One afternoon, the boys are riding their bikes outside Norm's house. By accident, Mikey crashes into Norm's garage and smashes a valuable china tea set. Unfortunately, Norm's teenage neighbour, Chelsea, films the whole thing and posts the video on YouTube! This means war and Norm's determined to get his revenge... Though not normally considered as NORM, wastes from the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle through to fuel fabrication may be treated as NORM, opening up more options for disposal. Such material includes uranium oxides. Radon exposure is also an issue in uranium mines. Phosphates and fertilizer production The list of isotopes that contribute to natural radiation can be divided into those materials which come from the ground (terrestrial sources – the vast majority) and those which are produced as a result of the interaction of atmospheric gases with cosmic rays (cosmogenic). Radioactive Waste in the Oil and Gas Industry, Safety Report Series No. 419, STI/PUB/1171 (ISBN: 9201140037)

Phosphoric acid is an intermediate step in almost all phosphate applications. Production requires first the beneficiation of the ore, followed by acid leaching and separation. In general the beneficiation stage does not result in a reduction of NORM in the ore. Treatment with sulfuric acid leads to the production of gypsum (phosphogypsum) which retains about 80% of Ra-226 and 30% of Th-232 and 14% of U-238. This means that uranium and thorium are enhanced to about 150% of the value of the beneficiated ore, making it a significant NORM. This gypsum can either be sold or disposed of. In the USA, the use of phosphogypsum with a radioactivity greater than 370 Bq/kg is banned by the Environmental Protection Authority. Gypsum can either be disposed of in piles or discharged to rivers and the sea. Some leaching from the material is possible. Gypsum wastes can have radioactivity levels up to 1700 Bq/kg. Scales from the sulfuric acid process are formed in the pipes and filtration systems of plants and need to be cleaned or replaced periodically. While much smaller in volume than gypsum, these wastes can be much more radioactive – even over 1MBq/kg.

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Language - this is for primary school-children, and they can wait to use mild profanity like 'Gordon-Flipping-Bennet.' That's very annoying.

Cosmogenic NORM is formed as a result of interactions between certain gases in the Earth’s atmosphere and cosmic rays, and is only relevant to this paper due to flying being a common mode of transport. Since most cosmic radiation is deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field or absorbed by the atmosphere, very little reaches the Earth’s surface and cosmogenic radionuclides contribute more to dose at low altitudes than cosmic rays as such. At higher altitudes, the dose due to both increases, meaning that mountain dwellers and frequent flyers are exposed to higher doses than others. For most people, cosmogenic NORM barely contributes to dose – perhaps a few tens of microsieverts per year. By contrast, terrestrial NORM – especially radon – contributes to the majority of natural dose, usually over 1000 microsieverts (1 mSv) per year. Some of the main comsogenic nuclides are shown in Table 1, carbon-14 being important for dating early human activities. During combustion the radionuclides are retained and concentrated in the flyash and bottom ash, with a greater concentration to be found in the flyash. The concentration of uranium and thorium in bottom and flyash can be up to ten times greater than for the burnt coal, while other radionuclides such as Pb-210 and K-40 can concentrate to an even greater degree in the flyash. Some 99% of flyash is typically retained in a modern power station (90% in some older ones). While much flyash is buried in an ash dam, a lot is used in building construction. Table 3 gives some published figures for the radioactivity of ash. There are obvious implications for the use of flyash in concrete. Another major source of terrestrial NORM is potassium 40 (K-40). The long half-life of K-40 (1.25 billion years) means that it still exists in measurable quantities today. It beta decays, mostly to calcium-40, and forms 0.012% of natural potassium which is otherwise made up of stable K-39 and K-41. Potassium is the seventh most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, and K-40 averages 850 Bq/kg there. It is found in many foodstuffs (bananas for example), and indeed fills an important dietary requirement, ending up in our bones. (Humans have about 65 Bq/kg of K-40 and along with those foods are therefore correspondingly radioactive to a small degree. A 70 kg person has 4400 Bq of K-40 – and 3000 Bq of carbon-14.) Cosmogenic NORM Dale, L., Trace Elements in Coal, Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP), Report No. 2 (October 2006) In South Africa, HolGoun's Uranium and Power Project was investigating uranium recovery from the Springbok Flats coal field, estimated to contain 84,000 tU at grades of 0.06 to 0.10% U. The project is investigating the feasibility of mining the low-grade coal, using it to fire a conventional electricity generation plant, and extracting the uranium from the residual ash.Radioactive materials which occur naturally and where human activities increase the exposure of people to ionising radiation are known by the acronym 'NORM'.

Activity concentration guidelines for the use of NORM residues in building construction have been developed using the ACI approach and material has been classified into three categories, depending on whether the dose is below 0.5 mSv/yr (unrestricted use), between 0.5 and 1 mSv/yr (use restricted to roads, bridges, dams or, with dilution, low occupancy buildings) or above 1 mSv/yr (prohibited use). These levels correspond to equivalent activity concentration under 350 Bq/kg (and under 200 Bq/kg Ra-226), 350 to 1350 Bq/kg (200-1000 Bq/kg Ra-226) and over 1350 Bq/kg (1000 for Ra-226) respectively. For example, scrap steel from gas plants may be recycled if it has less than 500,000 Bq/kg (0.5 MBq/kg) radioactivity (the exemption level). This level however is one thousand times higher than the clearance level for recycled material (both steel and concrete) from the nuclear industry! Anything above 500 Bq/kg may not be cleared from regulatory control for recycling.Current IAEA Basic Safety Standards (BSS) clearance levels specify 1 Bq/g for natural radionuclides in the U-238 series in secular equilibrium with progeny, and the same for those in the Th-232 series. IAEA BSS clearance levels for bulk amounts being recycled are: Fe-55 1 MBq/kg, Co-60m 1 MBq/kg, Ni-63 100 kBq/kg, C-14 1 kBq/kg, Cs-137 0.1 kBq/kg, Ra-226 1 kBq/kg.NORM and cosmic radiation account for over 85% of an ‘average individual’s’ radiation exposure. Most of the balance is from exposure related to medical procedures. (Exposure from the nuclear fuel cycle - including fallout from the Chernobyl accident - accounts for less than 0.1%.) Industries producing NORM Coal Energy– combustion and ash If the scale has an activity of 30,000 Bq/kg it is 'contaminated', according to Victorian regulations. This means that for Ra-226 scale (decay series ofnine progeny) the level of Ra-226 itself is 3300 Bq/kg. For Pb-210 scale (decay series of three) the level is 10,000 Bq/kg. These figures refer to the scale, not the overall mass of pipes or other material (cf Recycling section below).A 2010 analytical report shows Pb-210 scale at 18.6 MBq/kg from a pipeline in Canada. Australian Nuclear Forum Inc., Information Paper No. 1, August 2002,Trace Elements in Australian Coals,

Earlier IAEA recommendations for the classification of exempt waste ( i.e. beneath low-level, and therefore not requiring any special facilities for disposal) are between 10 Bq/g and 1 MBq/g for 'moderate amounts'– depending on the radionuclide in question and the chances of public exposure ( Radiation Protection and Safety of Radiation Sources: International Basic Safety Standards, IAEA July 2014), however in practice categorization of waste is strongly determined by where the waste comes from. The eleventh hilarious title in the award-winning, laugh-out-loud series, The World of Norm. Perfect for fans of Tom Gates and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Norm knew it was going to be one of those days when he woke up and nothing happened ... Home alone and the fridge to himself? What could possibly go wrong? Well, apart from the snails. And having to hang his mum's pants out to dry. And the dreaded perfect cousins paying a visit. And worst of all, the entire family going vege-flipping-tarian! But apart from that, what could possibly go wrong? You'd think Norm would know better by now, wouldn't you? ABSO-FLIPPING-LUTELY! With brilliantly funny illustrations throughout from Donough O'Malley. Praise for Jonathan Meres: 'Hilarious stuff from one of my comic heroes!' - Harry Hill 'Jonathan Meres is flipping funny!' - Eddie Izzard About This Edition ISBN: Radon exposure is often an issue in metal mines, and a survey of 25 underground mines in China showed six having radon concentrations of over the control limit of 1000 Bq/m 3. In all the metal mines the annual average effective dose from radon and radon progeny was 7.75 mSv. Mineral sands Radon also occurs in natural gas at up to 37,000 Bq/m 3, but by the time it gets to consumers the radon has largely decayed. However, the solid decay products then contaminate gas processing plants, and this manifestation of NORM is an occupational health issue, as discussed above.Why on earth did Norm’s family have to move, anyway? In their old house he’d never tried to pee in anything other than a toilet. And when Norm is in bed, he’s kept awake by his dad snoring like a constipated rhinoceros! During mining and milling of zircon, care must be taken to keep dust levels down. Then when zircon is fused in refractories or ceramics manufacture, silica dust and fumes must be collected. This may contain the more volatile radionuclides, Pb-210 and Po-210, and the collection of these gases means that pipeworks and filters become contaminated. The main radiological issue is occupational exposure to these radionuclides in airborne dusts in the processing plant. Waste produced during zirconia/zirconium production can be high in Ra-226, which presents a gamma hazard, and waste must be stored in metal containers in special repositories. Powders from filters used during zirconia manufacture have been assayed as high as 200,000Bq/kg of Pb-210 and 600,000 Bq/kg Po-210. Tin production Gooding, T.D.; Smith, K. R.; Sear, L.K. 2006, A radiological study of pulverised fuel ash (PFA) from UK coal-fired power stations, joint paper by the Health Protection Agency and the United Kingdom Quality Ash Association (UKQAA) presented at the UKQAA's Ash Technology Conference 2006 (AshTech 2006) held in Birmingham, UK on 15-17 May 2006 NORM in the oil and gas industry poses a problem to workers particularly during maintenance, waste transport and processing, and decommissioning. In particular Pb-210 deposits and films, as a beta emitter, is only a concern when pipe internals become exposed. External exposure due to NORM in the oil and gas industry are generally low enough not to require protective measures to ensure that workers stay beneath their annual dose limits (such as set out by the IAEA basic safety standards). Internal exposures can be minimized by hygiene practices. Metals and smelting Radon in homes is one occurrence of NORM which may give rise to concern and action to control it, by ventilation.