WRITTEN QUESTION E-3534/98

by Undine-Uta Bloch von Blottnitz (V) to the Commission

(25 November 1998)

Subject: Radioactive gas emissions from the Acerinox factory, Cadiz, Spain

In the answer to our Written Question on the radioactive gas emissions from the Acerinox steel factory, located in Cadiz, Spain (14 September 1998, P-2051/98)(1), the Commission says that "the incident bears no relation to the processing of iron scrap recovered from an installation of the nuclear fuel cycle, nor with the voluntary mixing of nuclear waste with ordinary metal scraps", and then that "the incident has therefore no link with the issue of exemption of clearance levels as defined in the basic safety standards".

The report written by the Institute CRII-RAD (Commission de recherche et d'information indépendantes sur la radioactivité, Augmentation de la radioactivité de l'air: la piste espagnole confirmée par les analyses de la CRII-RAD, 2 July 1998) on the radioactive pollution contemporaneously detected in the region of Cadiz as well as in some European countries like France, Italy and Germany confirms that the Acerinox factory, its surroundings and the dumping site of Palos de la Frontera, Huelva, has been contaminated by Caesium-137, due to the fact that the radioactivity has not been trapped by the filters of the melting furnaces of the factory. In particular, ashes generated in furnace No 1 during the incident have shown very high contamination levels (650 000 to 9 000 000 Bq/kg), so that according to CRII-RAD those ashes should be considered radioactive waste to be prepackaged and then stocked for several centuries in an appropriately isolated site.

On 30 June 1998, the President of the Spanish Nuclear Security Council (CNS), Mr Juan Manuel Kindelán, reported to the Energy Committee of the Spanish Parliament that the radioactive sources in the iron scrap came from abroad, had a scattered geographical origin, and were recent.

How can the Commission reconcile its statements from answer P-2051/98 quoted above with the clear evident of the presence of radioactive materials in the iron scrap used in the furnace?

Is it not in fact the case that the Basic Safety Standards Directive anticipates and even permits such recycling of radioactive materials, which inevitably leads to a certain level of contamination of facilities and possibly the public, as in this case, not to mention the incorporation of unknown radioisotopes into the end products of the factory, for later public consumption? Would it not be preferable to alter the Directive to exclude these kinds of materials, and instead to introduce a system for segregating very low level radioactive waste as in France?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(18 January 1999)

The Commission confirms its previous statement contained in the reply it gave to the Honourable Member's Written Question P-2051/98(2) that the emission of radioactive caesium from the steel factory in Acerinox bears no relation to the processing of contaminated metal scrap from an installation of the nuclear fuel cycle.

The accident arose from the inclusion of an industrial or medical sealed Cs-137 source in a scrap load. The report issued by the Spanish nuclear safety council (20 July 1998) states that the source could be traced back to any one of three consignments of scrap that had arrived by sea originating from the United Kingdom, the United States and Ireland. However, the content of these consignments may have originated at least in part from other countries. While a precise estimate of the activity of the source is not possible, it is certainly orders of magnitude higher than the activity that would arise from contaminated metals from nuclear installations.

The contamination of the industrial waste site in Huelva arose from the disposal of contaminated filter dust, not from the airborne release of the fraction of dust that had not been trapped by the filter.

While the Commission is examining what measures can be taken to avoid future accidents of this type, there is no reason to revise the basic safety standards Directive (96/29/Euratom of 13 May 1996 laying down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiation)(3).

The Commission has not yet received draft French legislation for the implementation of the Directive, which is due by May 2000. There may be different national approaches to the management of very low level waste with different merits from a radiation protection point of view, but it is not possible at this stage to judge what is the best option.

(1) OJ C 96, 8.4.1999, p. 29.

(2) OJ C 96, 8.4.1999, p. 29.

(3) OJ L 159, 29.6.1996.