5 replies to this topic

[Hongyun]

Kinda dangerous to think of it... Machines contaning radioactive steel...

German authorities in recent months have found a disturbingly large amount of radioactive steel in factories across the country. Much of the contaminated metal is thought to have originated in India.

There was little to distinguish the delivery that stood ready for loading in the Port of Hamburg on Aug. 19 of last year. A container filled with bars of stainless steel from India was to be shipped on to Russia. Just another shipment. There didn't seem to be anything out of place.

But when the customs officers carried out a routine check on the container they were in for quite a surprise. Their radiometers indicated unusually high levels of radiation. They measured a level of 71 microsieverts per hour, a level that in 24 hours would exceed the amount permitted for an entire year.



The officials reacted swiftly. They ordered that the container be put back on the ship immediately and be sent back to India.

This was, however, no isolated case. For months, similar cases have been found across Germany, all involving bits of metal contaminated with radioactive cobalt. And most of them come from the same source: three steelworks in India, in particular a company called Vipras Casting, based in Mumbai. Germany's environmental authorities are alarmed.

http://www.spiegel.d...,607840,00.html

Nothing good seems to come out of Asia recently... Hope nobody here ordered new equipments from Germany! Or you should most probably get it checked out for radioactive material.

[Biss]

really a shocking news

[Charles.C]

Dear Hongyun,

Very interesting (and disturbing) post. Strangely, I couldn't find any links to CNN, BBC etc (from scanning google, various receivers and origins have been involved ).

Another recent link with some interesting comments (particularly sourcing) is here -

http://www.hindu.com...30255471100.htm

Didn't notice any thoughts on traceability implementation.

Would hv also liked to see some details / clarification over this comment - -

Currently there is no internationally accepted definition of what levels of radiation are acceptable and safe.

Rgds / Charles.C

[Hongyun]

Very interesting (and disturbing) post. Strangely, I couldn't find any links to CNN, BBC etc (from scanning google, various receivers and origins have been involved ).

Yes Charles, it took me awhile to find the article from the web. I first heard it from a colleague whom recently purchased a lab scale toothpaste making machine from Germany. The supplier assured him that the raw materials used did not contain radioactive waste.

I thought that something this big would have been on the news or papers. But so far, I only found Spiegel Online.

Didn't notice any thoughts on traceability implementation.

Would hv also liked to see some details / clarification over this comment - -

QUOTE Currently there is no internationally accepted definition of what levels of radiation are acceptable and safe.

Not sure on the traceability implementation. But according to the attachment from Federal Ministry for the environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, they are working on some control measures.

The file also showed that the cargoes are cleared if the radiation falls below 0.1Bq/g. Maybe this is the internal standard for Germany.

Attached Files

•  hg_kobalt60.pdf   581.69KB   29 downloads

[Charles.C]

Dear Hongyun,

Nice world map in yr upload.
Interesting that Kanada (!) is apparently one of the senders.
Also don’t see any indications of India receiving any contaminated lots as stated in my posted link but maybe this is only a partial results survey ?
Looks rather like nobody knows how to handle the problem at the moment.

Rgds / Charles.C

[MRios]

So how did this steel become radioactive?
Leftovers from some nuclear plant ?
Biss, is there any of this on the news in India?