Use of natural radionuclides to determine the time range of the accidental melting of an orphan radioactive source in a steel recycling plant

In the rare event that an orphan radioactive source is melted in an Electric Arc Furnace steel recycling plant, the radionuclides present are partitioned in the different products, by-products and waste. As a consequence of an unforeseen melting of a radiocesium source, cesium radioisotopes can be found in the dust, together with many natural radionuclides from the decay of radon and thoron, which are present in the atmosphere, picked up from the off-gas evacuation system and associated with the dust of the air filtration system ("baghouse"). In this work we verified that the activity concentration of 212Pb in this dust is essentially constant in a specific factory so that it is possible to use it to date back to the time of the accidental melting of the orphan radioactive source. The main features of this method are described below, together with the application to a particular case in which this method was used for dating the moment in which the dust was contaminated with 137Cs. - Highlights: ► We studied the content of natural radionuclides in dust produced in steel production. ► In the dust we found 212Pb non supported by the presence of 232Th and its decay chain. ► We used the content of 212Pb in the dust to date the time of dust production. ► This method was used to date the time of the melting of an orphan source of 137Cs.