Radiological Assessment and Mechanical Separation of NORM Contaminated Soil from Iraqi Oil Fields

Authors

  • Yousif M. Zayir Ministry of Science and Technology, Baghdad, Iraq
  • Nada. S. Ahmedzeki Chemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq
  • Takrid M. Nafae Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission, Lebanon
  • Wssam Zaidan Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission, Lebanon
  • O.El Samad Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission, Lebanon
  • Rola Bou Khozam Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission, Lebanon

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31699/IJCPE.2016.2.4

Keywords:

NORM, Radium isotopes, radiological assessment, mechanical separation

Abstract

Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) contaminated sites at Al-Rumaila Iraqi oil fields have been characterized as a part of soil remediation project. Activity of radium isotopes in contaminated soil have been determined using gamma spectrometer High Purity Germanium detector (HPGe) and found to be very high for Al-Markezia, Al-Qurainat degassing stations and storage area at Khadhir Almay region. The activity concentration of samples ranges from 6474.11±563.8 Bq/kg to 1232.5±60.9 Bq/kg with mean value of 3853.3 Bq/kg for 226Ra, 843.59±8.39 Bq/kg to 302.2±9.2 Bq/kg  with mean value of 572.9 Bq/kg for 232Th and 294.31±18.56 Bq/kg to 156.64±18.1 Bq/kg with mean value of 225.5 for 40K. Six hazard indexs radium equivalent, representative level index, adsorbed dose rate in air, annual effective dose equivalent, external hazard index, and internal hazard indexes were calculated to estimate the potential radiological health risk in soil and dose rate associated with it and found to be high. Screening of contaminated soil was performed to evaluate the feasibility of particle size separation. The fractions obtained varied between 75 µm (200 mesh) to 300µm (48 mesh).The results show that the largest weight percent in fine particle size cut ( -75, -125+75, -250+125) µm is 73.9% and all radium isotopes are concentrated in 37.5µm particle size while small fluctuations are observed in the other particle size cuts.

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Published

2016-06-30

How to Cite

Zayir, Y. M., Ahmedzeki, N. S., Nafae, T. M., Zaidan, W., Samad, O., & Bou Khozam, R. (2016). Radiological Assessment and Mechanical Separation of NORM Contaminated Soil from Iraqi Oil Fields. Iraqi Journal of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, 17(2), 25-35. https://doi.org/10.31699/IJCPE.2016.2.4

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