Interested contributors have until 28 February 2020 to submit abstracts for the International Conference on the Management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) in Industry, to be held in Vienna, 19-23 October 2020.
Over the past decades, many studies have found higher natural radionuclide activity concentrations in wastes and residues from a wide range of industrial activities that are not part of the nuclear fuel cycle. Despite some successful cases, many Member States have struggled to find feasible and implementable approaches for the proper management of NORM wastes and residues.
The IAEA’s first conference on NORM will build upon knowledge and experience gathered from a variety of events focused on industry previously held around the world. The conference aims to explore good practices in place worldwide and bring together different players to identify current issues, expected future challenges, and possible strategies for dealing with them.
The IAEA welcomes high quality contributions that fall under the umbrella of the five cross-cutting topics listed below:
- NORM Inventories (identification of NORM-related industries operating within the country; amounts of residues and wastes being generated; radioactivity concentrations or exposure rates; other hazardous materials of concern).
- National Policies and Strategies (setup of a waste management organization; centralized vs. multiple dispersed facilities; NORM-dedicated facilities vs. facilities accepting multiple types of wastes; stakeholder involvement).
- NORM Characterization in Industrial Operations (appropriate sampling and monitoring methodologies; analytical methodologies; infrastructure and equipment requirements; quality assurance and quality control; recordkeeping).
- Residue and Waste Management (life cycle management; cost assessment across all aspects of residue and waste management; management options for residues/wastes (application of the waste management hierarchy); selection of management options, financial guarantees; other considerations (e.g. economic impacts); transportation requirements and controls).
- Decommissioning of NORM Facilities and Remediation of Contaminated Sites (decommissioning and waste management plan; decontamination technologies; dismantling technologies; remediation, identification of contaminated sites; remedial action evaluation and selection; costing and funding; long term stewardship of closed or decommissioned NORM management facilities and sites, institutional controls).
Those wishing to present a paper at the conference must submit a contributed paper in electronic format through the conference’s web-based file submission system (IAEA-INDICO) by 28 February 2020. Paper copies cannot be accepted and the instructions on the format of the submissions must be closely followed in order for the abstract to be considered by the Programme Committee.
