Hi
I've not heard the term used with steel but it is used
with lead. Pre-bomb lead is always needed. I doubt there
is much need for pre-bomb steel.
Dwight
>From: "Feldman, Robert" <Robert_Feldman_at_jdedwards.com>
>
>Googling doesn't turn up many hits, but I found two (both related to ships):
>
>www.liddiard.demon.co.uk/photoix/brittany/kleber.htm and
>www.hazegray.org/faq/smn7.htm
>
>Given so few hits, maybe is is an urban legend. Then again, some
>applications might require steel without the slight radiation that
>blast-furnace smelting might add. The mixing in of contaminated scrap is a
>different (and very real) issue from air-blast introduced low-level
>radioactivity.
>
>Bob
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Kapteyn, Rob [mailto:kapteynr_at_cboe.com]
>Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 12:09 PM
>To: 'cctalk_at_classiccmp.org'
>Subject: RE: Clean steel?
>
>
>My understanding of this:
>
>"Unclean" steel is not radioactive because of the A-bomb tests (although we
>are all being exposed to roughly 3 times "natural" background radiation
>because of those tests.
>
>There have been several very expensive mistakes in which highly radioactive
>contaminants got mixed in with scrap metal going to smelters. Some of
>these were not detected until toys and table legs made from the scrap were
>being shipped to consumers.
>
>About 40% of our steel comes from recycled scrap.
>This scrap always seems to pick up some radioactive contamination.
>The 60% of steel made from virgin ore is "clean".
>Your 1930's scrap is still scrap -- not virgin ore.
>
>The EPA has a new program to address this problem:
>http://www.epa.gov/radiation/cleanmetals/
>
>-Rob
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: cctalk-admin_at_classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-admin_at_classiccmp.org]On
>Behalf Of Sellam Ismail
>Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 10:51 AM
>To: Classic Computers Mailing List
>Subject: OT: Clean steel?
>
>
>
>There are two rooms in the ACCRC building that are filled with huge old
>(useless) refrigeration systems. Tons of steel. We'd like to get the
>rooms cleared out so we can use them.
>
>We've gotten quotes in the past but all of them will end up costing us to
>remove the equipment since the rooms are enclosed and one of them is down
>a ladder with a narrow door. Everything will need to be cut up and
>removed piece-meal. There is also some very large equipment on the roof
>that will need a crane to remove.
>
>A while back we had a brief discussion about "clean steel". "Clean steel"
>is supposedly steel that was smelted before the first atomic bomb tests,
>and therefore contains no radiation. Apparently, air since the first
>atomic bomb test is now filled with background radiation, and because so
>much air is used in the smelting process, a lot of the radiation gets into
>modern steel making it unsuitable for some applications (such as medical
>test equipment where radioactive isotopes are used as part of the
>operation).
>
>I was thinking that because this building is so old (from the 1930s) that
>a lot of the steel in those rooms is "clean".
>
>I called a scrapper yesterday who has been in the business for 30+ years
>and is a Harvard graduate, and he said he has never, ever heard of "clean
>steel".
>
>So what gives? Is there a government website somewhere that defines
>"clean steel"?
>
>I'm hoping that the steel is actually worth enough to make it a wash to
>have it removed. As it stands, the quote I have so far is that we have
>$25/ton worth of steel and $30/ton to salvage it.
>
>Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer
>Festival
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Received on Thu Oct 17 2002 - 12:40:01 BST