WRITTEN QUESTION E-2395/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(20 August 2001)

Subject: Inadequate monitoring of scrap metal for radioactive materials during transport, storage and processing

1. Is the Commission aware that cargoes of scrap metal, i.e. iron and steel waste for reuse, on board ships still sometimes include constituents containing the radioactive elements caesium and strontium, without advance notification?

2. Who is responsible for their inclusion, and how do they get away with it? Why has it so far proved impossible to organise watertight monitoring, so as to ensure in sufficiently good time that no radioactive material finds its way into scrap metal?

3. When such consignments are transported, what impact does this have on the health of dock workers and ships' crews?

4. What is the impact on public health of the temporary storage of radioactive scrap metal at sites in and around ports?

5. What are the consequences if the radioactive constituents in the scrap metal are not discovered in time and they are processed in blast furnaces?

6. What has so far been done within EU Member States to ensure that scrap metal merchants comply with the requirement that they themselves should report the importation and presence of radioactive constituents?

7. Do the national authorities of the Member States always report such Category 2 nuclear incidents to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna in the agreed manner within 24 hours of discovery, i.e. before they organise any inquiries as to the material's origin, the causes and likely hazards?

8. How ought monitoring of importation, storage and processing of radioactive scrap metal in the EU Member States to be improved, and what responsibilities are incumbent on the EU and on national, regional and municipal authorities in this respect?

Source: TV Nederland 1, Netwerk programme, Monday, 31 July 2001

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(8 November 2001)

In the Community, protection against the risks of exposure to ionising radiation is ensured by Council Directive 96/29/Euratom of 13 May 1996 laying down basic safety standards for the health protection of the general public and workers against the dangers of ionising radiation(1).

The most serious risks for human health and the environment and the heaviest economic consequences to the plant operators derive from the presence in scrap metal of a high activity radioactive source, such as those used in therapy of cancers and in non-destructive examination of metallic products.

The work programme of the Commission for 2001 includes the adoption of a proposal for a Council Directive aimed at strengthening the administrative control of such sources, which would, amongst other things, contribute to prevent their entering the metal recycling loop.

The Commission is aware that consignments of scrap metal intended for recycling occasionally contain radioactive material of various kinds and origins. It has organised meetings with experts from the Member States, with a view to establishing the foundations for a common approach to the issue. Experts of the Commission co-operated with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the preparation of an exhaustive report dealing with all the points raised by the Honourable Member. It is expected that the report will be published shortly.

The Directive 96/29/Euratom provides for material (including metals) to be released from regulatory control if it is of no radiological concern from a health point of view. Member States determine these clearance levels that must follow basic criteria laid down in the Directive and technical guidance, which is provided by the Community.

The Commission is also working, in cooperation with the IAEA, on the harmonisation of these clearance levels at international level.

(1) OJ L 159, 29.6.1996.