News Article :: Radioactive contamination of stainless steel found
Date : Mar 30, 2009
Radioactive contamination of stainless steel found
The German Federal Environment Ministry has been informed that radioactively contaminated stainless steel products from India have been found in several Landers (State or region).
The Ministry says that available information suggests the contamination results from the unintentional melting down of high-radioactive sources containing cobalt-60 in an Indian smelting plant. Analysis indicates that the material does not pose a hazard to the population or environment.
The products found include both semi-finished products such as stainless steel rounds intended for further processing in Germany and final products such as machine parts. There have not been any specific reports of fasteners being affected.
Radiation protection authorities have confiscated the material as a precaution to prevent spread of contamination. The level of contamination varies among the different products. The exemption levels of the German Radiation Protection Law are exceeded in some products, making them subject to state control. For the majority of products contamination is low. Federal and Lander authorities are currently searching for solutions to prevent these low contaminated substances from entering the economic cycle.
TR Fastenings has investigated its supply chain, covering known stainless steel products originating from India. The investigation covered European distributors, Indian manufacturers and the mills supplying their raw material. Most large Indian material refiners are reputable in that they use radiation detectors to screen incoming material prior to being placed in the furnaces.
The result being that TR Fastenings have assurances that measures are in place to prevent contaminated material entering our fastener supply chain.