The NORM4Building database, a tool for radiological assessment when using by-products in building materials

Abstract

Highlights  Datamining was used for the construction of the NORM4Building database  Systematic radiological evaluation of by-products for use in concrete  Radiological evaluation of cement, concrete, ceramics and (phospo)gypsum  The datamining approach enables the construction of an updated detailed database

Sick building syndrome: are we doing enough?

“…For instance, the article 75 of the Euratom basic safety standards (EU-BSS) (Council directive 2013/59/Euratom) stipulated that, 'the reference level applying to indoor external exposure to gamma radiation emitted by building materials, in addition to outdoor external exposure, shall be 1 MilliSievert (mSv) per year' (European Council 2014). EU-BSS is expected to be transposed to national law by EU Member States before February 2018, aiming to establish a basic standard adoptable by the EU members to protect the public against the exposure of ionizing radiation (Croymans et al 2018;Schroeyers et al 2018). Studies have widely addressed the issue associated with the emission of natural radioactivity from building materials (Bavarnegin et al 2013;Chen, Rahman, and Atiya 2010;Lu, Yang, and Ren 2012;Mavi and Akkurt 2010;Ravisankar et al 2012;Saad, Al-Awami, and Hussein 2014).…”

Radiological characterisation of alkali-activated construction materials containing red mud, fly ash and ground granulated blast-furnace slag

“…Individually, none of the studied residues are suitable for direct use as a 100% building material. This means the final I-index and the Raeq of any building material that contains a proportion of these residues have to be calculated to incorporate the residues and other components of any building material based on their total NOR content Schroeyers et al, 2018). According to the databases, the aggregates and the cement used for concrete production have significantly lower NOR content resulting in a lower I-index.…”

“…The processing technology can also lead to a strong fluctuation in the NOR concentration, even in the case of the same residue repository (Croymans et al, 2017b). Table 1 presents global information about the NOR content of BA, FA, GGBFS, RM based on the NORM4Building (Schroeyers et al, 2018) and By-BM (By-Products for Building Materials) ) NOR databases. In relation to the residues that this article considers, namely CKD, ISSA, APC, RHA, there are no records yet in the NOR databases (Sas, 2017;Schroeyers et al, 2018).…”

“…Table 1 presents global information about the NOR content of BA, FA, GGBFS, RM based on the NORM4Building (Schroeyers et al, 2018) and By-BM (By-Products for Building Materials) ) NOR databases. In relation to the residues that this article considers, namely CKD, ISSA, APC, RHA, there are no records yet in the NOR databases (Sas, 2017;Schroeyers et al, 2018). (Sas, 2017) ** NORM4Building database (Schroeyers et al, 2018) There is a fundamental difference between the two NOR databases.…”

“…In relation to the residues that this article considers, namely CKD, ISSA, APC, RHA, there are no records yet in the NOR databases (Sas, 2017;Schroeyers et al, 2018). (Sas, 2017) ** NORM4Building database (Schroeyers et al, 2018) There is a fundamental difference between the two NOR databases. The By-BM database operates with individually reported sample information, including information on how the samples were measured, which enables further statistical analysis of the data.…”