Energy Dept. Considers Recycling Metal from Nuclear Sites

Energy Department officials are considering the recycling of some scrap metal from government nuclear installations despite a ban on that practice, an internal agency memo says.

The draft memo obtained by The Associated Press outlines procedures that Energy Department facilities should follow to allow release of metals from areas where radiation has been present. The procedures involve testing the metals and documenting their release.

"The purpose of this action is to reduce site inventories in radiological areas of scrap metals that have not been radioactively contaminated by DOE activities or operations," the memo says.

Supporters of recycling say it can be done safely and is a useful way to dispose of materials left by the decommissioning of Cold War-era facilities. Critics say all metals from nuclear sites should be treated as radioactive waste because of the difficulty in ensuring they are uncontaminated.

Energy Department officials did not return calls Wednesday seeking comment.

Under current rules, release of metals from radiological areas of nuclear sites is banned, forbidden by the Clinton administration last year. That was in response to consumer advocates and the metals industry worried that possibly tainted recycled material would be put into the general commerce in products such as braces, zippers, silverware and toys. The steel industry also complained that recycling the scrap could create a perception of that American steel was somehow corrupted and could lead to a glut on the steel market.

In July, the Bush administration began an environmental assessment study to evaluate the policy. At the time, the Energy Department said it would continue the ban during the review unless "DOE makes a specific determination that the metal could not have been radioactively contaminated by DOE activities or operations."

Watchdog groups said Wednesday they were disappointed to learn the agency was considering modifying the ban before its own study is completed.

"This is currently what they're supposedly evaluating under the public process," said Diane D'Arrigo, radioactive waste project director at the Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Washington.

The memo says it was written for Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and comes from James Decker, acting director of the Office of Science; Gen. Ronald Haeckel, acting deputy administrator for defense programs; and Jessie Roberson, assistant secretary for environmental management.

It says several Energy facilities asked permission to recycle some metals, and thousands of tons of nonradioactive metals are piling up across the DOE complex.

Recycling metals from nuclear sites into general commerce is a money saver for the agency, but D'Arrigo said the cost to the public of recycling could be high.

"It needs to be treated as radioactive waste and isolated from the public - not deliberately introduced into commonly used household items," she said.

Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program, agreed. She said a lot of people opposed recycling metals from nuclear sites during several public meetings DOE held recently as part of the review process.

The memo refers to the meetings and the opposition.

Releasing the metals before the study is completed, it says, "could be viewed by some as vindicating their opinion that the department is not really objective" in its development of an environmental assessment. But the memo adds that the action would not "bias the analysis." Associated Press