Effluent and dose control from European Union NORM industries : assessment of current situation and proposal for a harmonised Community approach : volume 1, main report

In Title VII, the Council Directive 96/29/Euratom addresses the issue of exposure to natural radiation sources in an industrial context, referred to as "work activities". To assist Member States with the implementation of Title VII, the Commission has published a number of guidance documents dealing with general implementation issues (Radiation Protection 88), the establishment of reference levels for workplaces processing NORM (Radiation Protection 95) and the application of the concept of exemption and clearance to natural radiation sources (Radiation Protection 122 part II). No guidance has yet been developed in relation to discharges. A review of the current regulatory framework within Member States regarding the implementation of Title VII of the Directive with respect to effluent discharges and the related disposal of wastes from NORM industries is presented. To date, all EU Member States have addressed the issue of 'work activities' within their regulatory structure. Most Member States are, however, at an early stage in the identification of work activities giving rise to significant exposures to the public as a result of wastes and discharges from NORM industries. At present there are no specific discharge controls in the majority of Member States. Guidance on approaches for assessing the individual dose to members of the public from NORM discharges requiring regulatory control has been developed. In general the guidance is very similar to that proposed for discharges from nuclear installations (see Radiation Protection 129). However, the background levels of the radionuclides present in NORM complicate the use of environmental monitoring. Therefore monitoring of emissions at the source would be the most suitable approach to obtain input for dose assessment. To allow a rapid identification of the effluent discharges potentially requiring regulatory control, screening levels for relevant natural radionuclides were derived for atmospheric and liquid discharges.