Re: Energy Dept. Halts Contaminated Nickel Sale

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

There were some questions regarding the metal in question.  I hope the
summary below helps RadSafers understand the situation.

Nickel is the metal used for the barriers in the gaseous diffusion
process--basically these are giant sieves with very small holes that
U-235 can pass easily through and U-238 slightly less easily (in the
form of uranium hexaflouride). Thousands of these barriers were placed
in series within the huge
gaseous diffusion plants at K-25.  Their design is classified, hence in
order to recycle the nickel, it must be removed in a form that won't
allow reverse engineering of the barriers (we must protect 50-year old
technology!). The only reasonable way to accomplish this is by melting
down the units.  Of course, uranium (and possibly Tc-99 and minor
amounts of transuranics) has lodged in the pores of the barriers, so you
end up with volumetric contamination in the ingots. 

Manufacturing Sciences Corp. (MSC), under contract to BNFL, plans to
apply
a known process for metal purification to this new situation, and there
is an Independent Verification Organization created by the DOE and
overseen by the Tenn. Dept. of Environment & Conservation DOE Oversight
Division that monitors all work involving free release of decontaminated
materials.  The main reason that this has become a media circus is that
the
primary contractor, BNFL, signed a labor agreement with a different
union than the one that tradionally worked on site, so the spurned union
decided to try and kill the project altogether, using the weight of
public opinion.  So far, this has turned out to be a great (one-sided)
story for the media.  

In granting MSC a state permit, Tenn. Div. of Radiological Health
evaluated the "worst case" scenario for risk--a hip replacement using a
nickel alloy from the site--still no appreciable exposure.  The levels
that would be allowable under the permit were derived from a given
geometry of metal that would have had allowable residual surface
contamination under current NRC standards, that metal then being melted
into an ingot.

What the media doesn't tell you is that metal with residual surface
contamination has been allowed to be released under NRC standards for
decades. Steel and other metals have been in the recycling stream, as
have metal products from other countries with less stringent standards. 
MSC's original plan was to take that nickel, clean it to the less
stringent volumetric standards accepted in Europe, and market it
overseas.  Tenn. DRH was actually being MORE protective of human health
by issuing the permit for the levels they had calculated and modeled.

The value of the nickel is estimated to be $50 million.  This was part
of a deal with BNFL to offset the cost of decontaminating the gaseous
diffusion facilities.  Now that action is jeapordized because the
contract will need to be renegotiated. This will cause local job losses,
delay the cleanup significantly (as well as the plan to market the
decontaminated building to a major industry--it is 2-stories tall and
built to exceptional structural standards), impact the DOE's budget, and
hurt a local economy already suffering from years of budget cuts and
layoffs.  And Secretary Richardson's action won't make any difference
with respect to protecting public health or the interests of the metals
industry.

This is my opinion only, based on my inquiries into the situation.

Susan Gawarecki
-- 
==================================================
Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee, Inc.
136 S Illinois Ave, Ste 208, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Phone (865) 483-1333; Fax (865) 482-6572; E-mail loc@icx.net 
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