skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Economic feasibility of radioactive scrap steel recycling

Journal Article · · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society
OSTI ID:411568
 [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Manufacturing Sciences Corp., Woodland, WA (United States)
  2. MSE, Inc., Butte, MT (United States)

In the past, government and commercial nuclear operators treated radioactive scrap steel (RSS) as a liability and disposed of it by burial; this was an accepted and economical solution at that time. Today, environmental concerns about burial are changing the waste disposal picture by (a) causing burial costs to soar rapidly, (b) creating pressure to close existing burial sites, and (c) making it difficult and expensive to open and operate burial facilities. To exacerbate the problem, planned dismantling of nuclear facilities will substantially increase volumes of RSS {open_quotes}waste{close_quotes} over the next 30 yr. This report describes a project with the intention of integrating the current commercial mini-mill approach of recycling uncontaminated steel with radiological controls to design a system that can process contaminated metals at prices significantly below the current processors or burial costs.

OSTI ID:
411568
Report Number(s):
CONF-951006-; ISSN 0003-018X; TRN: 97:000819
Journal Information:
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Vol. 73; Conference: Winter meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), San Francisco, CA (United States), 29 Oct - 1 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English