In some documents of IAEA and EU it is considered that authority can authorize in specific situations the mixture of radioactive residues containing naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) with other materials to promote recycling of these materials and to reduce exposure for the public.
So, could be dilution of NORM, considered as one of solution in the problems of NORM?
Any suggestion on this topic? Known studies or practical application?
1. Table 7.2 gives Description of disposal methods, such as Land spreading, land spreading with dilution (American Petroleum Institute, Bulletin on Management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) in Oil and Gas Production, API Bulletin E2, Second Edition, April 2006)
In; Guidelines for the management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) in the oil & gas industry, Report No. 412, September 2008. International Association of Oil & Gas Producers.http://www.ogp.org.uk/pubs/412.pdf
2. NORM Management in the Oil & Gas Industry
Michael Cowie, Khalid Mously, Osama Fageeha, Rafat Nassar Environmental Protection Department, Saudi Aramco Dhahran 31311, Saudi Arabia
http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/42/070/42070489.pdf
I believe land application of NORM as a disposal method is misguided. In my regulatory career, I dealt with a company that was licensed by an Ag agency to apply pH control waste water (a precipitated sludge) to farm land as a soil amendment. The sludge was 90% calcium sulfate, but was generated from a metallurgical process with a feed stock containing 300 ppm Uranium.
As a result, the land is now restricted from being used for anything but farming, even though it now is within an urban growth boundary. Residential development would create a Rn-222 problem in homes.
Large volume, low activity NORM waste is appropriate for disposal in an industrial waste landfill as long as the waste form is not leachable.
Dilution with non-radioactive material is an option that might be considered for some types of NORM waste, as it could open up options for disposal that might otherwise be unattractive or precluded.
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/TE-1712_web.pdf
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335821/Final_strategy_NORM.pdf
disposal by dilution can be useful only if the material that is used to dilute the NORM will reduce it to acceptable level based on your regulatory requirement or international standard.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Linguistics
- Composition Studies
- Publication