WRITTEN QUESTION P-1650/97 by Lis Jensen (I-EDN) to the Commission (5 May 1997)

Subject: Radioactive scrap metal in cans

According to a note from the Danish Environment and Energy Ministry, the Commission has decided to serve a letter of formal notice concerning the lifting of the Danish ban on the marketing of beer and soft drinks in metal packaging

The waste-reprocessing company, British Nuclear Fuels, decontaminates and recycles radioactive scrap metal and, in its own view, keeps below the 400 Bq per kg limit value for metal which may be used in the manufacture of cans.

In view of its wish to see the Danish ban lifted, will the Commission take account of the potential risk of radiation from metal from such sources and incorporate this factor in any assessment of the impact on health and the environment which it might undertake?

Joint answer to Written Questions P-1650/97 and P-1654/97 given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (13 June 1997)

British Nuclear Fuels has developed a procedure for the decontamination of scrap metal, in particular arising from the decommissioned BNFL plant at Capenhurst, in such a way that it could be released for recycling.

There are no provisions in current Community radiation protection legislation specific to recycling. The basic safety standards for the health protection of the general public and workers against the dangers of ionizing radiation (Directive 80/836/EURATOM) ((OJ L 246, 17.9.1980. )) state that requirements for reporting and obtaining prior authorization need not be applied where radioactive concentrations are less than 100 000 Becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg). The latest revision of these standards (Directive 96/29/EURATOM) ((OJ L 159, 29.6.1996. )), which will come into force in May, 2000, replaced this exemption value with a nuclide-specific list of values which are in general much more restrictive (1000 Bq/kg for most alpha-emitting radionuclides and 10 000 Bq/kg for gamma-emitting radionuclides) and in addition permit Member States to authorize materials to be released from further requirements for disposal, recycling or reuse subject to complying with clearance levels established by Member States. A maximum level of 400 Bq/kg is laid down in the relevant British statutory instruments (Radioactive Substances (substances of low activity) Exemption Order (1986, No 1002, amended in 1992, No 647). The British Environment agency ensures compliance with this order.

The group of experts established under the terms of Article 31 of the Euratom Treaty has over many years examined the radiological consequences of radioactive scrap metal recycling. Already in 1988 a recommendation of the experts was published (Radiation Protection series No 43), in which for the recycling of steel a general clearance level of 1000 Bq/kg was proposed for beta/gamma emitting radionuclides. Further studies have been conducted over the past few years, now also including copper and aluminium, which have resulted in a nuclide-specific list of clearance levels, both for recycling and reuse. The most restrictive of such values is however, still 1000 Bq/kg. A report with the new recommendations is now being prepared for publication.

The release of scrap metal in compliance with the British exemption order is thus in line with the provisions of the basic safety standards. The release into the general pool of metal recycling ensures considerable further dilution. It may therefore be concluded that the possible occurrence of trace amounts of radioactivity in consumer goods as a result of recycling operations is of no concern from a health point of view, and in terms of individual doses indeed at least two orders of magnitude lower than natural radiation background.