Radioactive Recycling

[Guest guest]

just think! if you made a toaster out of some scrap radioactive metal, you

wouldn't even have to plug it in to make toast!!

 

groan

 

 

Radioactive Recycling If the Department of Energy has its way, the nation's

nuclear garbage could end up in everyday items like bicycles, frying pans, and

baby strollers.

by Susan Q. Stranahan July/August 2002

 

 

 

 

From the air, the East Tennessee Technology Park looks like clusters of enormous

Wal-Marts, sprawling across 4,700 acres in the rural countryside west of

Knoxville. But for decades the Oak Ridge complex had a more ominous name -- the

K-25 site. Its mission: to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.

 

Today, the facility contains tons of contaminated junk -- machinery, metal,

concrete, and tools -- some of which will remain radioactive for generations.

Faced with a massive cleanup, the Department of Energy has come up with an

ingenious plan to get rid of the slightly radioactive scrap: " recycle " the metal

and sell it for reuse. Both the DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

are quietly revising rules that would allow millions of tons of radioactive

garbage at the nationÕs weapons facilities and nuclear reactors to be converted

into consumer products and building materials. Under the plan, the leftover

metal could end up in baby strollers, bikes, frying pans, engine blocks, and

I-beams.

 

" This scrap is an asset, " says Val Loiselle, former director of the Association

of Radioactive Metal Recyclers. " Until now, we've literally been burying our

assets. "

 

Most low-level radioactive materials are currently disposed of in secure,

government-licensed landfills. But as former weapons plants are cleaned up and

aging reactors are decommissioned, the volume of nuclear junk is expected to

soar. The DOE already has 1.6 million tons of slightly radioactive metals at

weapons installations across the country, and the NRC expects to have 8.9

million tons of contaminated steel and concrete to dispose of by 2030.

 

In the past, both the DOE and NRC have recycled such materials on a case-by-case

basis. At K-25, for example, approximately 6.6 million pounds of slightly

radioactive material left Oak Ridge's gates before sales were halted in 2000.

The material was treated no differently than any other scrap, and nobody made

any effort to keep track of where it ended up.

 

But with the nuclear scrap heap mounting, federal agencies and industry

officials want a formalized recycling program in place to speed up the disposal.

The plan calls for setting an exposure standard below which irradiated metals

would be deemed " safe " and suitable for release. Because radiation levels would

be low, the reasoning goes, there would be no need for labels identifying that

the materials came from nuclear reactors or weapons facilities -- even if they

end up in homes, offices, and schools.

 

If the changes are implemented, they would end a decades-long policy against the

intentional release of radioactivity into the general populace. Opponents of the

plan say it could jeopardize public health, exposing consumers to materials

previously deemed too contaminated to use. " One day it's hazardous, the next day

it's safe, " says David Ritter, a policy analyst with the consumer advocacy group

Public Citizen in Washington, D.C. " They just change the definition. "

 

Some of the most vocal opponents of the plan are those who would be on the

receiving end of the " released " materials. " The DOE and the nuclear community

cannot use us as a dumping ground for their waste, " says Thomas Danjczek,

president of the Steel Manufacturers Association, which processes 70 million

tons of recycled material a year. " We worry about damaging the public perception

of steel being a safe material. If this goes through, it would kill our market. "

 

In the past, such concerns have been enough to block attempts to redefine what

constitutes radioactive waste. Since 1980, the NRC has twice proposed rule

changes declaring some irradiated material as " below regulatory concern, "

meaning there would be no limits on its reuse or disposal. Congress eventually

intervened to block the rules.

 

In 2000, hoping to gain support for its newest recycling plan, the NRC

contracted with the National Research Council to convene a panel to review its

recommended changes. But in March the panel declined to endorse the wholesale

release of radioactive materials, observing that the NRC has " failed to convince

any environmental and consumer advocacy groups that the clearance of slightly

radioactive solid material can be conducted safely. "

 

Radioactive recycling efforts at the DOE have also run into sharp criticism. In

1999, a federal judge in Washington ruled that not enough was known about the

dangers of releasing radioactive materials at the K-25 site. " The potential for

environmental harm is great, especially given the unprecedented amount of

hazardous materials which [officials] seek to recycle, " U.S. District Court

Judge Gladys Kessler declared.

 

Despite the widespread opposition from consumer advocates, steel manufacturers,

and scientists, federal officials appear determined to proceed with recycling.

The reason? Dollars and cents. If decommissioned debris from the nation's 103

nuclear plants must be buried in secure landfills, costs to the utility industry

may hit $12 billion. If the rubble can simply be carted to the nearest landfill

or scrap metal broker, the price could be as low as $300 million.

 

History offers some indication of what can happen when radioactive materials

find their way into consumer goods. In the early 1980s, contaminated metal from

unknown sources was fabricated into jewelry (wearers developed cancer and lost

their fingers) and restaurant table legs (most were detected prior to delivery,

but some patrons and employees may have been exposed to radioactive cobalt 60).

In 1998, occupants in Taiwanese apartment buildings made with radioactive steel

beams began reporting health problems, and a Michigan manufacturer was forced to

recall hundreds of La-Z-Boy recliners after learning that the rocker springs

contained radioactive metal.

 

Despite the health risks, global trade in radioactive materials is thriving. The

European Union has already set standards allowing the release of materials

contaminated with what it calls " trivial " amounts of radiation, and industry

trade groups like the Nuclear Energy Institute are pressuring the United States

to follow suit. " Consistency with standards set by other nations and

international agencies is important, " the NRC declared in a 1999 report,

" because materials can be both imported and exported between the U.S. and other

countries, and differing standards could create confusion and economic

disparities in commerce. " Officials at the Department of Transportation are

currently revising rules on radioactive shipments to conform to international

guidelines.

 

But with so much of the current regulatory focus on economics and commerce,

consumer advocates worry that a simple fact of physics is being overlooked: Any

dose of radiation, no matter how small, increases the risk to public health. And

if a host of recycled products ßoods the market, there will be no way to measure

the effects of multiple doses.

 

" When it comes to ionizing radiation, you can't draw some line and say anything

above that line is dangerous and anything below is safe, " says Ritter, the

policy analyst with Public Citizen. " You have to ask: What is avoidable, what is

preventable? "

[Guest guest]

I think I'll have to buy a Geiger counter!

 

Jo

 

 

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[Guest guest]

that would probably be made out of the same recycled material..

" gee, this thing doesn't seem to be working, it sez my beer is radioactive "

fraggle

 

" Heartwork " <Heartwork wrote:

 

>I think I'll have to buy a Geiger counter!

>

>Jo

>

>

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>

>To send an email to -

>

>

[Guest guest]

LOL - it probably would.

 

Jo

 

> that would probably be made out of the same recycled material..

> " gee, this thing doesn't seem to be working, it sez my beer is

radioactive "

 

 

 

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