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Nuclear Terrorism Assessment of U.S. Strategies to Prevent, Counter, and Respond to Weapons of Mass Destruction (2024) / Chapter Skim
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7 Managing the Risks and Benefits of Radioactive Sources
Pages 82-91

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From page 82...
... "We'll also work together to lock down fissile and radiological material to prevent terrorist groups from acquiring or using them." President Joseph Biden February 19, 2021 7.1 RADIOACTIVE SOURCES – RISKS AND BENEFITS FINDING 7-1: Radioactive sources provide ionizing radiation for many beneficial services such as cancer treatment, blood irradiation, sterilization, oil prospecting, medical research, calibration of dosimeters, food safety, and radiography. However, the radiological materials in these sources pose a nuclear terrorism risk since these sources can be stolen.
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From page 83...
... According to the 2021 National Academies study on radioactive sources, the United States has approximately 72,000 of the higher activity Category 1 and Category 2 cobalt-60 sources, accounting for about 90 percent of all Category 1 and 2 sources in the United States; there are approximately 3,200 cesium-137 sources in these categories, accounting for about 4 percent of all such sources in the United States (National Academies of Sciences 2021) (the categories are defined below)
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From page 84...
... study highlighted that the IAEA and government agencies responsible for regulating sources should consider reframing the categorization scheme to include stochastic, economic, and social effects. BOX 7-2 IAEA Categories for Radiological Sources Category 1 has the safety concern that an unshielded source would likely cause permanent injury to someone who was in close contact for more than a few minutes and could be fatal for contact beyond several minutes to an hour.
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From page 85...
... . The NNSA also has effective programs in place to support the development and deployment of alternative technologies to replace radioactive sources taking into account the need to have cost effective devices for maintaining beneficial services.
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From page 86...
... In addition, for implementing the second pillar, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory have helped remove and secure thousands of disused and excess sources. For the third pillar, ORS has enlisted the national laboratories network to help develop technologies and provides R&D funding to companies to create alternative technologies that could replace sources.
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From page 87...
... Regulations in 10 CFR Part 20 titled "Standards for Protection Against Radiation," Subpart I, "Storage and Control of Licensed Material" include security requirements for all radiological materials unless specifically exempted. In response to security concerns following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the NRC issued orders in November 2005 for licensees to provide additional security for Category 1 and 2 sources.
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From page 88...
... . One important barrier to radioactive sources replacement efforts is that disposal costs for disused sources can be expensive especially for higher activity disused sources, and disposal facilities for these sources may not be available in many countries.
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From page 89...
... The committee also noted that the prior report recommended measures related to reframing radiological source characterization schemes, domestically and internationally, to account for economic and social impacts, in addition to any deterministic effects of ionizing radiations from these sources and to extend source tracking systems for category 1 and 2 sources, to include category 3 sources. To date, such proposals have failed to secure regulatory approval with any national regulatory body, principally due to the rigors of regulatory cost benefit analyses and the challenges of regulating to public confidence and perceptions of risk.
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From page 90...
... 2021. Radioactive Sources: Applications and Alternative Technologies.
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From page 91...
... Prepublication Copy 91
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Key Terms

  • radioactive sources
  • alternative technologies
  • international atomic
  • nuclear security
  • national nuclear

  • disused sources
  • ionizing radiation
  • radiological security
  • security administration
  • blood irradiation

  • radiological dispersal
  • sources provide
  • categorization scheme
  • health effect
  • source tracking

  • beneficial services
  • provide ionizing
  • energy agency
  • unshielded source
  • radioactive source

  • academies study
  • security practices
  • security requirements
  • sources taking
  • nuclear terrorism

  • sources pose
  • secure facilities
  • research irradiators
  • effective devices
  • dispersal device


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