Speaker
Description
The oil and gas production market in Brazil has been growing year by year, and with the discovery of new oil fields in the pre-salt layer, in 2019 Brazilian oil production reached the achievement of more than 3 million barrels per day, consolidating itself as the ninth largest oil producing country in the world.
With the gradual increase in oil production and market opening for foreign oil operators, it has brought an increase of NORM generation and the necessity to regulate and establish the best management practices in this specific market.
Various regulatory agencies are responsible for deliberating on NORM-related issues in Brazil and in United States of America, which have played a fundamental work in this role.
In Brazil there are no companies licensed to conduct the final disposal of NORM generated in the O&G industry, with a licensed warehouse in land being the alternative practiced so far.
Thus, the volume of NORM has being gradually increased, requiring the construction of new warehouses, and consequently generating more exposure to workers during the warehouse operation phase and demand for more rigid management practices for stored NORM drums.
In this scenario, an oil operator company developed a plan for the first NORM export in Brazil, in order to conduct the final disposal in the USA. This plan was analyzed by the nuclear and environmental agencies, which did not see obstacles to do this activity.
The export and final disposal of this first shipment occurred successfully in 2019.
The paper aims to present this first experience of exporting and final disposal of Brazilian O&G industry NORM, as well as showing the all challenges, lessons learned, and radioprotection actions adopted to achieve the success of this operation.
