Really?
A Russian told me the Chernobyl story, along with several other stories about Russia. And it is totally possible to dilute radioactivity to background levels. The principle of dilution works exactly the same for any substance.
There are peculiarities. It is theoretically possible but takes too much efforts to be practical. And it would make a highly punishable offence to risk it.
That is true. . . But it doesn’t work for those workers collecting the radioactive scrap. That is still dangerous work risking levels of exposure that could shorten their lives. Once the scrap is mixed, and monitored, the levels can be brought down to close to background levels, but not to match background levels. There will still be some elevation above background, depending on the ratios of contaminated to un-contaminated materials.
The question is whether the smelters are even bothering to monitor the mix.
“The solution to pollution is dilution!”