Strange Byproduct Of Fracking Boom: Radioactive Socks

[Marlin]

Strange Byproduct Of Fracking Boom: Radioactive Socks


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2013/07/24/strange-byproduct-of-fracking-boom-radioactive-socks/

[SloGlo]

only strange two the uninitiated. sum states govern n.o.r.m. as strict as they do nuclear r.a.m.

[drayer54]

Funny, the oil loving nuke haters aren't upset about it...

I'd like to see the NRC issue a white finding to some frackers.

[GLW]

Funny, the oil loving nuke haters aren't upset about it...

I'd like to see the NRC issue a white finding to some frackers.

compiled and lifted from a couple of sources within my thoughts, assessments and expanding business ventures;

In the U.S., as elsewhere, NORM and TENORM has often been defined by what it is not, rather than what it is.  It has been defined by exclusion: it is not low level waste, nor is it source, special nuclear, or byproduct material under Atomic Energy Act. The definition of source material found in the Atomic Energy Act (AEC 1972) is based on the early safeguards concerns for material that could be used to ultimately make reactor fuel or nuclear weapons. When the definition was written, Congress considered that source materials needed to be placed under regulatory control on the basis of promoting common defense and national security. The health and safety impacts from NORM other than source material were considered to be manageable, to be relatively insignificant, and to have no basis for regulation from the standpoint on the common defense and national security (USNRC 1996). The hazards posed by uranium mill tailings (a byproduct material) were incompletely recognized in the uranium industry's early years, and, while the AEA of 1954 instituted licensing of mill operators, tailings remained free of controls.  When the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Control Act (UMTRCA) was passed in 1978, a new definition of byproduct material was created at section 11 e(2).  11 e(2)Byproduct material under the Act limited control to tailings "produced by the extraction or concentration of uranium or thorium from any ore processed primarily for its source material content" (EPA 1994). Therefore, other tailings (vanadium, radium, etc.) as well as other NORM bearing wastes are not regulated by the AEA, and are considered TENORM. EPA and other Federal and State agencies are responsible for regulating public exposures to NORM that are not licensed by NRC. State authority is derived from the Constitution, by which the States have primary responsibility for the health and safety of the public. EPA, State, and NRC programs do not treat the radiological risks from NORM consistently. NRC licensees generally are required to meet more restrictive conditions than are possessors and users of other NORM. There are no significant differences in the radiological risks of these materials, although radon and some discrete radium sources have a higher radiological hazard than uranium and thorium (NRC 1996). Currently there are no federal regulations specifically controlling TENORM.  However, numerous federal laws do regulate parts of the TENORM industry.  An example is the NESHAPS for radon emanation from a mill tailings pile. EPA has authority to protect the public health and environment from adverse affects of exposure to ionizing radiation. The authority to regulate TENORM is derived from several statutes, including the AEA; the Clean Air Act (CAA); UMTRCA (as mentioned before); The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA); and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) explicitly exclude source, byproduct, and special nuclear material (by definition), but they do not explicitly exclude NORM/TENORM. TSCA includes a subchapter on Indoor Radon Abatement, which was written with residential NORM (i.e., Rn) in mind (EPA 1993). In 2005, Congress amended the AEA, extending NRC control over additional forms of radioactive material specifically, short-lived naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) and naturally-occurring and accelerator-produced radioactive materials (NARM) waste residues. However, this authority did not extend to the more abundant diffuse sources of LAW cite by the EPA in its 2000 study. In 2007, the Commission amended its regulations to include these additional radioactive materials consistent with Section 11(e)(3) of the Atomic Energy Act, as amended (NRC 2007).

no applause necessary,...it's what I do,....

[SloGlo]

currently, pes-ay allows regular landfill acceptance.

[HydroDave63]

Funny, the oil loving nuke haters aren't upset about it...

I'd like to see the NRC issue a white finding to some frackers.

Oh, they will be upset about it eventually.....right now cheap gas and intermittent 0 dollar electricity from wind push is killing nukes, so it's all good. Once the cheap gas hammer striking the regulatory anvil (the one that crushes coal) has finished off most nukes, then the green eye of Sauron will focus on the TENORM and wellhead methane leakage at drill rigs. The Hegelian Dialectic must be fulfilled!