• Background radioactivity,
• the Geology, Mobility, and Variability of NORM in the environment,
• Diffuse sources of TENORM, which are generally large-volume, low-activity waste streams produced by industries such as mineral mining, ore beneficiation, production of phosphate fertilizers, water treatment and purification, paper and pulp, and oil and gas production.
• Regulations and regulatory issues.
• Scrap Metal Recycling.
• Risk from low levels of radiation and radioactivity.

Future sections will address:

• Surveys for NORM/TENORM,
• Depleted Uranium, and
• Instrumentation.

NORM is everywhere; we are exposed to it every day. Natural radiation has been with us since the "Big Bang." NORM is found in:

• our bodies,
• the food we eat,
• the places where we live and work,
• the ground we live on, and
• in products we use.

Almost everything in nature has some small amount of natural radioactivity. We are also bathed in a sea of natural radiation coming from the sun and deep space. Living systems have adapted to these levels of radiation and radioactivity.

But some industrial practices involving natural resources concentrate these radionuclides to a degree that they may pose risk to humans and the environment if they are not controlled.

TENORM is found in many waste streams; for example, scrap metal, sludges, slags, fluids, and is being discovered in industries traditionally not thought of as affected by radionuclide contamination.

Other activities, such as flying at high altitudes, expose us to elevated levels of NORM (increased radiation from outer space).

The majority of radionuclides in TENORM are found in the uranium and thorium decay chains. The decay products of Radon are the largest source of natural radioactivity we are exposed to. We will briefly review other radionuclides occurring in nature (carbon, potassium and rubidium) that contribute primarily to background doses.

Radium and radon are the principal radionuclides used to measure NORM and TENORM in the environment.

Not only the forms and volumes, but the levels of radioactivity in TENORM vary.

TENORM is not regulated by the Atomic Energy Act and only indirectly by other Federal regulations. Control and regulation of TENORM is not consistent from industry to industry nor from State to State or Country to Country. About a dozen States have some form of regulations addressing TENORM.

Proposed regulations are moving from concentration-based standards to dose-based standards. The Health Physics Society and the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors are working on standards and draft regulations for States to adopt.

Current discussions about the validity of the linear no dose threshold theory are central to the TENORM issue. Many professionals and industrial representatives are questioning the risk from low doses of chronic radiation, whereas at the same time, the environmental community and some regulators are concerned that the risks from low level radiation are more dangerous than previously thought.