The Millennial Files

Making Zippers and Pans from Recycled Radioactive Metals

The Studio City Chapter of Kitchen Table Democracy has taken on the charge of alerting American consumers of the Bush Administration’s plans to overturn a ban on recycling radioactive metal from government institutions.

“We get our children vaccinated, protect them from strangers, get rid of lead paint and asbestos, and apply sunscreen. We buy safe cars for our children, buckle them into a certified car seats and (if this goes through), that buckle could be radioactive,” observed KTD Chair, Adrienne Burke.

As of August 18, 2004, the Department of Energy launched a 12-18-month study on the environmental and health risks of recycling waste from decommissioned nuclear plants and weapons facilities into scrap metal. The scrap metal could be used to make anything from lawn chairs to zippers.

Diane D’Arrigo, of Nuclear Information and Resource Service warned, “Think about the metal you come in contact with everyday: Your IUD, your bracelets, silverware, the zipper on your crotch, the coins in your pocket, frying pans, belt buckles, that chair you’re sitting on, the batteries in your car and motorbike, (even) the batteries in your computer.”

The nuclear power industry has lobbied the Bush administration to lift the ban, and energy officials have said the government must consider all options for getting rid of the growing pile of hazardous wastes. In 2000, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) contracted with the National Resource Council to convene a panel to review its recommendations for nuclear waste recycling. The Council demurred from endorsing giving a wholesale release of radioactive materials, citing the NRC had “failed to convince any environmental and consumer advocacy groups that the clearance of slightly radioactive solid material can be conducted safely.”

Nevertheless, Val Loiselle, former director of the Association of Radioactive Metal, views this as a viable strategy.

“This scrap is an asset. Until now, we’ve literally been burying our assets. Most low-level radioactive materials are currently disposed of in secure, government-licensed landfills. But as former weapons plants are cleaned up and aging reactors are decomissioned, the volume of nuclear junk is expected to soar. The Department of Energy already has 1.6 million tons of slightly radioactive metals at weapons installations across the country.”

According to John Gofman, former associate director of the Livermore National Laboratory, “There is no safe dose or dose rate below which dangers disappear. (There is) no threshold dose. Serious, lethal effects from minimal radiation doses are not ‘hypothetical,’ ‘just theoretical,’ or ‘imaginary.’ They are real.”

Kitchen Table, a national grassroots organization, is urging consumers to spread the word by contacting friends, their congressional representatives, local print and electronic media, as well as magazines focused on health and childcare issues, such as LA Parent and Reader’s Digest.