Energy Dept. May Recycle Nuke Metal

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@ICX.NET>]

>From Sandy's news posting: 

> Watchdog groups said Wednesday they were disappointed to learn the agency was 

> considering modifying the ban before its own study is completed.



And other "watchdog" groups, such as the Local Oversight Committee,

would be pleased to see this ban lifted.  Again, the ban was a result of

the "fear factor" of radiation, not from any scientific or medical

evidence that the decontaminated recycled metal was harmful in any way.



> Critics say all metals 

> from nuclear sites should be treated as radioactive waste because of the difficulty in 

> ensuring they are uncontaminated. 



In fact, the multistep independent verification process worked very

well.  Recycling of the high-value metals (nickel, copper) is

worthwhile, but recycling of steel depends completely on market

prices--most any steel thought to be contaminated is disposed of as

waste rather than investing manhours into decontamination and

verification.



> The steel industry also complained that recycling the 

> scrap could create a perception of that American steel was somehow corrupted and 

> could lead to a glut on the steel market.



The steel is not the issue--the metals markets don't want the huge

quantities of nickel from the Oak Ridge gaseous diffusion plant to drive

down the prices.  I haven't heard any complaints about the legally

recycled radioactive metals from the nuclear power industry or those

that are imported as consumer products from overseas.



If DOE is looking for a way to make D&D more competitive, then

offsetting the cost by recycling decontaminated metal (instead of paying

to dispose of it) makes a lot of sense.



I expect that there will be an Environmental Impact Statement regarding

this issue early in the new year.  Stay tuned.



Susan

-- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

Please visit our Web site - http://www.local-oversight.org

.....................................................

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