Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM VI). Proceedings of an International Symposium

This symposium, the sixth in a series of symposia on naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), once again provided an important opportunity to review recent technical and regulatory developments concerning exposure to NORM. The symposium brought together experts from a wide range of countries to report on and discuss the progress made in identifying, quantifying and managing the radiological risks associated with industrial processes involving NORM. The revision of international standards, which was presently in its final stages, provided an important backdrop to the presentations and discussion. As with previous symposia in this series, the technical programme was well-subscribed, with 81 contributions being accepted for presentation. Nearly half of these were accepted for oral presentation and the balance in the form of posters. To help realize the objectives of the symposium, arrangements were made in the programme for each day's presentations and discussions to be reviewed and summed up by a rapporteur. On the final day of the presentations, the rapporteur's report included a review of the entire symposium and of the extent to which the objectives of the symposium were met. The first NORM symposium, held in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1997, had been organized in response to concerns within the non-nuclear industry in the European Union (EU) that the implementation of a new European Council Directive (Directive 96/29/Euratom of 13 May 1996, laying down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiation) would place unreasonable and unwarranted legal obligations on many industrial enterprises that handled and processed material containing low levels of radionuclides of natural origin. Subsequently, as new regulations for the control of exposure to NORM became established in EU Member States and as knowledge about levels of exposure improved, those concerns diminished to some extent, although the definition of the scope of regulation remained controversial. Furthermore, it became apparent that this was becoming more of a global issue because of the increasingly international profile of the mining and minerals processing industry, with large quantities of minerals being mined and beneficiated in countries remote from Europe and shipped to other countries - often over vast distances - for further processing. In line with this trend, successive NORM symposia began to take on a more international flavour and the involvement of the IAEA became progressively greater. It is significant to note in this regard that NORM VI was the first in this series of symposia to be held outside Europe. Given this background, it was decided that the planning of the NORM VI symposium should follow an approach similar to that adopted for NORM V in 2007, in that specific steps should be taken to encourage strong participation from countries outside the EU. The steering committee arranged for broad international representation on the scientific committee of the symposium and encouraged the members of that committee to actively promote participation in the symposium from within their own geographic regions. Furthermore, the IAEA provided financial support to nine participants from Member States eligible to receive assistance under the IAEA technical cooperation programme. Those efforts were evidently successful in that the symposium attracted 140 participants from 33 countries, including 18 countries outside the EU. The Proceedings contain all 38 papers accepted for oral presentation and four rapporteur reports, as well as a summary that concludes with the main findings of the symposium. This Companion CD contains the text versions of the poster presentations