Activity Report of TENORM Task Group

7. Report on Recent Status of TENORM in Viet Nam
7.1 Introduction
Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) and Technologically Enhanced
Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (TENORM) are the new concepts for personnel, whowork in the field of radioactive waste management in Viet Nam. Viet Nam has a variety ofmineral resources, but exploration and exploitation of these mineral resources belong to Ministryof Resource and Environment, Ministry of Industry, and Oil and Gas General Bureau. The mineralresources concerned to NORM/TENORM are mainly crude petroleum, coal, phosphate ore,uranium ore, sand beach, tin, and rare earth. However, the exploitation of these minerals is verysmall, only the exploitation of coal and crude petroleum that is remarkable. The problem on
TENORM in Viet Nam is the natural radionuclide in scales and sludge from petroleum industry
and waste from sand beach processing are assembling and becoming harmful to the environment.
As the activity of the TENORM Management Task Group, The Viet Nam-JapanTENORM Discussion/Survey Meeting was implemented in Hanoi, Viet Nam on August 25-29,
2003. In this meeting, reports of NORM and TENORM status in Australia, Malaysia, Japan andViet Nam were presented. The ways of cooperation on TENORM management within the Forumfor Nuclear Cooperation in Asia (FNCA) framework was discussed.
7.2 TENORM Inventory in Viet Nam
In Viet Nam, there is no inventory of TENORM in all field of industry. Below is some data
related to TENORM in the send beach processing (Table 1) and radioactive waste from theactivities of Institute for Technology of Radioactive Rare Elements (Table 2).
Table 1 Inventory of TENORM in Sand Beach Processing* (Data in 1999)
MineralIlmenite
ZirconRutileMonazite

Capacityt/y139,000
16,00017,000
Not known

Quality
52% TiO2
52% ZrO2
85% TiO2
35-40% R2O3

Equivalent dose(µSv/hr)
0.77-850-90

Note:* most of produces was exported

Table 2 Inventory of TENORM in Institute for Technology of Radioactive
Rare Elements (ITRRE)
Kind of TENORM
Uranium ore(or tailing)
MonaziteU, Th tailing frommonazite pilot plant

Estimated waste
volume (t/y)
10-20Radioactive content(%)
0.02-1%U

Equivalent dose(µSv/hr)-54-42 -45
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7.3 Regulation on TENORM
The responsibility of radioactive waste management belongs to Safety and Radiation
Bureau, and Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission. Currently, Viet Nam has no special regulation
for NORM/TENORM control, but there are some regulations concerned to it, such as:1) Ordinance on Radiation Safety and Control (ORSC) (June 25, 1996).
2) Decree on the Detail Directions for implementing of ORSC (July 16, 1998).
3) National Standard on Radioactive waste management - Classification of RW (TCVN 6868.2001)
7.4 Case Study Related to TENORM
7.4.1 Technical Visit to Phung Interim Storage Facility.
The Phung Interim Storage Facility is operated by ITRRE and is located about 25km westof Hanoi. The gross area of the facility is about 20,000m2. In this site there is a Monazite pilot
plant that was constructed in cooperation between Viet Nam and India and started its operation in
1992. But due to low demand of rare earth elements in Viet Nam, its operation was ended in 2001.
On this site there are one warehouse and two concrete tanks to store NORM/TENORM
wastes generated from the pilot plant, the laboratories of the ITRRE, Uranium ore processing, andetc.
The waste containing Uranium is solidified by cement in yellow colored drums and theirsurface dose rates are about 10 µSv/hr (background dose rates are about 0.1 µSv/hr inside theoffice on the same site). The waste generated from the monazite pilot plant is packed into smallbags and then packed into the blue colored drums, and their dose rates are about 50 µSv/hr and 13µSv/hr at surface and 1 m from the surface of containers, respectively.
There were two concrete tanks. In these tanks about 130 tons of untreated waste containing
Uranium and Thorium were stored. There was small treatment equipment that has been operated
until last year. The level of the tanks was about 2 m. below the surrounding ground level. ITRRE
planned to pile up soil and elevate the ground level. ITRRE will resume the treatment of waste inthis year on the earliest schedule.
In 2004, ITRRE will upgrade the infrastructure of the facility, pile up soil and elevate theground levels up to 2 m higher. Temporary vault for untreated radioactive waste, radioactive wastetreatment house, and new house for treatment of radioactive wastes will be built. ITRRE is trying
to get supports from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Viet Nam, collaborate
with IAEA and FNCA to upgrade the current laboratory for radioactive waste treatment and train
key personnel and carry out researches on radioactive waste treatment and management.

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Activity Report of TENORM Task Group

7.4.2 Visit Thua Thien Hue Mineral Companya) Processing Facility
The company was founded in 1987. The number of workers is about 1,000 (processing250: mining 750). Their business is the production of Zirconite, Ilmenite and Monazite fromblack beach sand. The typical dose rates in the facility were as follows:-Background (conference room)
Raw material (black sand)Zirconite
Ilmenite
Monazite

0.15
5.77-80.790µSv/hr
µSv/hr
µSv/hr (at surface)µSv/hr (at surface)µSv/hr (at surface)

The dose rates in the workplace were in the range of a few µSv/hr. This means theannual dose of worker can be attained 6 mSv/y (2,000 work-hr in a year).
b) Mining Site
The mining site is located near the beach, which is 30 km. far from the processing
facility. The mining site was founded by the geochemical institute survey. Sand was pumped up
with water from the bottom of the valley. Further, black sand was separated from white sand by
weight difference method. Black sand produced was 150t/d. The typical dose rates in the sitewere as follows:- White sand
- Black sand

0.15-0.20 µSv/hr
3.5 µSv/hr

7.5 Problems to be Solved
Viet Nam needs the Atomic Laws, which there are specifically regulations for
NORM/TENORM management. In addition, personal training and upgrading of the infrastructureof the Radioactive Waste Management (RWM) facility is imperative problem.
Safety and Radiation Bureau and Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission should contact
with other ministries who generate a remarkable amount of TENORM (i.e. oil scale and sludge,and monazite etc.) to find out the way to manage these waste
7.6 Conclusions
NORM/TENORM problems are very important to be considered. Before this time, naturalradiation was not included in our radiation protection framework.
NORM/TENORM industries should be a target of radiation protection (to be regulated).
Anyway, the origin of radioisotopes is natural. Criteria or standards used should be different fromthat of artificial source. Too strict regulation will cause much social and economical confusion- 49 -