[3] The International Atomic Energy Agency has provided guides for scrap metal collectors on what a sealed source might look like.
The cleanup operation for the Goiânia accident[20] was difficult both because the source containment had been opened, and the radioactive material was water-soluble.
In 1983, a different incident in Mexico wherein cobalt-60 was spilled in an otherwise similar exposure led to a very different pattern of contamination, since the cobalt in such a source is normally in the form of cobalt metal alloyed with some nickel to improve the mechanical properties of the radioactive metal.
If such a source is abused, then the cobalt metal fragments do not tend to dissolve in water or become very mobile.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency provides data about the fate of different contaminating elements in a scrap furnace.
If the copper refinery includes an electrochemical process after the furnace, then unwanted elements are removed from the impure metal and deposited as anode slime.
The fates of different elements present in ferrous scrap which is melted in an electric arc furnace. The average of the two extremes is shown and the error bars indicate the possible limits
The fates of different elements present in aluminium scrap which is melted in a furnace. The average of the two extremes is shown and the error bars indicate the possible limits
The fates of different elements present in copper scrap which is melted in a furnace. The average of the two extremes is shown and the error bars indicate the possible limits. The elements present in the scrap end up in different proportions in the impure metal, the slag, the baghouse dust or the exhaust gases that leave the plant via the stack
The fates of different elements present in copper scrap which is melted in a furnace and then electrorefined. The average of the two extremes is shown and the error bars indicate the possible limits. The elements in the scrap end up in different proportions in the refined copper metal, the slag, the baghouse dust, the exhaust gases that leave the plant via the stack, or the anode slime
