damn, is that where i left that rod?

[Guest guest]

March 14, 2002

 

Did Anyone Lose a Cesium Rod? Disaster Narrowly Averted in Taiwan Incident

 

Meanwhile, U.S. Government Intentionally Releasing Radioactive Materials Into

Market

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A recent incident in Taiwan, in which a 62-pound rod of

cesium was pulled from a pile of scrap metal prior to being melted in a steel

works furnace, is yet another sign that nuclear materials and waste are being

handled improperly and that nuclear regulatory agencies are not safeguarding the

public, Public Citizen said today.

 

Further, the incident should be noted by U.S. government agencies charged with

regulating nuclear waste, because they are now attempting to introduce

additional radiation sources into consumer products and the environment by

permitting radioactive waste to be recycled, Public Citizen said.

 

Wednesday's Taipei Times reported that the cesium rod, which was highly

radioactive, was discovered mixed with non-radioactive metal scraps on a truck

at a steel foundry that operates a melting furnace. Taiwan officials said they

didn't know where the rod came from.

 

Had the rod been melted in the foundry's furnace, there would have been an

extremely hazardous radioactive emission, creating an immediate health hazard

and seriously polluting the environment. The cesium rod emitted more than 270

times the radiation per hour than recommended by the International Commission on

Radiation Protection.

 

Similar incidents in the United States have not always had such a fortunate

ending. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported that at

least 26 accidental meltings of radioactive material have occurred in the United

States since 1983. This number accounts for more than half of the 49

accidental meltings worldwide that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

had tallied as of 1998.

 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is notified of approximately 200

lost or stolen radioactive sources each year. While some radioactive materials

are found in or near scrap yards, metal foundries, factories or recycling

facilities, others are handled unknowingly by non-nuclear workers or even sold

in stores. In the United States in the past six months:

 

· A foreign shipment of iridium, delivered from overseas by standard couriers

and with no detection by the U.S. Customs Service, arrived in New Orleans by

truck before it was determined that the package was leaking high doses of

radiation.

· Radioactive tools were stolen from a Utah nuclear waste facility and sold to

at least one local pawn shop. The pawn shop was unaware that the tools were

radioactive and subsequently sold the tools to a third party. Some of the

tools are still missing.

· The U.S. Army detected cesium-137 and cobalt-60 throughout a wooded area

within the city limits of Anniston, Ala., a short distance from a community

center.

· An industrial radioactive device used to measure soil density was found on the

steps of a pawn shop in Prichard, Ala.

 

" The government should heed the warnings provided by these incidents and the

Taiwan episode, " said David Ritter, policy analyst with Public Citizen's

Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. " This ought to make them change

their minds about the very bad idea of putting radioactive materials on the

common market. "

 

These incidents include only accidents and thefts, however. Authorities are

simultaneously sanctioning the intentional releases of radioactive wastes from

nuclear facilities operated by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its

contractors, or licensed by the NRC. This is done on a case-by-case basis. The

wastes are released without restriction and can be dumped in a municipal

landfill, incinerated, sold or donated " as is, " or even recycled into a plethora

of everyday consumer products and industrial materials.

 

Now, the DOE and NRC are pushing nuclear industry-friendly policies to

standardize and increase the release and " recycling " of radioactive wastes.

 

" These agencies are truly captured by the nuclear industry, and the industry is

trying to greenwash their latest scheme with terms like 'recycling' and

'beneficial reuse,' " said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical

Mass Energy and Environment Program. " If the 'recycling' practice doesn't lead

to major savings or profits for those who make the mess, it's still a handy way

for them to evade liability for their waste. But the American public doesn't

want to come in contact with nuclear waste. They don't want their kids to ride

bicycles made of nuclear waste. We need to ban this practice once and for all. "

 

Ritter noted that people would never opt to buy products made from " recycled "

radioactive waste.

 

" If you were in a store, and could choose between the non-contaminated frying

pan or the one with the label that said " slightly radioactive, " which one would

you pick? If the nuclear industry had to tell us which products their nuclear

reactor and weapon waste goes into, we know the practice would stop immediately.

Unfortunately, labels aren't required. "