I was doing some research for a customer, and came across this document from 7 years ago.
While I am working on adding updates I thought that this might be of use to some people so I will post it.
Thanks, Ed
February 2009
Is your facility prepared for handling metals that may be radioactive?
Attached are a number of recent articles talking about the impact of radioactive scrap being mixed with common steel and stainless steel products. While all American steel producers have tight monitoring programs to assure against such an accident the same is not true in other parts of the world.
1. Do you know where your metal is melted and processed?
2. Do you know what the practices of the metal producer are?
3. Do you know what he allowed limits for radioactivity in metals are?
4. Do you have a system in place for checking incoming metals from foreign sources?
I can relate personal experience that many fabrication and machine shops in India and China have hand held radiation meters that they use for checking incoming raw materials.
If you are getting products from the same sources that they are, perhaps the same cautions would be wise.
From WTO, iron and scrap rules:
Iron and steel scraps should be complied with the following requirements:
1. The radioactive material should not be mingled with iron and steel scraps.
The radioactive pollution of scrap material should be subject to the following requirements:
The penetrating radiation of external exposure of iron and steel scraps should not be greater than 0.46μ sv/h;
the detecting value for αsurface radioactive contamination band of iron and steel scraps should not exceed 0.04Bq/cm2; the detecting value for β surface radioactive contamination band should not exceed 0.4Bq/cm2;
the specific activity for radionuclide of iron and steel scraps should not exceed the limits specified in GB16487.6.
Rules in Taiwan
Midstream: Radiation Inspection Control on 19 Domestic Steel Proprietors Owning Smelting Furnace in Taiwan
1. Steel proprietors radiation measurement operations are reviewed and approved by AEC and are issued certificates such that they can issue roof of absence of radioactive contamination for their products.
2. Steel proprietors with smelting furnace have all installed portal-type radiation detector so as to effectively prevent the possibility of mal-smelting of radioactive sources.
3. Hand-held radiation equipment and automatic vehicle radiation measurement system of the steel proprietors shall be routinely calibrated, their warning system function shall be routinely tested, and, through AEC-accredited radiation protection measurement operators, functional tests shall be executed and subsequent records shall be made.
4. Management of the radiation measurement operation of steel makers shall be routinely entrusted to AEC-accredited radiation protection measurement operators and audited by them. The results shall be recorded and kept for future inspection by AEC.
5. On discovering abnormal radiation-level materials, steel proprietors shall isolate them and measure the radiation level within the shortest time. If the radiation dose rate exceeds 20 繕Sv/hr, the steel proprietor shall report to AEC immediately.
Radioactive contamination of manufactured products.
Lubenau JO, Nussbaumer DA.
Cases of inadvertent radioactive contamination of manufactured articles have occurred sporadically in the past and bore little relationship to each other. Since 1983, however, seven instances have occurred of accidental radioactive contamination of steel either manufactured in or imported into the United States. Five of the contamination events went unrecognized by the mill operators and were discovered by others through radiation monitoring conducted for other unrelated purposes. Impacts have included costs to mill operators in the United States for decontaminating their steel plants which have ranged from $50,000 to more than $2,200,000. The states, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the private sector have taken steps to further assess the scope of the problem and to improve responses when such incidents occur.
Scrap metals industry perspective on radioactive materials.
Turner R.
River Metal Recycling, LLC/The David J. Joseph Co., 2136 Chamber Center Drive, Fort Mitchell, KY, USA. rt@rmrecycling.com
With more than 80 reported/confirmed accidental melts worldwide since 1983 and still counting, potential contamination by radioactive materials remains as a major concern among recycled scrap and steel companies. Some of these events were catastrophic and have cost the industry millions of dollars in business and, at the same time, resulted in declining consumer confidence. It is also known that more events with confirmed radioactive contamination have occurred that involve mining of old steel slag and skull dumps. Consequently, the steel industry has since undergone massive changes that incurred unprecedented expenses through the installation of radiation monitoring systems in hopes of preventing another accidental melt. Despite such extraordinary efforts, accidental melts continue to occur and plague the industry. One recent reported/confirmed event occurred in the Republic of China in 2004, causing the usual lengthy shutdown for expensive decontamination efforts before the steel mill could resume operations. With this perspective in mind, the metal industry has a long-standing opposition to the release of radioactive materials of any kind to commerce for fear of contamination and the potential consequences.
The reality of radioactive contamination in construction of Taiwan and the treatment concerned
Author;HUANG CHIN-WANG(Chung-yuan Christian Univ., Chung Li City, Twn)
Journal Title;Nippon Genshiryoku Kenkyujo JAERI,Conf
Abstract;It has been more than 50 years since Taiwan started the research on the peace application of radioactivity. During the first 20-30 years, it was found that the radioactive contaminated waste steel from atomic power plants was recycled together with general waste steel and was used to make other products including reinforcing bars. It was because the radiation resources ware not carefully controlled and managed. Since 1982, the radioactive contaminated reinforcing bars and buildings were gradually found, as the radiation dose rates were 5 .MU.Sv/h and 0.5 .MU.Sv/h, respectively. Theradioactive nuclide was all Co-60. By August 2003, 1,626 households, 7,824 people's houses were founded to be radioactive contaminated. Furthermore, radiation dose rates higher than 5 .MU.Sv/h were measured from 264 of those householders. The government has stared to ameliorate this situation and 94.7% of the cases have become normal. The cancer death rate of these people is found to be 0.49% (89 patients in 7,824 people, 39 was dead), and it is 4 times higher than that for general people. In order to solute this pollution problem, the government has made the law to check the radioactivity of all reinforcing bars and to control and manage those radiation resources more carefully. Additionally, there are tax exemption, subsidy, and expropriation with compensation for the polluted buildings. (author abst.)
Radiocesium contamination at a steel plant in Ireland
Author(s)
O'GRADY J. (1) ; HONE C. (1) ; TURVEY F. J. (1) ;
Author(s) Affiliation(s)
(1) Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, 3 Clonskeagh Square, Clonskeagh Road, Dublin 14, IRLANDE
Abstract
Radioactive sources have been inadvertently incorporated into consignments of scrap metal in various locations throughout the world. In 1990, a 3.7 GBq 137Cs source, due for transfer from a Scottish industrial establishment to one in England, was mistakenly included in a scrap consignment destined for Irish Steel, a metal recycling plant in County Cork in the Republic of Ireland. Unaware of the presence of the source, Irish Steel smelted this consignment in the usual manner. This involved separation of some non-ferrous materials which were then exported, in pellet form, to Pasminco Europe (now Britannia Zinc Ltd.) in Avonmouth, U.K. The presence of 137Cs contamination in these pellets was detected by the U.K. company in the course of a routine radiation survey. Irish Steel carried out extensive decontamination of its plant, placing the contaminated dust in secure storage. The company has equipped itself with radiation detection devices which monitor incoming scrap. Outgoing products and furnace dust are also monitored on a routine basis. While this incident was of negligible radiological significance as far as personnel were concerned, the financial costs to Irish Steel have been substantial. It highlights the need for surveillance, by national competent authorities, of the movement of radioactive sources from production through use to final disposal.
Journal Title
Health physics ISSN 0017-9078 CODEN HLTPAO
Source
Congrès
Annual Meeting of The Japan Health Physics Society No30 , JAPON (23/05/1995)
1996, vol. 70, no 4, pp. 583-586 (4 ref.), pp. 568-572
El Cobalto
Susan Combs, Texas Comptroller • Window on State Government
An estimated 300 curies of radioactive cobalt found their way to the two Mexican foundries, one of which manufactured metal table legs for shipment to the largest distributor of restaurant tables in the U.S., while the other produced steel rods used in the reinforcement of concrete building projects. About 600 tons of the contaminated steel were shipped to the U.S. from December 1983 to January 1984.
Then, on January 17, 1984, a radiation alarm went off when a delivery truck took a wrong turn near the gates of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Later in the month, a different truck--this one transporting table legs--set off a radiation monitor in an Illinois State Police officer's patrol car.
Authorities eventually traced the radioactivity to the Juarez junkyard, where tests established that the capsule had been delivered on or before December 6--a date fixed with certainty because all paperwork generated at the site after that date turned out to be radioactive. Authorities immediately closed the junkyard and impounded Sotelo's pick-up. It took another two months to mop up the Jonke Fénix and track down the contaminated table legs and rebar steel at sites in Canada, Mexico, and 23 different U.S. states, including Texas.
Mexican health officials also ordered the demolition of 109 houses built with reinforcing rods containing the radioactive material in the western state of Sinaloa. Because pellets might have fallen anywhere on the roads between Chihuahua and Juarez, officials flew over the area in a special reconnaissance helicopter on loan from the U.S. Department of Energy. They found 22 radioactive sites and actually dug eight pellets out of the highway asphalt. And to prevent any more tainted steel from entering the U.S., the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Customs Service officials installed radiation monitors at all border crossings.
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 26, 2009
Radioactive contamination in steel: a wake-up call
Regulatory authorities have identified Indian steel products contaminated with cobalt-60 in the U.S., Germany, France and Sweden. The events occurred at disturbingly high rates.
“Overall, 123 shipments of contaminated goods have been denied entry to U.S. ports since screening began in 2003, according to Homeland Security data.
Of those, 67 originated in India, 23 came from China and 20 were from Canada” (The Los Angeles Times, November 13, 2008). We cannot ignore this wake-up call.
150 incidents
In the last three years, out of the 500 incidents, involving uncontrolled radiation sources, which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came to know, 150 were related to sources found in scrap metal or contaminated goods.
The finding in Germany is attracting more attention. On August 19, last year customs officers identified a container of contaminated stainless steel bars from India on way to Russia. They ordered that the container be put back on the ship immediately and be sent back to India (SPIEGEL ONLINE, February 16).
There were several such findings later; The German Environment Ministry received 19 findings which included radioactive bars, steel cables, chippings and valve housings from 12 states. SPIEGEL reported that a total of 150 tons of contaminated steel has been seized.
Some of it, about 85 tons, according to a reliable source, have been sent back to India. Rest of it remains in Germany pending a decision on its safe disposal.
One of the possible practices is to use the items depending on their radiation levels in fencing or in bridges where the occupancy is less.
Imported metal scrap
After a thorough survey, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) concluded that the steel products in the recent incidents were made out of imported metal scrap which contained radioactive material. India imports more than 80 per cent of stainless steel metal scrap for recycling in the steel industry. Also most of the contaminated material was exported.
The health consequences from these products were negligible, as the radiation levels were low. But the presence of even low radiation levels is not desirable.
We do not have any estimate of the humongous economic losses including loss of business suffered by the industry. In some instances, the defaulters had to ship back the rejected material for safe disposal.
In spite of regulatory control, radioactive sources get lost occasionally. These may be melted along with other metal scrap. The steel products include handle bars, manhole covers, metal straps, steel wires, lift buttons, metal strips used in leather bags etc.
Sources licensed for use in India are unlikely to get into metal scrap, because of regulatory measures in place. However since there were a few instances of loss of control of sources, there is no room for complacency.
Presently, we have no firm assurance that contaminated imported scrap will not enter the country. Several measures including the plan to install radiation monitors at shipping ports through which bulk of the imported scrap metals enter the country must be implemented swiftly.
Precautions
Every importer of metal scrap should obtain a certificate from the exporting country that the scrap is free from radioactivity. A multilayer radiation check system proposed by AERB should be followed to prevent the import and export of radioactive contaminated material.
During this week, over 300 specialists from 62 countries including India are attending a five day International Conference on Control and Management of Inadvertent Radioactive Material in Scrap Metal, organized by the IAEA at Tarragona, Spain. The delegates asserted “that further steps are needed to protect people from radioactive material that can end up in junks and scrap yards,” (IAEA release, Feb 23).
All agencies must wake up before it is too late. Not long ago, explosion of live shells in imported metal scraps led to loss of life in India. Import of scrap laced with high levels of radioactivity is a possibility we must be concerned with.
K.S. PARTHASARATHY
FORMER SECRETARY, AERB
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube
While I am working on adding updates I thought that this might be of use to some people so I will post it.
Thanks, Ed
February 2009
Is your facility prepared for handling metals that may be radioactive?
Attached are a number of recent articles talking about the impact of radioactive scrap being mixed with common steel and stainless steel products. While all American steel producers have tight monitoring programs to assure against such an accident the same is not true in other parts of the world.
1. Do you know where your metal is melted and processed?
2. Do you know what the practices of the metal producer are?
3. Do you know what he allowed limits for radioactivity in metals are?
4. Do you have a system in place for checking incoming metals from foreign sources?
I can relate personal experience that many fabrication and machine shops in India and China have hand held radiation meters that they use for checking incoming raw materials.
If you are getting products from the same sources that they are, perhaps the same cautions would be wise.
From WTO, iron and scrap rules:
Iron and steel scraps should be complied with the following requirements:
1. The radioactive material should not be mingled with iron and steel scraps.
The radioactive pollution of scrap material should be subject to the following requirements:
The penetrating radiation of external exposure of iron and steel scraps should not be greater than 0.46μ sv/h;
the detecting value for αsurface radioactive contamination band of iron and steel scraps should not exceed 0.04Bq/cm2; the detecting value for β surface radioactive contamination band should not exceed 0.4Bq/cm2;
the specific activity for radionuclide of iron and steel scraps should not exceed the limits specified in GB16487.6.
Rules in Taiwan
Midstream: Radiation Inspection Control on 19 Domestic Steel Proprietors Owning Smelting Furnace in Taiwan
1. Steel proprietors radiation measurement operations are reviewed and approved by AEC and are issued certificates such that they can issue roof of absence of radioactive contamination for their products.
2. Steel proprietors with smelting furnace have all installed portal-type radiation detector so as to effectively prevent the possibility of mal-smelting of radioactive sources.
3. Hand-held radiation equipment and automatic vehicle radiation measurement system of the steel proprietors shall be routinely calibrated, their warning system function shall be routinely tested, and, through AEC-accredited radiation protection measurement operators, functional tests shall be executed and subsequent records shall be made.
4. Management of the radiation measurement operation of steel makers shall be routinely entrusted to AEC-accredited radiation protection measurement operators and audited by them. The results shall be recorded and kept for future inspection by AEC.
5. On discovering abnormal radiation-level materials, steel proprietors shall isolate them and measure the radiation level within the shortest time. If the radiation dose rate exceeds 20 繕Sv/hr, the steel proprietor shall report to AEC immediately.
Radioactive contamination of manufactured products.
Lubenau JO, Nussbaumer DA.
Cases of inadvertent radioactive contamination of manufactured articles have occurred sporadically in the past and bore little relationship to each other. Since 1983, however, seven instances have occurred of accidental radioactive contamination of steel either manufactured in or imported into the United States. Five of the contamination events went unrecognized by the mill operators and were discovered by others through radiation monitoring conducted for other unrelated purposes. Impacts have included costs to mill operators in the United States for decontaminating their steel plants which have ranged from $50,000 to more than $2,200,000. The states, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the private sector have taken steps to further assess the scope of the problem and to improve responses when such incidents occur.
Scrap metals industry perspective on radioactive materials.
Turner R.
River Metal Recycling, LLC/The David J. Joseph Co., 2136 Chamber Center Drive, Fort Mitchell, KY, USA. rt@rmrecycling.com
With more than 80 reported/confirmed accidental melts worldwide since 1983 and still counting, potential contamination by radioactive materials remains as a major concern among recycled scrap and steel companies. Some of these events were catastrophic and have cost the industry millions of dollars in business and, at the same time, resulted in declining consumer confidence. It is also known that more events with confirmed radioactive contamination have occurred that involve mining of old steel slag and skull dumps. Consequently, the steel industry has since undergone massive changes that incurred unprecedented expenses through the installation of radiation monitoring systems in hopes of preventing another accidental melt. Despite such extraordinary efforts, accidental melts continue to occur and plague the industry. One recent reported/confirmed event occurred in the Republic of China in 2004, causing the usual lengthy shutdown for expensive decontamination efforts before the steel mill could resume operations. With this perspective in mind, the metal industry has a long-standing opposition to the release of radioactive materials of any kind to commerce for fear of contamination and the potential consequences.
The reality of radioactive contamination in construction of Taiwan and the treatment concerned
Author;HUANG CHIN-WANG(Chung-yuan Christian Univ., Chung Li City, Twn)
Journal Title;Nippon Genshiryoku Kenkyujo JAERI,Conf
Abstract;It has been more than 50 years since Taiwan started the research on the peace application of radioactivity. During the first 20-30 years, it was found that the radioactive contaminated waste steel from atomic power plants was recycled together with general waste steel and was used to make other products including reinforcing bars. It was because the radiation resources ware not carefully controlled and managed. Since 1982, the radioactive contaminated reinforcing bars and buildings were gradually found, as the radiation dose rates were 5 .MU.Sv/h and 0.5 .MU.Sv/h, respectively. Theradioactive nuclide was all Co-60. By August 2003, 1,626 households, 7,824 people's houses were founded to be radioactive contaminated. Furthermore, radiation dose rates higher than 5 .MU.Sv/h were measured from 264 of those householders. The government has stared to ameliorate this situation and 94.7% of the cases have become normal. The cancer death rate of these people is found to be 0.49% (89 patients in 7,824 people, 39 was dead), and it is 4 times higher than that for general people. In order to solute this pollution problem, the government has made the law to check the radioactivity of all reinforcing bars and to control and manage those radiation resources more carefully. Additionally, there are tax exemption, subsidy, and expropriation with compensation for the polluted buildings. (author abst.)
Radiocesium contamination at a steel plant in Ireland
Author(s)
O'GRADY J. (1) ; HONE C. (1) ; TURVEY F. J. (1) ;
Author(s) Affiliation(s)
(1) Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, 3 Clonskeagh Square, Clonskeagh Road, Dublin 14, IRLANDE
Abstract
Radioactive sources have been inadvertently incorporated into consignments of scrap metal in various locations throughout the world. In 1990, a 3.7 GBq 137Cs source, due for transfer from a Scottish industrial establishment to one in England, was mistakenly included in a scrap consignment destined for Irish Steel, a metal recycling plant in County Cork in the Republic of Ireland. Unaware of the presence of the source, Irish Steel smelted this consignment in the usual manner. This involved separation of some non-ferrous materials which were then exported, in pellet form, to Pasminco Europe (now Britannia Zinc Ltd.) in Avonmouth, U.K. The presence of 137Cs contamination in these pellets was detected by the U.K. company in the course of a routine radiation survey. Irish Steel carried out extensive decontamination of its plant, placing the contaminated dust in secure storage. The company has equipped itself with radiation detection devices which monitor incoming scrap. Outgoing products and furnace dust are also monitored on a routine basis. While this incident was of negligible radiological significance as far as personnel were concerned, the financial costs to Irish Steel have been substantial. It highlights the need for surveillance, by national competent authorities, of the movement of radioactive sources from production through use to final disposal.
Journal Title
Health physics ISSN 0017-9078 CODEN HLTPAO
Source
Congrès
Annual Meeting of The Japan Health Physics Society No30 , JAPON (23/05/1995)
1996, vol. 70, no 4, pp. 583-586 (4 ref.), pp. 568-572
El Cobalto
Susan Combs, Texas Comptroller • Window on State Government
An estimated 300 curies of radioactive cobalt found their way to the two Mexican foundries, one of which manufactured metal table legs for shipment to the largest distributor of restaurant tables in the U.S., while the other produced steel rods used in the reinforcement of concrete building projects. About 600 tons of the contaminated steel were shipped to the U.S. from December 1983 to January 1984.
Then, on January 17, 1984, a radiation alarm went off when a delivery truck took a wrong turn near the gates of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Later in the month, a different truck--this one transporting table legs--set off a radiation monitor in an Illinois State Police officer's patrol car.
Authorities eventually traced the radioactivity to the Juarez junkyard, where tests established that the capsule had been delivered on or before December 6--a date fixed with certainty because all paperwork generated at the site after that date turned out to be radioactive. Authorities immediately closed the junkyard and impounded Sotelo's pick-up. It took another two months to mop up the Jonke Fénix and track down the contaminated table legs and rebar steel at sites in Canada, Mexico, and 23 different U.S. states, including Texas.
Mexican health officials also ordered the demolition of 109 houses built with reinforcing rods containing the radioactive material in the western state of Sinaloa. Because pellets might have fallen anywhere on the roads between Chihuahua and Juarez, officials flew over the area in a special reconnaissance helicopter on loan from the U.S. Department of Energy. They found 22 radioactive sites and actually dug eight pellets out of the highway asphalt. And to prevent any more tainted steel from entering the U.S., the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Customs Service officials installed radiation monitors at all border crossings.
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 26, 2009
Radioactive contamination in steel: a wake-up call
Regulatory authorities have identified Indian steel products contaminated with cobalt-60 in the U.S., Germany, France and Sweden. The events occurred at disturbingly high rates.
“Overall, 123 shipments of contaminated goods have been denied entry to U.S. ports since screening began in 2003, according to Homeland Security data.
Of those, 67 originated in India, 23 came from China and 20 were from Canada” (The Los Angeles Times, November 13, 2008). We cannot ignore this wake-up call.
150 incidents
In the last three years, out of the 500 incidents, involving uncontrolled radiation sources, which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came to know, 150 were related to sources found in scrap metal or contaminated goods.
The finding in Germany is attracting more attention. On August 19, last year customs officers identified a container of contaminated stainless steel bars from India on way to Russia. They ordered that the container be put back on the ship immediately and be sent back to India (SPIEGEL ONLINE, February 16).
There were several such findings later; The German Environment Ministry received 19 findings which included radioactive bars, steel cables, chippings and valve housings from 12 states. SPIEGEL reported that a total of 150 tons of contaminated steel has been seized.
Some of it, about 85 tons, according to a reliable source, have been sent back to India. Rest of it remains in Germany pending a decision on its safe disposal.
One of the possible practices is to use the items depending on their radiation levels in fencing or in bridges where the occupancy is less.
Imported metal scrap
After a thorough survey, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) concluded that the steel products in the recent incidents were made out of imported metal scrap which contained radioactive material. India imports more than 80 per cent of stainless steel metal scrap for recycling in the steel industry. Also most of the contaminated material was exported.
The health consequences from these products were negligible, as the radiation levels were low. But the presence of even low radiation levels is not desirable.
We do not have any estimate of the humongous economic losses including loss of business suffered by the industry. In some instances, the defaulters had to ship back the rejected material for safe disposal.
In spite of regulatory control, radioactive sources get lost occasionally. These may be melted along with other metal scrap. The steel products include handle bars, manhole covers, metal straps, steel wires, lift buttons, metal strips used in leather bags etc.
Sources licensed for use in India are unlikely to get into metal scrap, because of regulatory measures in place. However since there were a few instances of loss of control of sources, there is no room for complacency.
Presently, we have no firm assurance that contaminated imported scrap will not enter the country. Several measures including the plan to install radiation monitors at shipping ports through which bulk of the imported scrap metals enter the country must be implemented swiftly.
Precautions
Every importer of metal scrap should obtain a certificate from the exporting country that the scrap is free from radioactivity. A multilayer radiation check system proposed by AERB should be followed to prevent the import and export of radioactive contaminated material.
During this week, over 300 specialists from 62 countries including India are attending a five day International Conference on Control and Management of Inadvertent Radioactive Material in Scrap Metal, organized by the IAEA at Tarragona, Spain. The delegates asserted “that further steps are needed to protect people from radioactive material that can end up in junks and scrap yards,” (IAEA release, Feb 23).
All agencies must wake up before it is too late. Not long ago, explosion of live shells in imported metal scraps led to loss of life in India. Import of scrap laced with high levels of radioactivity is a possibility we must be concerned with.
K.S. PARTHASARATHY
FORMER SECRETARY, AERB
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube
