Radioactivity in municipal sewage

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

The federal government Interagency Steering Committee on
Radiation Standards (ISCORS) Sludge Subcommittee has released a draft
guidance document that addresses radioactivity in municipal sewage
sludge and ash. The intended audience is the operator of a municipal
sewage treatment plant (or POTW) that may have reason to believe that
radioactive materials, either naturally occurring or man-made, may be 
reconcentrated in the sludge or in the ash residue from sludge
incineration. The draft guidance is available on
the ISCORS web site at http://www.iscors.org/sewage.htm. Comments will
be accepted on this draft through October 13, 2000. 

Specifically, the draft report (45 pages plus about 30 pages of
appendices) is in a PDF file at
http://www.iscors.org/sewageguidance06-2000.pdf. A colleague reports
that the dominant concern addressed in the report seems to be natural
radioactivity (mostly radium) that gets concentrated in sewage sludge.
Man-made radioactivity seems to be a relatively minor concern.
-- 
==================================================
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 
==================================================
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html