SEPTEMBER 20, 2007 | No. 660 HOT PARTICLES AT DOUNREAY The Dounreay nuclear complex, situated on a remote part of the north coast of Scotland, was once home to a variety of experimental nuclear facilities including two prototype fast breeder reactors, a reprocessing plant and a materials test reactor. Nearly all of these are now closed, but the legacy of their waste, pollution and accidents HOT PARTICLES AT DOUNREAY 1 lives on. One of the main areas of concern is the radioactive particles ILLEGAL TRAFFICKING: INCREASE found near the complex. The latest radioactive fragment found on INCIDENTS INVOLVING THEFT OR LOSS 2 Sandside beach is one of the hottest yet detected. SLEBOS CASE REVEALS FAILURE OF DUTCH AND EU NUCLEAR NON- (660.5826) WISE Amsterdam - The They entered the drains, which should PROLIFERATION POLICIES 4 particle of cesium-137 picked up during have carried only low-active waste a sweep of the beach on September 7 waster, either from the reprocessing RECORD URANIUM PRICE - WHAT was the third recovered since monitoring plant or from a controversial waste shaft. IS BEHIND AND WHAT ARE THE resumed on August 5 after a lengthy The highly radioactive particles were CONSEQUENCES 5 gap. This brings the legacy of pollution known as 'swarf' -the outside cladding from the nearby Dounreay plant to 97 from spent fuel assemblies which are cut HEAVY SUBSIDIES IN HEAVY used reactor fuel particles and an off at the very start of the reprocessing WATER: ECONOMICS OF NUCLEAR unidentified radioactive object. procedure to expose the fuel rods. These POWER IN INDIA 6 are some of the most highly radioactive After being taken back to a lab at the wastes from spent fuel reprocessing. "IN TIME OF HYPE, TELLING THE former fast-reactor complex, the THRUTH BECOMES A September 7 particle was found to have In February, UKAEA, the operator of the REVOLUTIONARY ACT" 7 an activity count of 380,000 becquerels nuclear complex in Caithness has been (Bq). That compares to the most active fined £140,000 (US$280,000 or 200,000 THE GENIUS DOCTOR WHO 500,000 Bq particle which was recovered euro) for illegally dumping waste. The UK DIAGNOSED NUKE POWER'S in February this year. The discovery led Atomic Energy Authority pleaded guilty DEADLY DISEASE 9 to Scotland's pollution watchdog to four charges under the Radioactive IN BRIEF 10 reviewing whether to close off the four- Substances Act at Wick Sheriff Court mile stretch of beach to the public. The earlier this month. They related to next highest since monitoring of the activities at Dounreay between 1963 and beach started 23 years ago have been 1984. UKAEA's court appearance 480,000 and 396,000 Bq finds in January followed a report to the procurator fiscal 2007 and June 2006 respectively. The by the Scottish Environment Protection majority unearthed at Sandside have Agency (SEPA). The company admitted been below 100,000 Bq but most of the illegally dumping solid nuclear waste in a higher-active finds have come in the past landfill site at Dounreay and three couple of years. charges of allowing fragments of irradiated nuclear fuel to enter the plant's In September 1999, as another liquid effluent discharge pipe into the radioactive particle was found on the Pentland Firth. UKAEA's director of Sandside beach three kilometers from safety, Dr John Crofts, said: "We accept Dounreay, the operators admitted that that mistakes were made and regret vast quantities of similar highly active those mistakes." UKAEA operates particles have been discharged into the Dounreay under contract to the Nuclear sea - at the very same day reprocessing Decommissioning Authority (NDA), started on July 9 1958 - and continued established by the Energy Act 2004 until the 1980s. The radioactive particles were discharged into the sea after Decommissioning entering the site's low-level waste drains. Restoring the 140-acre Dounreay site on the north coast of Scotland is one of historic wastes and February 2007 / UKAEA Website the most complex nuclear decommissioning a range of Contact: NENIG, The Quarries, decommissioning tasks in the world. facilities. A range of plants will be Gruting, Bridge of Walls, The site's history in fast reactor and constructed to support this work. Shetland ZE2 9NR, UK. fuel cycle development presents 2- Decommissioning and remediation Tel: +44-1595-810266 (& fax) significant decommissioning (2025-2033). Site decommissioning Email: [email protected] challenges. Key projects include: will then be completed. Final Web: http://www.n-base.org.uk - Dealing with liquid metal coolants decommissioning will be carried out from the Dounreay Fast Reactor on facilities including the Dounreay (DFR) and Prototype Fast Reactor Fast Reactor and Prototype Fast (PFR); Reactor. Waste will either be - Managing liquid and solid radioactive transferred off-site or held in interim waste, including liquors from fuel storage. Areas of contaminated land reprocessing and material from the will be restored and landscaped. intermediate level waste shaft and 3- Interim storage (2036-2047). The silo. remaining waste will be held securely on site until a UK disposal The main Dounreay decommissioning facility is available. program will be completed by 2033. 4- Off-site transfer and demolition The only buildings remaining after this (2047-2066). Waste will be moved to will be waste stores, which will authorised disposal facilities themselves be decommissioned once a elsewhere in the UK (assuming that national waste strategy has been a national facility is in place). Waste implemented. The sphere of the stores and other infrastructure will Dounreay Fast Reactor will be be decommissioned and preserved as a monument. The clean- demolished. up program will cost around £2.9 billion 5- Care, surveillance and site closure (US$5.8 bn or 4.2Bn Euro)(well, at least, (2066-2366). An extended period of that is the current number).and consists monitoring before the site is finally of five phases. closed and released for alternative 1- Hazard reduction and waste use. management (present day-2025). This phase will remove the main Sources: John O'Groat Journal and radioactive and chemical hazards at Caithness Courier, 12 September 2007 the site. Work involves removing / WISE Nuclear Monitor (569), June 5 alkali metals, immobilising liquid 2002 / WISE NM 518, September 24, wastes, retrieving and treating 1999 / BBC, 12 July 2007 / BBC, 15 ILLEGAL TRAFFICKING: INCREASE INCIDENTS INVOLVING THEFT OR LOSS Established in 1995, the Illicit Trafficking Database (ITDB) is the IAEA´s information system on incidents of illicit trafficking and other unauthorized activities involving nuclear and radioactive materials. The scope of the ITDB information is broad and includes, but is not limited to, incidents involving the illegal trade and movement of materials across borders. The Database tracks events that occurred intentionally or unintentionally, with or without crossing international borders, as well as unsuccessful or thwarted acts. (660.5827) Laka Foundation - The ITDB preliminary ITDB statistics published on occurred in 2005, and therefore this facilitates the exchange of authoritative 1 February 2007. The numbers slightly number should be added to the information on incidents of illicit differ because of some additional numbers in the 2005 report. trafficking and other unauthorized reporting. activities involving nuclear and A total of 252 incidents were Unauthorized possession and related radioactive materials. Currently, 96 reported to the ITDB in 2006, of which criminal activities States participate in the ITDB Program. 150 occurred in 2006 and the remaining Of the 150 incidents that occurred in In some cases, non-participating 102 had taken place prior to that year, 2006, fourteen involved unauthorized Member States have provided mainly in 2005. Please note that the possession and related criminal information to the ITDB. comparison of the ITDB 2005 data with activities. Incidents included in this In September an overview of the 2006 data should take into account category can be described as "illicit incidents reported in 2006 was the fact that a significant number of trafficking." They contain common published. This is an update of the cases were reported in 2006, which had "illicit trafficking" elements such as 2 NUCLEAR MONITOR 660 illegal possession, movement, or recovery showing no direct evidence of seizures of kilogram quantities of attempts to illegally trade in these criminal behavior, such as recovery of weapons-usable nuclear material, but materials. The majority of these sources, discovery of orphan sources, most have involved very small incidents involved sealed radioactive detection of materials disposed of in an quantities. In some of these cases, sources, such as Cesium-137, Cobalt- unauthorized way, etc. Uncontrolled there is a possibility that seized 60, Americium-241, Strontium-90 and a nuclear and other radioactive materials material was a sample of larger number of other radionuclides. Nuclear also are evidence of weaknesses in quantities available for illegal purchase materials involved included natural control and security measures. These or at risk of theft. If so, these materials uranium, depleted uranium, and could be exploited by those with a pose a continuous potential security thorium. In January 2007, Georgia malicious intent. threat. reported to the ITDB an incident that The majority of these incidents Incidents involving illicit occurred in February 2006 and involved involved the detection of radioactive trafficking in nuclear or other the seizure of 79.5 g of 89%-enriched sources and radioactively radioactive materials, especially those uranium. where materials are offered for sale, Thefts and losses indicate that there is Eighty-five incidents a perceived demand occurred in 2006 that for such materials involved thefts, losses, on the illegal market. or misrouting of The majority of nuclear or other these incidents have radioactive materials, been supply-driven which is (again) a with no pre- substantial increase identified buyer. compared to 2005 (see Buyers and repeat Table).