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The worldwide NORM production and a fully automated gamma-ray spectrometer for their characterization

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Abstract

Materials containing radionuclides of natural origin and being subject to regulation because of their radioactivity are known as Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM). By following International Atomic Energy Agency, we include in NORM those materials with an activity concentration, which is modified by human made processes. We present a brief review of the main categories of non-nuclear industries together with the levels of activity concentration in feed raw materials, products and waste, including mechanisms of radioisotope enrichments. The global management of NORM shows a high level of complexity, mainly due to different degrees of radioactivity enhancement and the huge amount of worldwide waste production. The future tendency of guidelines concerning environmental protection will require both a systematic monitoring based on the ever-increasing sampling and high performance of gamma-ray spectroscopy. On the ground of these requirements a new low-background fully automated high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometer MCA_Rad has been developed. The design of lead and cooper shielding allowed to reach a background reduction of two order of magnitude with respect to laboratory radioactivity. A severe lowering of manpower cost is obtained through a fully automation system, which enables up to 24 samples to be measured without any human attendance. Two coupled HPGe detectors increase the detection efficiency, performing accurate measurements on small sample volume (180 cm3) with a reduction of sample transport cost of material. Details of the instrument calibration method are presented. MCA_Rad system can measure in less than one hour a typical NORM sample enriched in U and Th with some hundreds of Bq kg−1, with an overall uncertainty less than 5 %. Quality control of this method has been tested. Measurements of three certified reference materials RGK-1, RGU-2 and RGTh-1 containing concentrations of potassium, uranium and thorium comparable to NORM have been performed. As a result, this test achieved an overall relative discrepancy of 5 % among central values within the reported uncertainty.

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Notes

  1. Sometimes these materials are known in the literature as TENORM (technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material).

  2. The U and Th abundances vary for different rock types: e.g. in considering shale, the range of U and Th abundances reported by [17] are 2.4–3.4 and 8.5–14.3 ppm respectively. We remind that the specific activity of 1 ppm U (Th) corresponds to 12.35 (4.06) Bq/kg.

  3. REEs contain 16 chemical elements, including those with atomic numbers 57 (lanthanum) through 71 (lutetium), as well as yttrium (atomic number 39), which has similar chemical properties.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for useful comments and discussions to P. Altair, M. Baldoncini, E. Bellotti, L. Carmignani, L. Casini, V. Chubakov, T. Colonna, M. Gambaccini, Y. Huan, W. F. McDonough, G. Oggiano, R. L. Rudnick and R. Vannucci.This work was partially supported by INFN (Italy) and by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Padova Section, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Via Marzolo 8, 35131, Padua, Italy

    C. Broggini, A. Caciolli, R. Menegazzo & C. Rossi Alvarez

  2. Legnaro National Laboratory, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Via dell’Università, 2, 35020, Legnaro, Padua, Italy

    G. P. Bezzon, G. P. Buso & G. Fiorentini

  3. Center for GeoTechnologies, University of Siena, Via Vetri Vecchi, 34, 52027, San Giovanni Valdarno, Arezzo, Italy

    A. Caciolli, I. Callegari, E. Guastaldi, G. Massa, L. Mou & A. Pasquini

  4. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Ferrara, Polo Scientifico e Tecnologico Via Saragat, 1, 44100, Ferrara, Italy

    G. Xhixha, S. De Bianchi, G. Fiorentini, F. Mantovani & M. Shyti

  5. Ferrara Section, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Via Saragat, 1, 44100, Ferrara, Italy

    G. Xhixha, G. Fiorentini, F. Mantovani & M. Shyti

  6. Faculty of Forestry Science, Agricultural University of Tirana, Kodër Kamëz, 1029, Tiranë, Albania

    G. Xhixha

  7. Botanical, Ecological and Geological Sciences Department, University of Sassari, Piazza Università 21, 07100, Sassari, Italy

    M. Kaçeli Xhixha

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  1. G. Xhixha
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Xhixha, G., Bezzon, G.P., Broggini, C. et al. The worldwide NORM production and a fully automated gamma-ray spectrometer for their characterization. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 295, 445–457 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-1791-1

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