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Managing Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) in the oil and gas industry

International Association of oil & gas producers
  • Managing Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) in the oil and gas industry.

This report provides guidance and general information on the management of process streams or equipment contaminated with minor concentrations of Naturally Occurring Radionuclides (NORs). Colloquially streams or installation parts contaminated with NORs are indicated as Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) within the oil and gas industry. NORs are present at varying concentrations in the Earth’s crust and consequently also will be present in natural concentrations in gas and oil reservoirs. The NOR concentrations in well fluids may become enhanced due to extraction processes and subsequently form NOR enriched deposits within production facilities thereby forming NORM. Examples include produced water, scales, sludge and pigging debris. Uncontrolled work activities involving NORM can lead to unwanted exposure and dispersal posing a risk to human health and the environment. These risks – or doses stemming from the exposure to ionizing radiation emerging from NORM – can be reduced by the adoption of appropriate controls to identify if and where NORM is present. The general principles of protection against the hazards of ionizing radiation are primarily implemented by utilizing best working practices at NORM work areas. In this respect exposure control and adequate dosimetry are the most critical components of a health and safety programme in the protection of workers. The protection of the environment, and subsequently the public at large, is achieved by controlled disposal of NORM-waste and the adoption of emission controls. In this report, the term NORM will be used throughout, but alternative terminology can also be commonly encountered. The acronym TENORM – Technologically Enhanced NORM – is mainly used in the United States and is used to discriminate between ‘natural’ NORM and any NORM subject to human driven technological processing. Radioactive scale deposits were initially indicated as Low Specific Activity (LSA) scale. This acronym emerged from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) transport regulations. Similarly, installation parts that are contaminated at their inner surface with deposited NORs are sometimes termed Surface Contaminated Object (SCO). Within the radiation protection discipline, there is a need for caution due to the myriad of different measurement units and prefixes in common usage. These can lead to potential errors of several orders of magnitudes and the risks incorrectly stated. Within this report, the International System of units (SI) will be used throughout, with alternatives and conversion factors shown in Appendix A

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