A large amount of naturally occurring radioactive materials in the form of by-products or waste is produced annually by the growing activity of the oil and gas industry. Solid scale, sludge and produced water are typical residues contaminated with natural radionuclides from the uranium and thorium series, particularly 226Ra and 228Ra. The observed specific activities of these radionuclides are in the ranges up to 3700 kBq/kg and up to 168 kBq/kg for solid scale and sludge, respectively. The average activities of both radionuclides exceed the exemption level of 10,000 Bq/kg recommended by IAEA safety standards. This means that TENORM wastes from the oil industry may generate radiation exposure levels which require attention and continuous monitoring during some routine operations in this industry. This exposure is mostly caused by external gamma radiation coming from the 226Ra radionuclide and its progenies.
Five bottom sediment cores from the Kuwait Bay were dated using 210Pb and 137Cs radionuclides. For evaluating the sedimentation rate two methods were applied: geochronology with the constant rate of supply unsupported 210Pb (CRS model) and the Weibull distribution of anthropogenic 137Cs. The sedimentation rates in this region, calculated by the first method ranged from 0.24 to 0.39 cm/year, while the same rates obtained from 137Cs distribution were slightly lower: from 0.1 to 0.25 cm/year. These relatively small differences can be explained by additional input of the Chernobyl accident to the 137Cs inventory in the bottoms sediments of the Northern Hemisphere.
JavaScript jest wyłączony w Twojej przeglądarce internetowej. Włącz go, a następnie odśwież stronę, aby móc w pełni z niej korzystać.