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The following material is taken from a Fact Sheet entitled, Defining Regulatory Boundaries: Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) in the Oil and Gas Industry, authored by the Environmental Sciences Division (EVS), Argonne National Laboratory, of the U.S. Department of Energy (Argonne, Illinois)

Oil and gas production and processing operations sometimes cause NORM to accumulate at elevated concentrations in by-product waste streams. The primary radionuclides of concern are isotopes of radium that originate from the decay of uranium and thorium naturally present in the subsurface formations from which oil and gas are produced. The production wastes most likely to be contaminated by elevated radium include produced water, scale and sludge.

Concerns about possible health risks arose in the mid-1980s. Since there were no federal regulations specifically addressing NORM management and disposal, states began establishing their own NORM regulatory programs providing exemption standards, licensing requirements, worker protection standards, and release criteria. The regulation established more restrictive standards for NORM waste disposal, which resulted in much higher waste management and site closure costs for the petroleum industry. 

Approach. With funding from the DOE National Petroleum Technology Office, EVS has conducted studies to (1) identify issues related to NORM in petroleum industry wastes; (2) evaluate potential risks associated with management and disposal options; and (3) demonstrate cost-effective site characterization and restoration approaches. A primary goal is to identify disposal options that would adequately protect human health and safety. A consideration is that increasing the number of options would probably result in lower waste management costs for the industry.

The NORM management and disposal activities being evaluated include options that have not been (or, at one time, were not) widely used because of regulatory or policy-based constraints. They include underground injection, salt cavern disposal, landspreading, disposal in nonhazardous landfills, and re-melting of contaminated scrap equipment. 

Future. EVS's findings indicate that most waste disposal options studied present negligible risk to the general public with respect to potential radiological doses. They also present negligible risk to workers, provided specific controls are implemented. By conducting sensitivity analyses on key parameters that have the most impact on risk, EVS has identified limiting conditions for some of the disposal options. 

More information about EVS's work on NORM issues, including access to relevant publications, can be obtained from EVS's website (web.ead.anl.gov).