RE: radioactive material releases

[Craig Reed <CReed@novoste.com>]

To Mike's question:

At (just) K-25 Site in Oak Ridge*:
7,900 tons of aluminum
7,900 tons of copper
79,000 of carbon steeel
11,000 tons of nickel
7,700 (large) motors 

I believe your K-40 estimate of 7.5 Ci will finish a distant second
place to the extrapolation of the Min Detectable Concentration/Activity
to the above mass.  But I expect the BFI (Banana Fraction of Intake)
will exceed the MFI's (Metals Fraction Intake).     

*Source: K/ER-316/V2. Issued 12/96 and approved for release to the
public on 12/4/96.

Craig Reed
creed@novoste.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Stabin [mailto:stabin@npd.ufpe.br]
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2000 12:17 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: radioactive material releases


> At 09:27 PM 01/25/2000 -0600, Jim Muckerheide wrote:
> >> > Presently, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in the
process
> >> > of legalizing the "release" or "clearance" of radioactive
materials
from
> >> > licensed, regulated control into raw materials, building supplies
and
any
> >> > other items that are sold to New York consumers. We fully support
the
> >> > introduction of radioactive scrap metal into commerce without any
> >> > consumer notification ....

Otto Raabe repiled:
> It seems to me we should be refering to "very slightly radioactive
> materials" and "scrap metal whose radioactive content is well within
safe
> limits".

I agree with Otto here.  Does anyone have an idea of how much actual
activity we are talking about, on an annual basis?  Carol Marcus and I
did a
little analysis some years back, and found that grocery stores in the US
are
permitting uncontrolled releases (with no consumer notification) of the
order of 7.5 *curies* of radioactivity (K-40) per year, in bananas alone
(there are other foodstuffs high in potassium whose contributions could
be
added).  I would just be curious to know how the two numbers compared.


Michael Stabin, PhD, CHP
Departamento de Energia Nuclear/UFPE
Av. Prof. Luiz Freire, 1000 - Cidade Universitaria
CEP 50740 - 540
Recife - PE
Brazil
Phone 55-81-271-8251 or 8252 or 8253
Fax  55-81-271-8250
E-mail stabin@npd.ufpe.br

"Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of"
- Steven Wright



************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html