Abstract: Problems Associated With the Management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM)

Karen P. Smith

Naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) sometimes accumulates at above normal concentrations in certain oil and gas production wastes. Waste streams most likely to be contaminated with NORM include produced water, pipe scale, sludge, and equipment containing residual quantities of these wastes. Results from NORM surveys indicate that radionuclide concentrations can be quite variable and that NORM occurrence is not controlled geographically. In the past, NORM was unregulated; however, a number of states recently have passed NORM regulations and there is some indication that federal regulations may be forth-coming. The enactment of more stringent environmental regulations, increased disposal costs, and potential liabilities associated with NORM contamination have emphasized the eed to identify safe, accepted disposal methods and effective NORM mitigation and treatment processes.

Accepted NORM disposal methods include burial in controlled, licensed facilities; underground injection; and encapsulation in plugged and abandoned wells. NORM appears to be most easily, safely, and cost-effectively managed when the radionuclides remain in solution in the produced water and are disposed of via permitted underground injection. Treatment processes that remove radionuclides from a waste stream tend to be costly and only transfer the radioactivity to another media which still requires special handling. Emphasis should be placed on adopting process changes that decrease worker exposure to NORM; help keep radionuclides in solution; or reduce the volumes of produced water, pipe scale, or sludge.

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Assistant Secretary for Domestic and International Energy Policy, under contract W-31-109-Eng-38.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90986©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 12-15, 1994