Activity Report of TENORM Task Group8.

NORM/TENORM Management in China

8.1 Introduction
In China, NORM mine refers to non-uranium mines containing relatively highconcentrations of natural radionuclides (e.g. rare earth mines and phosphate mines, etc.).
Radioactivity will probably be concentrated and enriched in products, by-products or wastes in theprocess of processing, smelting and utilizing of NORM mines.
NORM/TENORM ubiquitous existing in rare earth, phosphate and non-ferrous metalindustries has been paid attention for long term in China. Some regulatory requirements have been
established and enacted.

8.2 TENORM Inventory
China still has not comprehensive nation-wide investigation data on TENORM
inventory and only segmental data is available. Table 1 lists some of data collected.
Table 1 Data on Radioactivity Concentration in Industries Related to NORM/TENORM

Rare earth

Phosphate

Coal
Building
material

IndustryRegion
Type of samples
Raw mine
Inner
Concentrates
Mongolia
Tailing
Raw mine
SichuanConcentrates
Mine
Fertilizer
Country
Raw coal
Anhui
Stone coal
Hubei
StoneAnhui
SlagHubei
Sslag
Brick
Concrete

Note: * data not available- 51 -Activity Concentration (Bq/kg)
232
226
UTh
Ra
19.3
2600
*
*
9800
20.1
22.3
1012
23.4
450
1335
279
766
3962
540
15-3032*13-3012
22-1660*4-1097
72.5
51.3
72.5
930
9820
1560
35
1670
460
12680
2690
60
3130
*6555
*3050
238

Activity Report of TENORM Task Group

8.3 Regulation on TENORM
8.3.1 Regulatory Authorities
State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) and Provincial Environment
Protection Agency take responsibility of supervising and managing radioactivity contamination
resulting from NORM/TENORM.
SEPA’s functions and duties on NORM/TENORM are: (1) developing policies, regulations,standards and technical guides; (2) providing guides to local environmental protection agency; and(3) handing accidents of cross-province radioactivity contamination.
Provincial Environment Protection Administration’s functions and duties are: (1)supervising and surveillance NORM/TENORM activities; (2) reviewing and approving
environment impact statement report; and (3) environmental radiation monitoring in provincial
range.
Local environment protection agency takes part in supervising and management
activities.
8.3.2 Legislative Requirements
Currently, China still has not specific regulation directly control of NORM/TENORM but
NORM/TENORM management has been involved in other legislative documents.
Legislation system in nuclear safety and radiation safety composed of 5 hierarchy, i.e.
law, regulation, department rule, standard and technical guideline.
a) Law“Law on the Prevention and Control of Radioactive Contamination” went into force on
2003-10-01 is the first law on radioactive waste management. This law set up specific chapter
for NORM/TENORM, i.e. Chapter V: Prevention and control of radioactive contamination
during the operation of uranium, thorium mines and mines accompanying natural occurring
radioactivity material (NORM).
The law states:· units exploiting and utilizing mines with NORM shall, before applying
for a mining license, draw up an environmental impact report and report to the competentenvironmental protection administration department of the people’s government at provincial
level and higher for examination and approval;· radioactive contamination prevention and control facilities integrated with structural units aturanium, thorium and NORM mines shall be designed, constructed and put into operation at
the same time as the main part of the project;· radioactive contamination prevention and control facilities shall be checked and accepted at
the same time as the main part of the project; only after checking and accepting that thestandards have been met the main part of the project be put into production or operation; and- 52 -Activity Report of TENORM Task Group· tailing repositories shall be constructed for the storage and disposal of tailings produced
during the operation of uranium, thorium and NORM mines; tailing repositories shallconform to radioactive contamination prevention and control requirements.
b) Department Rule
SEPA has promulgated several department rules involving NORM/TENORM. The
important rules are listed as the followings:· Radiation Environment Management Rule (1990); and· Regulatory Requirements on Nuclear Application Waste (1987).
These department rules defined:· environmental impact assessment document should be submitted to environmental protection
authority for reviewing and approve before the project starts;· the enterprises shall take effective measurements to ensure radiation safety and decrease thewaste volume; and· radioactive slag and tailings with specific activity above 2x104 Bq/kg should be storage intailing heap or impoundment manner.
c) Standard and Technical Guideline
The “Regulation on Radioactive Waste Management (2000)” is the comprehensive
standard on radioactive waste. The specific chapter on NORM/TENORM is set up in thestandard.
The standard stipulates basic requirements on NORM/TENORM waste management,
which can be summarized as the followings:· waste generators are responsible for taking effective measurements to manage
NORM/TENORM waste;· necessary facilities for waste management shall be set up;· discharging of gaseous and liquid effluents should not exceed the limitation approved byregulatory bodies;· environmental impact assessment files should be submitted and approved before constructing
disposal facilities of NORM/TENORM solid waste;· for NORM/TENORM solid waste or residues already existed, remediation measurements
should be taken;· status of radioactivity in the environment should be assessed before closure anddecommissioning of waste generating facilities; and· reuse and recycle of NORM/TENORM waste shall be reviewed and approved by regulatorybodies.

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Another important standard is the “ Limit of Radionuclides in Building Materials”. Thestandard first defines internal exposure index (IRa) and external exposure index (Ir) of buildingmaterial, i.e.
IRa=CRa/200
Ir=CRa/370+CTh/260+CK/4200
Where, CRa, CTh, CK is specific activity of Ra,Th and K in building materials,respectively, unit in Bq/kg.
Then Table 2 can be adopted to judge use and limit of building material
Table 2 Limit of Radionuclide in Building Materials
ClassesAIRa≤1.0Ir≤1.3B≤1.3≤1.9C≤2.8>2.8

Use
Used anywhereNot used in bedroom
Cover of the wall of building
Cover of the wall
Tombstone and garden stone

8.4 Case Study Related to TENORM
8.4.1 Radiation Level in a Thoriated Tungsten Electrode Manufacturing Factory
The process of manufacturing thoriated tungsten electrode caused occupational exposuresand produced radioactive waste. Therefore, the polluted items in the manufacturing process wereanalyzed and γabsorbed dose rate, potential alpha energy of thoron progeny and surface
contamination were monitored. The results showed: (1) γabsorbed dose rate in air was usually inthe range of 10-30×10-8 Gy/h but the value approached to 600×10-8 Gy/h in few places; (2)potential alpha energy of thoron progeny was in the magnitude order of hundred nJ/m 3 but thevalue was one magnitude order higher than other workshops; (3) α,β surface
contamination level of workshops was very low, most was below 0.04 Bq/cm2 forα contaminationand 0.4 Bq/cm2 for β contamination; (4) specific activity of 232Th in liquid waste was in the rangeof 40〜82 Bq/l; and (5) volume of solid waste was 30 Kg/a or so, the specific activity accessed to4800 Bq/kg.
The effective measurements have been taken for protection of workers and environment,including:· arranging properly layout of workshops;· workers in some workshops, which radiation level are higher, are required to put
protective clothing and other protective equipments on;· gaseous waste and liquid waste is treated properly before discharging into the- 54 -Activity Report of TENORM Task Groupenvironment;· solid waste and slag are stored in specific storage facilities, slag is reused by professionalcorporations; and· radiation level in environment is periodically surveyed.
8.4.2 NORM/TENORM Waste Management in Taiyuan Steel Corporation
The Taiyuan Steel Co. started their operations in 1934. Their initial production capacity
was 16 thousands tons, the capacity has been increased and in 2003’s the capacity is 4 million tons.
Now this company is the biggest stainless steel manufacturing company in the world. They havethree blast furnaces of 1650 m3, revolving furnaces of 80 tons, AOD furnaces of 60 tons, and otherequipments for steel making.
Through the process of steel production, huge amounts of wastes were generated. Those
generated wastes were only piled up without any segregation for more than 50 years since theirstarting time. As the results, the wastes heap became very high and steep, and the surrounding
environments were getting worse due to dusts suspended by wind.
Therefore, the remediation work has been started in 1983. The accumulated wastes weresegregated for recycling. To recycle the wastes, a cement production plant was constructed.
Cement, bricks and other products were made from those wastes. The wastes not applicable forrecycling were covered with soil and used for construction of a park wall. The height and lengthof the wall are 13 m and 2,500 m, respectively.
The recycling of wastes is continuously carried out at present time. There are six pits forthe interim storage of the wastes. Wastes generated are stored in each pit depending on type ofwaste, and then are segregated. The recyclable materials are recycled and the residual wastes areland filled.

8.5 Problems to be Solved
China meets some problems in NORM/TENORM control. These problems result fromtwo sides, one is regulatory side and another lies in technology side.
In regulatory side, the existing difficulties are the followings:· quantitative criteria for NORM mine have still not be defined ;· having not practicable criteria in exemption and clearance of TENORM waste and residues;
and· regulatory area is not clear in other works i.e. which industries should be regulated. At present,
some industries such as rare earth, phosphate and non-ferrous smelting, have entered into
regulatory authorities’ sight. However, some industries, for example, petroleum and natural gas
industries, which are concerned extensively in some countries, have not been regulated.

- 55 -Activity Report of TENORM Task GroupIn technical side, specific technologies need to be developed due to low radioactivity
concentration and large volume of NORM/TENORM waste and residues. The technologies ondisposal, recycle and reuse of NORM/TENORM wastes and residues as well as safety assessment
methodology should be considered as priority issues.

8.6 Conclusions
NORM/TENORM is ubiquitous existing and may lead exposure at some stage of theprocesses and in the use or reuse of products, residues and wastes. Radiation protection andenvironment contamination in the field should be concerned.
China has long history in exploiting, processing and using of NORM/TENORM materials
and has also paid attention to control and use properly of these materials. Although radiation levelin these industry fields has been investigated and primary regulatory principles have been
established, some problems still exist such as having not practicable criteria on exemption andclearance of residues and wastes.
Considering the fact that NORM/TENORM is involved in a variety of industrial fields in
China as well as its specific characteristics of large waste volume, low radioactivity concentrationand long lived radionuclides contained in wastes. Regulatory polices should be considered
carefully so that the contradiction between cost and benefit can be in balance.

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