Assessing the public exposure related to the use of NORM in new types of building materials

Abstract

For a safe reuse of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORMs) in construction, it is of great importance to evaluate the radiological aspects of the reuse in addition to chemical, environmental, economic… aspects before the construction materials are introduced on the market. This is of particular importance for new types of construction materials, such as alkali activated materials, that allow the reuse of a large faction (wt%.) of residues. The Euratom BSS (basic safety standards) sets the requirement of the radiological evaluation of building materials that incorporate specific residues from NORM related industries. In the period 2014-2017, the COST Action Tu1301 NORM4Building initiated a lot of research on the radiological evaluation of new types of construction material that are currently in the research state. In the course of the NORM4Building project a radiological database on NORM & building materials was developed. In addition, new dosimetrical tools were developed for a more realistic evaluate of the gamma dose related to the reuse of NORM in construction. These dosimetrical tools provide a more realistic radiological screening of the reuse of building materials in addition to the Activity Concentration Index (ACI) that is proposed by the EU-BSS as screening tool. In the current paper and linked presentation, the contents of the NORM4Building database will be presented next to the newly developed dosimetrical tools for the evaluation of the public exposure to gamma radiation from different types of building materials. The NORM4Building database is available via www.norm4building.org.