Characteristics of NORM in the oil industry from Eastern and Western deserts of Egypt

Direct gamma-ray measurement of different radionuclides in the surface water of Suez Canal

“…Shawky et al (2001), used gamma spectroscopy for characterizing naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) in oil industries from the Eastern and Western Deserts of Egypt. For the different nuclides in 238 U decay series, different gamma energy lines are used, including the 63.29 keV γ-line of 234 Th, the 186 keV line of 226 Ra after considering the 186.7 keV of 235 U if present, the 295.1 keV γ-line and 351.6 keV energy line of 214 Pb, the 609 keV line, 768 keV, 934 keV and 1120 keV of 214 Bi.…”

Environmental Radioactivity of TE-NORM Waste Produced from Petroleum Industry in Egypt: Review on Characterization and Treatment

“…Therefore, the total absorbed dose rates increases with the activity concentration, and consequently enhances the radiological impact on the workers surrounded by the wastes. Algeria [32] Australia [34] Brazil [35] Brazil [36] Brazil [37] Congo [38] Egypt [27] Egypt [29] Egypt [30] Italy [38] Kazakhstan [39] Malaysia [40] Norway [41] Saudi Arabia [42] Tunisia [38] Tunisia [33] UK [6] USA [43] USA [21] Australia [34] Brazil [35] Brazil [36] Egypt [29] Egypt [30] Malaysia [40] Norway [41] Tunisia [38] As shown in Table 5, the concentration levels of radium nuclides in scale vary within a wide range being much higher than those of the sludge. According to the latest Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimation, the average radium nuclide concentration is around 18,000 Bq/kg and 2800 Bq/kg in scale and sludge, respectively [44].…”

“…Typical ranges or average values of the radium radionuclide concentrations in the formation or produced water from different oil fields, including the recent data, are listed in Table 7 [29,32,34,38,51,[53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62].…”

“…Because the radium radionuclide concentrations in that waste water are usually below the clearance levels (Table 8), it is recognized as a low specific activity waste and they may be injected into underground formations or disposed into the sea. Algeria [32] Australia [34] Brazil [53] Congo [38] Egypt [29] Italy [38] Norway [54] Norway [55] Norway [56] Syria [57] UK [58] USA [51] USA [59] USA [60] USA [61] Egypt [62] a Mean activity concentration. A comprehensive evaluation of discharges from the oil industry to the sea was done for European waters during the European Commission Marina Project [64].…”

Radiological Risk Assessment in A Type of Complex Petroleum Refinery in Egypt

“…Refinery wastes are typically in the form of sludge, spent process catalysts, filter clay, and incinerator ash [5]. In addition, produced water contains enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) resulting from the 232 Th and 238 U series [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] this water is currently considered to be the largest volume of radioactive waste generated by the petroleum industry [8].…”