Contaminated Stainless Steel Imports
Over the past few months radioactively contaminated steel products have turned up in Germany. Since August 2008 more than 150 tons of contaminated material have been detected by German authorities. In some cases, importers or manufacturers had to take back their products. The metals industry does not really know the scope of the problem.
The Federal German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety informed the public in February that polluted stainless steel products had turned up in several states. In the first case detected, a container filled with cobalt-60 contaminated stainless steel from India was found in the port area of Hamburg. Its destination was Russia. Another case involved more than 500-600 elevator metal buttons, showing a level of radioactivity three times higher than permitted. The buttons have since been replaced. These are just two out of numerous incidents (see weblink below).
Government inspectors initially reached the conclusion that the radiation discovered did not pose a danger to the population. However, an expert at the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, who did not wished to be named, told Spiegel Magazine: “Some of the levels are so high, that one should not stay in contact with these things for long.” According to research by Spiegel the cobalt-60 contaminated stainless steel comes, in all of the cases, from three Indian steel plants, namely the company Vipras Casting close to Mumbai.
German authorities also understand the economic damage inflicted on the companies concerned. “It is true that the steel industry is worried about possible negative consequences if a solution is not found soon.” According to the authorities, international steps have been taken to prevent further radioactively polluted imports of durable goods. From 23-27 February the “International Conference on Control and Management of Inadvertent Radioactive Material in Scrap Metal” took place. Among other topics, the introduction of stricter controls along EU borders was discussed.
On 17 February the Federal German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety summarized all of the incidents involving cobalt 60 (Co-60) in a table. This Pdf-document contains information on measurement levels and further details.
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Dear Sir,,
We are supplying 201/202/304/316 and 430, either bulk or pressed in bundles.
we have abut 100mt of S,S 430
we have abut 50mt S,S 304
we have one continer S,S 201
Ready for loading
for any further information, pls. contact us.
Regards,
Mohamed Hassan
General Manager
Telfax # +2022 7028895
Mobil # +20100093199 ; +20122792861
MSN : mhmawad
YM: mhmawad
Skype : mhmawad
http://www.bluestar-eg.com