Reply #8: More Chinese Mystery Metal. [View All]

[hunter]

That's what my mechanic and engineer friends called it.

But this does tend to be a problem everywhere. If there is some ignorant or unethical person who can intercept radioactive metal and convert it to scrap they will.

In 1983 an old radiotherapy machine in Mexico was stolen by a handyman and sold as scrap which was used to make rebar and restaurant tables. A load of the rebar made it's way to Los Alamos where it set off radiation alarms. By then much of the rebar had already been used in construction. 600 tons of it was shipped to the U.S.

Here's an old DU post about a similar problem:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=116&topic_id=1278&mesg_id=1278

A problem in the U.S. is old oil industry piping. In certain environments these pipes are scaled with minerals containing radium and other naturally radioactive elements.