More than 20,000 excess and unwanted sealed radioactive sources in the United States have been recovered through a National Nuclear Security Administration program. These sources contain plutonium, cesium, americium, cobalt, strontium, or other radioactive materials.
“This major achievement in the removal of these radioactive sources ends any threat that they could be used in a dirty bomb,” said NNSA Administrator Thomas D’Agostino. “NNSA’s continued progress illustrates our comprehensive strategy to keep dangerous nuclear and radiological material safe and secure.”
NNSA collaborates with the Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and contracts with the Conference of Radiation Control program directors and three small business firms to recover radioactive sources from commercial firms and academic institutions after the sources are determined to be excess and unwanted, and when there is no other disposition path.
Read more about the Laboratory's Off-Site Source Recovery Project (OSRP) here.
To read a news release, click here.
