OT: RE: Clean steel?

From: Clint Wolff <vaxman_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Sat Oct 19 10:10:01 2002

Unfortunately, the only way to recycle steel is to feed it back
into the blast furnace, thereby contaminating it...

clint

On Thu, 17 Oct 2002, Feldman, Robert wrote:

> 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
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> International Man of Intrigue and Danger
> http://www.vintage.org
>
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>
Received on Sat Oct 19 2002 - 10:10:01 BST

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