We can still make radiation free metals. It’s just way more expensive than recovery of pre WW2 metals.
Bringing a nuclear reactor to the moon wont contaminate the iron there unless you detonate the reactor near the surface and even then it will only contaminate the iron directly below the blast. The reason steel on earth is contaminated is because we use air that is contaminated with radionuclides in the manufacture of steel. No air on the moon means no contamination.
Also the radiation has fallen pretty much back to background levels since we stopped atmospheric testing so modern steel is generally radiation free. Only the most sensitive steels need to be low background steel. Another 50 years or so and we should be back to baseline.
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More specifically I think it’s pre-WW2 scrap steel from underwater.
Anything exposed to the atmosphere received some radiation but scrap steel from sunken ship are not contaminated.
We can still make radiation free metals. It’s just way more expensive than recovery of pre WW2 metals.
Bringing a nuclear reactor to the moon wont contaminate the iron there unless you detonate the reactor near the surface and even then it will only contaminate the iron directly below the blast. The reason steel on earth is contaminated is because we use air that is contaminated with radionuclides in the manufacture of steel. No air on the moon means no contamination.
Also the radiation has fallen pretty much back to background levels since we stopped atmospheric testing so modern steel is generally radiation free. Only the most sensitive steels need to be low background steel. Another 50 years or so and we should be back to baseline.