From 12-14 June 2006 the UNECE Secretariat hosted the second expert meeting on Monitoring Radioactive Scrap Metal in Geneva. The purpose of the meeting was to agree on international Recommendations that identify responsibilities and describe best practices to help governments and industries to minimise the risks and to deal more effectively with radioactively contaminated scrap metal.

The Expert Group finalized in principle Recommendations on Monitoring and Response Procedures for Radioactive Scrap Metal.

The Recommendations, prepared by governmental and industry experts, provide specific recommendations and examples of good practice for prevention, detection and response in relation to radioactive scrap metal. They specify the roles and responsibilities of all concerned parties in government and industry in helping to establish an effective collaborative and unified approach at the national level.

Governments and industry alike are encouraged to use the recommendations and examples of good practice to develop strategies to effectively monitor scrap metal, metal products and associated waste and to respond to any discovery of radioactive material. This, in turn, should lead to better international harmonization of approaches and methods and, thereby, to more effective prevention, detection and response at the national level.

The Recommendations will be available on this site by the end of September 2006. French and Russian language versions should be available by the end of 2006.