Company Name : Nepra Environmental Solutions Pvt.Ltd-bansi Source : http://www.financialexpress.com/news/govts-stringent-norms-on-radioactive-waste-on-cards/602579/

New Delhi: The government has decided to bring in stringent norms to ensure metal scrap dealers report to authorities promptly in case they detect radioactive material in their scrap. The move comes in the wake of the discovery of Cobalt 60 material in the compound of a scrap dealer at Mayapuri industrial area in the city. Five people including the owner of the yard were badly injured by the effect of the radiation, which experts have identified as Cobalt-60. Exposure to radioactive waste can lead to fatal diseases like cancer.

Scientists from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Narora Atomic Power Station located in Delhi scanned the industrial area for traces of the radioactive material. The scrap, experts say probably traveled as hospital waste to the site. Among those injured, scrap dealer Deepak Jain is battling for life at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. He was admitted in the hospital on April 4 and his bone marrow is significantly suppressed,” a hospital bulletin said Friday. His condition continues to be serious,” it added. The presence of inadvertent radioactive materials in metal scrap is a worldwide problem for the metal recycling industry.

The materials can lead to potentially severe health, environmental, and financial damage for industry and the public alike. Eliana Amaral, director of the IAEA’s division of radiation, transport and waste safety has said that, “In the last three year, the IAEA has become aware of around 500 events involving uncontrolled ionizing radiation sources, about 150 of which were related to sources found in scrap metal or contaminated goods or materials.

This is clearly a global problem that requires the application of a harmonized approach throughout the different regions of the world involving all stakeholders.” There are various kinds of radioactive wastes — high, intermediate and low levels. The first two are not released to the environment. The last one is released into the environment either in the way of gasses or as liquid. These have sufficiently low radioactivity, therefore cause no harm.

The uproar over Indian steel contaminated with Cobalt 60, a radioactive isotope of cobalt used in nuclear medicine, coincided with an international conference in Spain in 2009 that called for the setting up of International standards in radiation safety. Currently, there is no internationally accepted definition of what levels of radiation are acceptable and safe. International experts at the meeting said that further steps are needed to...