Nuclear security

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NNSA Recovers One Millionth Curie Of Radioactive Material

By: Homeland Security Today Staff

12/23/2014 (10:38am)

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced that it recovered its one millionth curie (Ci) of disused and unwanted radioactive sources in the form of a small stainless steel capsule, about the size of a pencil, containing 100 Ci of the radioactive isotope Cobalt-60.

The recovery occurred through NNSA’s domestic Off-Site Source Recovery Project (OSRP). These removals are part of NNSA’s global campaign to prevent terrorists from acquiring nuclear and radiological material.

The Cobalt-60 was recovered from an industrial facility in Maryland, DOE said.

Homeland Security Today reported that a detailed technical profile of the consequences of a radiological dispersion device (RDD), or “dirty bomb,” using the highly radioactive isotope Cobalt 60 prepared by Aristatek, Inc., shows that, depending on wind and other environmental conditions, a Cobalt 60 RDD detonated near the US Capitol building could contaminate a huge southward swath encompassing part of the Capitol grounds and narrowly missing the White House.

But if the RDD was detonated at a different location, wind could carry 1,000 millirems to 500 millirems of Cobalt 60 over the White House and numerous federal buildings.

Technical experts from both Los Alamos and Idaho National Laboratories provided expertise in implementing this mission.

"The State of Maryland greatly appreciates the assistance of DOE/NNSA’s OSRP for the safe removal and disposal of large quantities of unwanted and hazardous radioactive material from the State," said Maryland's Secretary of the Environment Dr. Robert Summers. "Proper disposal of this radioactive material significantly reduces the potential for illicit use of the material."

“This recovery shipment of the one-millionth curie is the latest on the list of major accomplishments the OSRP team has achieved over the years,” said NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Anne Harrington. “These recovery efforts help keep all of us safe from the malicious use of unwanted radioactive sources.”

Since 1999, OSRP’s mission to remove excess, unwanted, abandoned or orphaned radioactive sealed sources that pose a potential risk to health, safety, and national security has resulted in the successful recovery of more than 38,000 radioactive sources from more than 1,100 domestic locations. Collectively, this amount of radioactive material is enough to produce 100,000 RDDs.

There are thousands of civilian sites where radiological materials are used for legitimate and beneficial commercial, medical and research purposes. NNSA works in cooperation with federal, state and local agencies, and private industry to install security enhancements on high priority nuclear and radiological materials located at civilian sites in the United States.

NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) oversees two programs aimed at securing radioactive materials in the United States. GTRI’s Domestic Material Protection program collaborates with partner sites like hospitals and universities to provide voluntary security enhancements to prevent terrorists from acquiring in-use radiological materials. GTRI’s Domestic Radiological Material Removal Program removes radiological sources that are no longer being used for disposal or secure storage.

Source: http://www.hstoday.us/single-article/nnsa-recovers-one-millionth-curie-of-radioactive-material/2a8750a5be66f7e6ec22e6bf51d18aea.html