Control of orphan sources. Import to and transport through Slovenia

Orphan sources are radioactive sources which are not under regulatory control, either because they have never been under regulatory control, or because they have been abandoned, lost, misplaced, stolen or transferred without proper authorisation. The issue of orphan sources is not a new one but the situation has been highlighted more and more in the last ten years. One of the most important international milestones in this regard was the conference in Dijon, France in 1998. The orphan sources have become an international problem due to steady increase in international trade which made impossible to control every transfer of goods between countries. Shipments of metal scrap, either national or international, could comprise orphan sources which had come into metal stream. The consequences of such events vary greatly: from contaminated metal just above exemption levels to a melting of volatile radionuclides of significant activity which may cause enormous remediation costs. In addition, the phenomenon of deliberate abuse of nuclear material and radioactive material or previous accidents with found orphan sources worldwide and fatalities have made this issue even more provoking. In Slovenia, no such drastic events have occurred so far. Since 1991 there have been a few meltings of cobalt-60 sources with only economic impact. On several occasions, Italy - the country with strict import control - has detected elevated radiation and denied shipments of scrap metal. They had originated either from Slovenia or from other countries, mostly from former Yugoslav republics. The Slovenian experience shows that majority of cases is related to import of scrap metal in Slovenia or to transit of such material through Slovenia. These orphan sources have originated from past industrial activities or have been under no or weak regulatory control in their countries of origin. In order to prevent inadvertent movement and illicit trafficking of nuclear material and radioactive sources some radiation detection equipment has been deployed since 2002. Also some training has been implemented and appropriate procedures for response of customs and police officers and other subjects have been adopted. Larger scrap metal collectors and recyclers have also installed some portal monitors and/or have used different kinds of hand-held radiation detection equipment protecting their economic interest and health of the workers. In 2005 a Joint Working Group was established by the Slovenian Government and asked to more effectively address the challenge of contaminated scrap metal shipments. A new decree on control of scrap metal shipments to and through Slovenia has been prepared. A basic idea of this governmental decree is that every shipment of scrap metal with its final destination in Slovenia shall be subjected to radioactivity measurement. (author)