IP: Dept of Energy: "A little radiation is OK"

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>Sender: rberger@imap.ultradevices.com
>Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2001 17:27:00 -0700
>From: "Robert J. Berger" <rberger@ultradevices.com>
>
>
>Another pointer to insanity in Washington. Now the DOE wants to recycle
>"low level" radioactive waste into metals used for consumer products!!
>Instead of trying to reduce the production and find a real solution to
>nuclear waste (if there is one) they just want to spread it around and
>expose everyone to an increased radiation floor.
>
>
>Nuclear Waste Recyclers Target Consumer Products
>Updated: Mon, Sep 03 6:38 PM EDT
>By Allyce Bess
>http://news.excite.com/news/r/010903/18/science-bizradioactive-dc
>
>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Orthodontists could soon be giving their patients
>more than they bargained for with their brand new braces: a mouthful
>of radioactive waste.
>
>Under a Department of Energy plan, braces aren't the only product
>which could contain radioactive waste. Zippers, lawn chairs, hip
>replacements and countless other consumer products could include trace
>amounts of waste taken from nuclear reactors or weapons complexes and
>recycled into scrap metal.
>
>The Department of Energy (DOE) sees the recycling as a way to clean up
>waste at decommissioned nuclear plants and weapons facilities, but
>environmental groups call the idea ridiculous.
>
>"It's hard to imagine a nuclear enterprise more tone deaf to public
>concerns or a more cockamamie scheme than taking radioactive waste and
>disposing of it in consumer products," said Dan Hirsch, president of
>nuclear watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap.
>
>The energy department will spend the next 12 months to 18 months
>studying the environmental and health risks of the plan, having held
>12 public hearings in six cities this summer, said DOE spokesman Joe
>Davis,
>
>Critics say recycling radioactive waste, even at low levels, is
>reckless. But energy officials say that the government needs to look
>at all options for getting rid of the growing pile of hazardous
>wastes. Proponents of the plan say that by spreading small, non-lethal
>amounts into recycled scrap, the need for large waste dumps could be
>avoided.
>
>CONCERN IS HEALTHY
>
>A moratorium was placed on radioactive recycling last year by former
>Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson after environmental groups
>protested the possible sale of 6,000 metric tons of contaminated
>nickel from the energy department's Oakridge nuclear facility in
>Tennessee to scrap metal dealers.
>
>But under the Bush administration, the program is being revisited and
>the energy department is considering lifting the moratorium. But
>before that, it is required by law to conduct a thorough study on the
>safety risks of recycling radioactive waste.
>
>The proposal does not specify any uses for scrap metal containing the
>radioactive waste, but metal industry executives say the material
>would go into the supply of scrap metal and could be used to make
>anything.
>
>Even the study has proven problematic. The DOE recently dropped
>Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) -- which it initially
>chose to conduct the study and prepared a report -- because of its
>business partnership with British Nuclear Fuels Limited, the company
>that last year was going to contract with the government to help sell
>the waste from the Oakridge facility.
>
>Hirsch of the Committee to Bridge the Gap said it was an enormous
>potential conflict of interest. SAIC's report "is quite dangerous in
>terms of arguing how much radioactivity would be acceptable for use in
>consumer products."
>
>The energy department has not said who was hired to complete the
>study, but some are arguing that the level of radiation in any
>recycled materials would be too low to actually pose a health risk.
>
>The Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade association representing some
>260 companies in the nuclear power industry, has lobbied in favor of
>radioactive recycling and says the public may be overly concerned.
>
>"Concern is healthy," said Felix Killar, director of material licenses
>for the institute. "But people need to understand the facts. This
>isn't truly radioactive waste. It's no more radioactive than any other
>material recycled in to consumer products."
>
>Killar continues: "There isn't a place on Earth that is totally free
>of radioactivity."
>
>A LITTLE RADIATION IS OK
>
>John Wittenborn, attorney for the Metal Industries Recycling Coalition
>(MIRC), comprised of a variety of metal industry trade groups, says
>their polls indicate the public doesn't buy the idea that nuclear
>waste can be safely recycled into everyday products.
>
>"We've spent a lot of time and effort to build the perception that
>products made from recycled materials are safe and good and that
>recycling itself is something that society should be in favor of,"
>said Wittenborn, whose group strongly opposes recycling of radioactive
>waste into scrap metal.
>
>Beyond the public image problem the industry would face in using the
>recycled waste, companies are concerned about the potential
>contamination of their mills and workers.
>
>Wittenborn says it can cost from $5 million to $15 million to shut
>down, inspect by hand and then clean a steel mill that has registered
>radioactivity above a background level.
>
>Recently, Wittenborn attended an energy department public hearing on
>the issue in Crystal City, Virginia where he presented his polling
>data and the metal industry's case.
>
>In fact, those who have attended the hearings say most of the comments
>have opposed lifting the moratorium on radioactive recycling.
>
>"The observer might ask 'Why does the DOE continue to propose to do
>this if no one is willing to come forward and testify on behalf of
>it?"' said Dan Guttman, executive director of President Clinton's
>Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments,
>
>"This is being cast as a question of convincing the hysterical public
>that a little radiation is OK."
>
>--
>Robert J. Berger
>UltraDevices, Inc.
>257 Castro Street, Suite 223 Mt. View CA. 94041
>Voice: 408-882-4755 Fax: 408-490-2868
>Email: rberger@ultradevices.com  http://www.ultradevices.com



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