Safety Infrastructure for Uranium & NORM Production in the - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

IAEA Technical meeting on Establishment of Regulatory Forum for Safe Management of Uranium and NORM Residues Vienna 18-22 June 2018 Safety Infrastructure for Uranium & NORM Production in the United Kingdom Country: United Kingdom Presenter: Adam Stackhouse

Contents  Legislation and Regulatory Framework  Regulatory bodies  Uranium related activities  Other NORM related activities  Licensing Process  Management of residues, decommissioning and remediation  Challenging issues

Legislation and regulatory framework

Regulatory framework The cake is “sliced up” and based on topics and given to the regulatory authority that deals with that topic e.g.  environmental + public protection (waste management): environment agencies  health and safety at work: health and safety executive  nuclear safety: office for nuclear regulation  safety of consumer products  safety of building materials  patient protection

What do the environment agencies do?  Regulate all waste management  Specifically for radioactivity:…  Issue licenses for disposal  Discharges to air, water, sewer; burial; transfer of waste to other people  Implement ALARA principle by requiring license holders to optimise  Use BAT to minimise waste generated  Use BAT to minimise discharges to the environment  Use BAT to minimise effects of discharges/disposals  Same for everyone, Nuclear, non-nuclear and NORM

How NORM is captured by the legislation  Substances are captured by legislation if from a listed NORM industrial activity and if NORM concentrations exceed specified values (e.g. clearance values)  For solids: 1 Bq/g except for parts of decay chain where higher values are used (derived from a 300 μ Sv/a public dose – EC RP122 part 2)  For liquids and gases: Values derived using 300 μ Sv/a public dose (e.g. for liquids1 Bq/l Ra-226 and 0.1Bq/l Ra-228)

Uranium related activities  The UK does not have any current uranium mining or milling related activities  Some historic production of uranium at the end of the 19 th century (few hundred tonnes – mostly used for colouring stained glass)  Further detail in a British Geological Survey document:  https://www.bgs.ac. uk /downloads/start.cfm?id=1409

NORM related activities  The UK NORM Waste Strategy summarises NORM related activities in the UK  Comprehensive data collection exercise carried out in 2013

Most significant NORM industries in UK  Oil and gas  Steel  Titanium dioxide

Licensing Process  Types of licenses  Exemption  No review or approval process  Registration  For specific activities where assessments  Approval process is focused on capability of operator rather than activity they wish to do  Issued in 28 days  Permit  Site specification information required – must know characteristics of residues and have a management plan, public dose assessment  Detailed assessment  Aim to issue in 4 months

Management of residues, decommissioning and remediation

UK Oil and gas industry  Generate solid and liquid NORM wastes  >100 installations offshore = >98% of UK oil and gas production

Solid waste  How much?  ~800 tonnes per year  Generally 10s Bq/g can be 100s  ~ 6.4 GBq Ra-226  Can contain HC’s heavy metals etc.  Disposal routes:  Offshore  Directly to sea or injection  Onshore ~ 160 t containing 4 GBq Ra-226  Burial (usually following treatment)  Incineration

Solid waste issues  Oil and gas decommissioning  Availability of decommissioning facilities  Uncertainties of quantities of NORM  Transboundary movement – lack of common controls  Impact of zero waste policies on practice of co-disposal at landfill  Is treatment always necessary – or is it just dilution  Some countries now seeking to use facilities for NORM management in the UK? Is this ok? How does it fit with principle of self-sufficiency

Liquid wastes: PW quantities  Offshore  ~ 200 million m 3 per year  Majority discharged to sea  Some re-injected  Onshore  ~ 12 million m 3 per year (95 % is from one facility and is re-injected)  Unconventional gas ????  Nothing at the moment  How will it be managed

Steel Industry • Generate solid and gaseous NORM waste • 3 Steel plants in the UK

Steel industry gaseous limits  During sintering process (step prior to blast furnace)  Some polonium and lead released as it is volatile  Significant quantities discharged (public dose trivial: a few microsieverts)

Steel industry  Solid waste generated from the gas cleaning system contains Po and Pb the concentration depends on the technologies used.  1 site currently generate ~ 10 000 tonnes per year of residue containing 5 – 12 Bq/g Pb-210 so requires permitting as rad waste  suitable for use in cement making  Cement industry not interested if “radioactive waste”  Issues:  “label” - sometimes the name we give to residues causes problem  Mixing - Is it acceptable to mix with other similar waste to reduce activity and facilitate its use

Titanium dioxide industry  Generate solid and liquid NORM waste  Solid  ~200 000 tonnes of residue ~ 1 Bq/g  ~ 10 tonnes of filter cloths 100s Bq/g  Liquid  3-4 million m 3 liquid effluent – authorised to be discharged to an estuary

Challenging issues - summary  Preparing for decommissioning  Lack of harmonisation e.g. impacts transboundary movements  How to deal with liquids proportionately  Mixing, treatment and dilution  Communication and understanding / operators and public 22 6/21/2018

Thank you