Speaker
Description
Development of industries which are producing NORM residue and waste including oil and gas, uranium milling and mining, water treatment plants, phosphate production, rare earth elements mining in Iran is a subject of great concern for public health and the environment. For integrated management of NORM residue and waste, setting a national strategy is substantial. Iran Radioactive Waste Management (IRWA) Co. is the only responsible for safe management of NORM residue and waste based on following steps: minimization of waste production, environmental and source radiomonitoring, characterization, conditioning, stabilization, storage and disposal of NORM waste. Minimization of waste production reduces the amount of NORM waste and facilitates NORM residue and waste segregation. The main objectives of environmental and source radiomonitoring are field measurement, sampling, categorization of waste and optimization of aforementioned activities. Characterization is one of the main steps of integrated NORM residue and waste management which provides inventory of naturally occurring radionuclides concentrations. Regulation of NORM residue and waste is prepared by Iran Nuclear regulatory authority (INRA). Various techniques and approaches will be considered for safe management of NORM residue and waste including conditioning and stabilization by using of prepared inventories and national laws. Based on Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) storage and disposal options and long-term environmental monitoring will be investigated. In this paper aforementioned strategies will be discussed and lesson-learned and experiences from national policy will be shared.
