Control and Management of Radioactive Material Inadvertently Incorporated into Scrap Metal. Proceedings of an International Conference. Additional CD

Radioactive substances can become associated with scrap metal in various ways and if not discovered they can be incorporated into steel and non-ferrous metals through the melting process. This can cause health hazards as well as environmental concerns and there can be serious commercial implications. Numerous incidents have occurred in recent years involving the discovery of radioactive substances in scrap metal and, in some cases, in metal from the melting process. These incidents have proved to be very costly in relation to the recovery and cleanup operations required but also in terms of the potential loss of confidence of the industry in scrap metal as a resource. This has led the scrap metal industry to seek ways of managing the problem. In most countries, shipments of scrap metal are monitored but at different points in the distribution chain and to different extents and efficiencies. As yet, only limited efforts towards unifying and harmonizing monitoring strategies and methods in the context of scrap metal have been made at the international level. The Conference was organized into five sessions: the global perspective, national policies and strategies, compliance with radiological criteria, management of incidents with contaminated scrap metal, and improving confidence and protecting the interests of stakeholders. The aim of the first session was to present the views and perspectives of the different organizations concerned with radioactive material in scrap metal, scrap metal recycling, steel making, radiation source security and safety and international trade and economics. The second session covered some of the national policies and strategies being used to address the control of radioactive material that has been inadvertently incorporated into scrap metal were presented. In addition to the oral presentations, contributions describing the situation in many countries of the world in the form of posters were displayed. The many posters reporting national measures being used to control radioactive material in metal scrap at the conference served to indicate the global extent of the problem. In the third session, international criteria relevant to the release of metals from regulatory control were presented. Methods for ensuring compliance with the criteria and for detecting radioactive materials in scrap metal were also discussed. A number of incidents and experiences with scrap metal containing radioactive material were described in the fourth session. These presentations illustrated the wide range of monitoring being used in different countries. Since the scrap metal industry is truly global, with loads moving between most countries, these differences in the level and extent of monitoring help explain the continuing problems with radioactive material in scrap metal. The final session of the conference focused on public perception. The public, in most countries, is concerned about the hazards of ionising radiation and when there is a risk that radioactive material can be present, for example, in metal products. The session contained presentations on the views of the recycling industry, of a national regulator, of an expert in risk perception and communication and of a journalist. This CD-ROM contains the PowerPoint presentations