RE: AW: DOE still trying to dump contaminated nickel

[Susan L Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

Franz asked:



> Can anybody enlighten me, of what kind the radioactive contamination is? The

> only contamination I can think of would be uranium isotopes. It should not

> be too difficult to recycle it and to separate the uranium from the nickel.

> As a chemist I know, that nickel and uranium behave chemically quite

> differently.



At Oak Ridge the contamination is primarily uranium; there are also

minor amounts of technicium-99 and possibly traces of transuranics.  The

Citizens' Advisory Panel of the Local Oversight Committee (LOC)

researched the original recycling method and the verification process in

depth and is satisfied that nickel can be recycled with only

insignificant amounts of radionuclides remaining.  



When the process was initially proposed, the Tennessee Division of

Radiological Health modeled the dose from a prosthetic hip made from the

recycled nickel and specified a very conservative release level based on

that.  The recycling subcontractor at the time, Manufacturing Sciences

Corp, had no trouble meeting that level. 



Difficulties arose from the political perspective because the state's

permit was for volumetric contamination, while the pertinent NRC

regulations dealt only with surface contamination.  The process deals

with volumetric contamination because the nickel is from the barriers in

the gaseous diffusion process, and they must be melted to protect the

top secret design and form of the nickel.



The LOC would like to see recycling resume.  There is no health-based

justification for the current moratorium, and the process will help fund

the environmental cleanup and divert a valuable resource from being

disposed of as low-level waste.



Susan

-- 

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

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

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

102 Robertsville Road, Suite B, Oak Ridge, TN 37830

Toll free 888-770-3073 ~ www.local-oversight.org

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

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