On Tuesday 13th of September 2011, FANC (Federal Agency for Nuclear Control of Belgium) was informed of indication of radioactive material coming from Duferco La Louvière steel plant. The source of the contamination was determined to be inadvertent introduction of cesium-137 in the electric furnace of the steel plant.
The radioactive material was quickly identified and the 600 tons of metal dust including cesium was separated for decontamination. 350 tons of the dust had activity level of over 10 Bq/g, 150 tons was contaminated between 1 and 10 Bq/g, and the last 100 tons had activity level of less than 1 Bq/g. Regardless of the specific level of activity, all dust was stored in a safe way and the actions at Duferco La Louvière plant were halted until the decontamination of the material had been completed. This process can be achieved with Fortum’s NURES® technology, and specifically CsTreat® columns which are used to decontaminate cesium traces.
