MSC nickel recycling is sound

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

RadSafers:

The following article from today's Oak Ridger reports on the
presentation by Joelle Key (HP with TDEC's DRH) at my organization's
Citizens' Advisory Panel meeting last night.  In my opinion, Larisa
Brass does a great job of reporting the difficult DOE issues.  Kudos to
this member of the press.

--Susan Gawarecki

November 10, 1999 - MSC nickel recycling is sound--State health
physicist explains process to LOC

by Larisa Brass, Oak Ridger staff

When nickel from the K-25 plant leaves Oak Ridge for recycling, it will
be
just as safe as other metals leaving the site, according to the state
health physicist who studied the process. Probably safer, she said.

Joelle Key, with the Tennessee Department of Environment and
Conservation,
spoke to the Local Oversight Committee's Citizens' Advisory Panel
Tuesday
evening.

Key did much of the research into a method Manufacturing Sciences Corp.
has
developed for processing about six tons of radioactively contaminated
nickel recovered from three large buildings at the Oak Ridge K-25 site.
The
state has approved the company's plan to decontaminate the nickel.

The decision has drawn criticism from a local union and several U.S.
Congressmen. While many companies across the country recycle metal with
radioactive contamination, most of it is surface contamination.

The current controversy has risen because the nickel will be
volumetrically
contaminated. That is, the contamination will be spread throughout the
metal.

Critics say, because there are no accepted regulations to guide the
process, everything from forks and spoons to children's braces could be
made from the nickel and expose unknowing consumers to radiation.

After the state approved MSC's process in August, Rep. John Dingell,
D-Mich., and Rep. Ron Klink, D-Pa., wrote a letter to Energy Secretary
Bill
Richardson, saying the approval set an unwarranted precedent for other
states and could be illegal.

Last month, Dingell, Klink and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., wrote a letter
to
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, making similar allegations. The
Congressmen also included a list of 45 questions for the NRC to answer
regarding Tennessee's decision.

"We are asking for an immediate investigation of the license and an
expeditious response to the undersigned to the attached questions so
that
we may further review its legality," the letter said.

According to the letter, Tennessee has violated the NRC's regulations in
granting a permit for MSC's process.

So far, according to Key, the NRC has been supportive of the state's
decision. The agency sent a letter back in defense of TDEC, saying the
state had not violated any laws or agreements, she said.

And the state's approval is not a first, she said. Other states,
including
California, have permitted the release of volumetrically contaminated
metal
for recycling.

And, said Key, state officials did not approve MSC's license without
making
sure the process was a safe one.

The problem is, she said, no federal regulations exist for either
surface
or volumetrically contaminated metal. The NRC has a suggested guideline
for
surface contamination, however. According to the agency, the product
should
expose people to no more than 10 millirems of radiation per year. This
guideline is known as the 1.86 rule, named after the guidance document.

Each person receives approximately 100 millirems of radiation per year
from
natural background levels. For instance, a person receives background
radiation from the ground or a spouse.

So, in evaluating MSC's operation, the state required the company to
achieve the 1.86 limit for the volumetrically contaminated nickel, said
Key.

She determined that the process would achieve that, she said, by
calculating how thick a piece of volumetrically contaminated metal would
have to be to achieve the same release limit as a piece of metal with
surface contamination.

The metal would need to be at least one-fourth inch thick to meet the
guideline, said Key. MSC's process will meet that criteria in metal one
inch thick or thicker, she said.

To purify the metal, MSC will send liquid nickel through a barrier, to
sift
out as much technetium as possible. Then the liquid metal will go
through a
purification process to further reduce the levels of contamination, Key
said.

"It's a very standard technique," she said, "they were just applying it
to
something different. We wanted them to show that it compared favorably
against the 1.86."

The company will also run tests on the metals for other radioactive
isotopes.

In a worst case scenario, such as a hip replacement where the metal
would
be located inside the body and be subject to wear and tear, said Key, a
person would receive less than one millirem of radiation per year.

"We actually felt like by having (the radioactivity) within the
material,"
she said, "we were moving into a safer situation."

The company has done test runs in both a lab and table-top version of
the
operation. One test has been run on full-scale equipment, said Key. The
company must demonstrate to the state that its process actually works,
she
said. Plans call for the first shipment of nickel to be ready for
release
by late next year.

The recycling debate has also raised questions about why the state
didn't
involve the public in the permitting process.

"The department is in the process of looking at public participation,"
said
Key. "I don't know how that will affect our department."

Ideally, she said, national regulations would be set up to guide states
in
permitting companies to recycle both volumetrically and surface
contaminated metal.

"I would like to see us move to something a little more routine," said
Key.

Health physicists have gotten themselves in trouble by establishing
"no-threshold limits," she said. They ignore the fact that radiation is
all
around us, she said. "We refuse to say that anything is safe."
-- 
==================================================
Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee, Inc.
136 S Illinois Ave, Ste 208, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Please note new area code:
Phone (865) 483-1333; Fax (865) 482-6572; E-mail loc@icx.net
OCTOBER INSIGHTS CAN BE FOUND AT: http://www.local-oversight.org
==================================================
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