department, in a document released last month, said the recycling proposal is in line with its policy of “reusing materials whenever possible.”
The approximately 14,000 tons of metal under review for possible initial release is only a fraction of the tens of millions of tons of metal recycled annually, it said. Smaller amounts could be eligible for release in future years.
Selling the metals could bring in $10 million to $40 million a year, the DOE estimates.
While the metal would come from “radiological areas” such as research laboratories and nuclear-weapons-related facilities, any contamination would be so low that a member of the public would be exposed to a “negligible individual dose” of additional radiation, the DOE said. The allowable annual radiation dose to an individual from a given shipment of the scrap metal would be half the estimated amount of radiation a person gets flying cross-country, or even less, the document said.
Some industry and environmental groups aren’t satisfied by the government’s assurances.
“We are concerned about what could happen in the marketplace if you have to worry about radioactive material possibly being in your eyeglass frames,” said Thomas Danjczek, president of the Steel Manufacturers Association, a trade group whose members use recycled metals. “Why is the government trying to hurt the image of American products?”
It is difficult and expensive to prevent the commingling of recycled metals. Metal-processing facilities already face contamination problems when they inadvertently accept medical devices and other radioactive products, Mr. Danjczek said. Cleanup from such incidents can cost a recycling plant as much as $15 million, he added.
Some critics argue the DOE’s proposed exposure standards are too high and that information provided in its 50-page document explaining the proposal is even more worrisome.
Higher exposures could occur if contaminated metal is made into items such as belt buckles or hip-replacement joints, said Daniel Hirsch, a lecturer on nuclear policy at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and critic of the government’s proposal. Such exposures would further increase a person’s cancer risk, he said.
On Friday, Rep. Ed Markey wrote to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, calling the recycling proposal “unwise” and stating the proposal “should be immediately abandoned.” The Massachusetts Democrat added that contaminated products could “ultimately be utilized by pregnant women, children and other vulnerable populations.”
A DOE spokesman said procedures for clearing the metals for sale are designed to ensure the materials don’t cause problems for industry. He disputed the claims that the metals could possibly cause higher radiation exposures to individuals. The DOE is preparing a response to Mr. Markey, he added.
Related: Toxic Sludge is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry by John Stauber
This has been going on at least since 2001:
Nuclear Waste Recyclers Target Consumer Products
http://mailman.mcmaster.ca/mailman/private/cdn-nucl-l/0109.gz/msg00002.html
Here’s more information:
Radioactive Waste and Materials being used to make Household Items
January 15, 2013: The Department of Energy wants to mix radioactive metal from nuclear weapons factories with clean recycled metal and let it enter into general commerce–where it could be used for any purpose. It’s a foot in the door for revival of a vast–and discredited–radioactive waste deregulation plan defeated in 1992. You can help stop them!
http://www.nirs.org/radwaste/recycling/recyclinghome.htm
Nuclear Free Local Authorities
Depleted uranium, small sealed radioactive sources and metals contaminated through use in nuclear industries, are increasingly escaping regulatory control and, either unwittingly or deliberately, finding their way into the feed stock for the metals recycling industry. This is coinciding with an increasing amount of feed stock being imported into the EU from Russia and the states of the former Soviet Union 5.
http://www.nuclearpolicy.info/publications/scrapmetal.php