Eisenbud, M.; and Gesell, T. F. 1997, Environmental Radioactivity from Natural, Industrial & Military Sources, Fourth Edition: From Natural, Industrial and Military Sources, Academic Press (ISBN: 9780122351549) 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. Norm knew it was going to be one of those days when he woke up and found himself about to pee in his dad’s wardrobe.

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. International Atomic Energy Agency, 2014, Radiation Protection and Safety of Radiation Sources: International Basic Safety Standards, STI/PUB/1578 (July 2014) The main radionuclide in scrap from the oil and gas industry is radium-226, with a half-life of 1600 years as it decays to radon. Those in nuclear industry scrap are cobalt-60 and caesium-137, with much shorter half-lives. Application of a 0.3 mSv/yr dose limit results in a clearance level for Ra-226 of 500 Bq/kg for oil/gas scrap, compared with 10 Bq/kg for nuclear material.

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Granite, widely used as a cladding on city buildings and also architecturally in homes, contains an average of 3 ppm (40 Bq/kg) uranium and 17 ppm (70 Bq/kg) thorium. Radiation measurements on granite surfaces can show levels similar to those from low-grade uranium mine tailings. Table 8 shows some recorded activity concentrations for building materials. However some extreme values in excess of these have also been recorded. 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!

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. The first four columns represent four of the 14 nuclides in the uranium decay series, the next two represent two of 10 in the thorium series. (For total activity in any coal, assume these are in serial equilibrium, hence multiply U-238 by 14 and Th-232 by 10, then add K-40.)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 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.

Over the years there have been many occasions when it was asserted that coal-fired power stations emitted more radioactivity into the environment (from NORM) than was released anywhere in the nuclear fuel cycle. While having some basis in fact, the claim is generally not correct now where deployment of emission reduction technology– scrubbers, filters and flue gas desulphurization– acts to capture solids from this material.More volatile Po-210 and Pb-210 still escape. In China, coal-fired power plants are a major source of radioactivity released to the environment and thus contribute significantly to enhanced NORM there. (Wu et al in NORM VII) Mineral sands contain zircon, ilmenite, and rutile, with xenotime and monazite. These minerals are mined in many countries and production amounts to millions of tonnes per year of zirconium and titanium (from rutile and ilmenite), though thorium, tin and the rare earth elements are associated. The NORM aspect is due to monazite – a rare earth phosphate containing a variety of rare earth minerals (particularly cerium and lanthanum) and 5-12% (typically about 7%) thorium, and xenotime – yttrium phosphate with traces of uranium and thorium. Gonzalez, A, J., 2011, Radiation Protection, presentation given at the World Nuclear University Event –‘Key Issues in the World Nuclear Industry Today’, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Decommissioning experts are increasingly concerned about double standards developing in Europe which allow 30 times the dose rate from non-nuclear recycled materials than from those out of the nuclear industry. In respect to actual dose limits, 0.3 to 1.0 mSv/yr individual dose constraint is applied to oil and gas recyclables, and 0.01 mSv/yr for release of materials with the same kind of radiation from the nuclear industry.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. Radioactive Waste in the Oil and Gas Industry, Safety Report Series No. 419, STI/PUB/1171 (ISBN: 9201140037) IAEA Technical Reports Series no. 419, p 84.NORM VII reported 29,000 Bq/kg Th-232 for zircon in Nigeria NORM results from activities such as burning coal, making and using fertilisers, oil and gas production. Typically a soil cleanup level of 0.5 to 1 Bq/g is a goal, though for residential land in UK 0.1 Bq/g is the level required. Material above the target level is sent to landfill, and anything over 100 Bq/g needs to be buried. Heavy metals may be of more concern than radionuclides in such situations.Following the Fukushima accident large areas were contaminated mainly with caesium fallout. In 2016 the government announced that material with less than 8 Bq/g caesium would no longer be subject to restriction regarding disposal. Radon