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CONTAMINATED MEXICAN STEEL.Importation of Steel Into The _ , . .s NUREG-1103 : L Contaminated Mexican Steel | Incident : ! 4 : Importation of Steel into the United States That Had Been 4 Inndvertently Contaminated With Cobalt-60 as a Result of i Scrapping of a Teletherapy Unit i ; i i ' U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission : Offico of Inspection and Enforcement : ,p** "*''% Y....b.5 i t p n - .. n w ' .. m NOTICE Availability of Reference Materials Cited in NRC Publications ~ Most uhaments cited in NRC publications will be available from one of the following sources: 1. The NRC Public Document Room,1717 H Street N.W. Washington, DC 20555 2. The NRC/GPO Sales Program, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555 3. The National Technical information Service, Springfield, VA 22161 Although the listing that follows represents the majority of documents cited in NRC publications, it is not intended to be exhaustive. Referenced documents available for inspection and copying for a fee from the NRC Public Docu- ment Room include NRC correspondence and internal NRC memoranda; NRC Office of Inspection and Enforcement bulletins, circulars, information notices, inspection and investigation notices: Licensee Event Reports; vendor reports and correspondence; Commission papers;and applicant and licensee documents and correspondence. The following documents in the NUREG series are available for purchase f om the NRC/GPO Sales Program: formal NRC staff and contractor reports, NRC-sponsored conference proceedings, and NRC booklets and brochures. Also available are Regulatory Guides, NRC regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission issuances. Documents available from the National Technical Information Service inclide NUREG series reports and technical reports prepared by other federal agencies and reports prepared by the Atomic Energy Commission, forerunner agency to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Documents available from public and special technical libraries include all open literature items, such as books, journal and periodical articles, and transactions. Federal Register notices, federal and state legislation, and congressional reports can usually be obtained from these libraries. Documents such as theses, dissertations, foreign reports and translations,and non NRC conference proceedings are available for pur:hase from the organization sponsoring the publication cited. Single copies of NRC draf t reports are available free, to the extent of supply, upon written request to the Division of Technical Information and Oncument Control, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Com- mission, Washington, DC 20555. Copies of industry codes and standards used in a substantive manner in the NRC regulatory process are maintained at the NRC Library, 7020 Norfolk Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland, and are available there for reference use by the public. Codes and standards are usually copyrighted and may be purchased from the originating organization or, if they are American National Standards, from the American National Standards Institute,1430 Broadway, New York, NY 10018. GPO Printed copy pricc: $L 50. NUREG-1103 Contaminated Mexican Steel Incident Im in:portationdvertently of Contaminated Steel into the With United Cobalt-60 States Thatas a ResultHad Been of Scrcpping of a Teletherapy Unit ' - .- ______ - . - _ _ _ _ - - _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ - Manuscript Completed: November 1984 , Data Published: January 1986 i Division of Qaality Assurance, Safeguards and Inspection Programs Office of Inspection and Enforcement U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission + Wzhington, D.C. 20666 ' f ~*.,, ..... I | i . - - _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ - _ _ ,- - _ - . ,. _ _ . .. - ., _- , , , . , _ . * ABSTRACT This report documents the circumstances contributing to the inadvertent melting of cobalt 60 (Co-60) contaminated scrap metal in two Mexican steel foundries and the subsequent distribution of contaminated steel products into the United States. The report addresses mainly those actions taken by U.S. Federal and state ~agencies to protect the U.S. population from radiation risks associated with the incident. Mexico had much more serious radiation exposure and contamination problems to man- age. The United States Government maintained a standing offer to provide technical and medical assistance to the Mexican Government. Assistance was provided as described briefly in Appendix A. The report covers the tracing of the source to .its origin, response actions to recover radioactive steel in the United States, and return of the contaminated materials to Mexico. Some information outside of this scope is recounted, e.g., some information about the incident within Mexico. The incident resulted in significant radiation exposures within Mexico, but no , known significant exposure within the United States. Response to the incident required the combined efforts of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Department of. Energy, Department of Transportation, Department of State, and U.S. Customs Service (Department of Treasury) personnel at the Federal level and repre- sentatives of all 50 State Radiation Control Programs and, in some instances, local and county government personnel. The response also required a diplomatic inter- face with the Mexican Government'and cooperation of numerous commercial establish- ments and members of the general public. The report describes the factual infor- Cation associated with the event and may serve as information for subsequent recom- mendations and actions by the NRC. NUREG-1103 111 -. - .. -- - .. -. .- - -- .. .. - _ .- . I t' -.1 | ! - | ! ;. ! !. f [ CONTENTS i Pagte ~ Abstract.............................................................- 111 Acknowledgements............ ......................................... vii~ 1.0.THE' INCIDENT.................................................... 1 2.0' PRODUCTS SHIPPED INTO THE UNITED STATES......................... 4 2.1 The Reinforcing Bars.................................... .. 4 2.2 The Table-Base Castings................................. .. 7 3.0 THE S00RCE...................................................... 10 4.0 INTERNATIONAL C00PERATION....................................... 15 5.0 REGULATIONS AND 16 6.0 PUBLIC GUIDANCE........................................ INFORMATIN0N.................................. 17 7. 0 T RANS PORTAT I ON . ........ 18. 8.0 EFFORTS IN THE UNITED STATES........................................ 19 9.0 RADIATION MEASUREMENTS - NONITORING AND SURVEYING............... 21 10.0 EVALUATION OF RADIATION DOSE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND TRANSPORTATION WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES. 24. APPENDICES A CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 8 CONTANINATED REINFORCING BAR ACCOUNTABILITY C ORGANIZATION OF TA8LE BASE SURVEYS D SOURCE DESCRIPTION E U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMNISSION GUIDANCE . F SAMPLING OF NEWS' COVERAGE G U.S. DEPARTNENT OF TRANSPORTATION EXEMPTION TO FALCON INDUSTRIES INC. H- STATE OF NEW MEXICO REQUEST FOR AERIAL SURVEYS I EVALUATION OF RADIATION DOSE 1 NUREG-1103 y i LIST OF FIGURES | | _P,a21 1.1 Yonke Fenix scrap yard showing the loading of scrap on a truck for transport to a foundry customer....................... 2 2.1 Truckload of steel rebar detained at El Paso border crossing.... 5 2.2 Re6ar quarantined in Arizona.................................... 6 8 2.3 ' Cast iron table bases........................................... 3.1 Picker C-3000 (75cm SAO) cobalt therapy unit................... 11 3.2 Picker C-3000 source head...................................... 12 3.3 Source capsule components...................................... 14 9.1 AMS map showing contaminated areas in Juarez................... 23 o YI NUREG-1103 ~ ! . ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS , This report was prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff of the Safeguards and Materials Program Branch of the Division of Quality Assurance, Safeguards, and Inspection Programs, Office of-Inspection and Enforcement. The | report is~ a summary of key actions during the incident response and, as such, ; omits specific mention of many organizations and tadividuals who made important contributions to resolution of the incident. A listing of these participants, even if available,'would be too long to include here, but without their collec- tive input, cooperation, and hard work, resolution of the incident would have indeed been difficult. The authors also wish to thank the NRC offices and regional-representatives who provided constructive comments and recommendations on drafts of this document. I , NUREG-1103 vii . _. ___ _ _ __ __ , _ __ __ i i 1.0~ THE INCIDENT | 1 ~ On or about December-10, 1983, small pellets of cobalt 60.(Co-60) mixed with scrap steel were charged into the melt of two steel foundries in Mexico. A . scrap yard (Yonke Fenix,:in Ciudad de Juarez, Mexico) that supplied scrap to the j foundries, purchased parts of a-. medical teletherapy unit as scrap without know- | ledge that the scrap contained radioactive material. The Co-60 was mixed with L the scrap steel _that was_ fed to the furnaces. The source capsule in the head | of the unit had been _ intentionally broken open before the scrap yard had pur- | chased the scrap _on or about December 6,.1983. The very small, loose pellets of Co-60 were scattered.throughout the yard during scrap-handling operations (see - Figure 1.1). _ The. dispersal was' increased~ by the magnetic properties of the pel- lets as most of the handling was done with a magnet loader. I The original pellets were cylindrical in shape, measuring about 1 mm in diameter I and length, and very highly radioactive (about 25 roentgens
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