| As one can appreciate, the manufacturing | | | | a good material when working in radioactive |
| requirements for the nuclear industry are | | | | environments are its density, high atomic number, |
| extremely rigorous. In North America, regulatory | | | | its stability, ease of fabrication, high degree of |
| authorities such as the Canadian Nuclear Safety | | | | flexibility in application, and its availability. The only |
| Commission and the US Nuclear Regulatory | | | | metal that is more dense than lead is gold which is |
| Commission ensure that the public and nuclear | | | | impractical for use in most industrial settings |
| industry workers are kept safe. Simply stated, | | | | simply because of its high cost. In the nuclear |
| there is no margin for error in the manufacturing | | | | industry, lead is used extensively in the |
| process for components used in the nuclear | | | | manufacture of nuclear casks, nuclear storage |
| power generation process. | | | | containers (called pigs), hot cells, lead bricks and |
| Lead is an excellent radiation shielding material for | | | | pipe sleeves. Many of these products must be |
| the nuclear industry. The reasons that lead is such | | | | manufactured with a lead casting process. |