Background
NORM is the acronym for Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material. One source of NORM is oil and gas production. While the oil and gas that is extracted from a formation is not radioactive, the water that is also present in these formations often contains low levels of the radionuclide radium-226 (Ra-226), which is of the Uranium 238 decay series. During extraction of the oil and gas, formation water is also extracted. As this water is brought to the surface, some of the dissolved radium precipitates out in solid form. Most commonly, the radium co-precipitates with barium sulfate, a hard and relatively insoluble scale deposit. While the levels of radioactivity are insignificant in the formation water, the scale build-up in the pipes concentrates the radioactivity. This process, analogous to bio-accumulation, is referred to as Technologically-Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM).
Grefer
Joseph Grefer and his family leased a 33-acre tract of Louisiana industrial property for decades to Intercoastal Tubular Services Inc. (ITCO), a company that cleaned and stored used oil drilling pipes for ExxonMobil. In 1986, ExxonMobil learned that some of the pipes contained low levels of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), but allowed the pipes to remain at the site in Harvey, La., until operations ceased in 1992. A lawsuit was subsequently filed.
In 2001 a Louisiana state court jury awarded the Grefers $56 million in compensatory damages and $1 billion in punitive damages for radioactive contamination caused by the oil company (ExxonMobil Corp. v. Grefer). The punitive award was later reduced to $112 million by the Louisiana Court of Appeals. On April 21, 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from ExxonMobil Corp. over the $112 million in punitive damages.
How Many Grefer Sites Are There?
Because TENORM contaminated wastes in oil and gas production operations were not properly recognized in the past, the disposal of these wastes may have resulted in environmental contamination in and around production and disposal facilities similar to the Grefer site in Louisiana. The common past practice of surface disposal of the radioactive sludge/scale, and produced water has likely lead to ground and surface water contamination. A survey conducted by the American Petroleum Institute in 1989 suggested that 1/3 of all producing U.S. oil and gas wells have elevated radiation. As such there are likely more Grefer sites that will be identified.
What’s being done today?
By definition, NORM is not subject to regulatory control under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 or the Low Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act. Because of these regulatory exclusions, NORM is subject primarily only to individual state radiation control regulations. While these regulations are intended to apply generally to all NORM-containing materials, several parts could apply specifically to oil and gas industry pipe scale. Oil field pipes and equipment are now surveyed for the presence of radioactivity. Contaminated equipment is either held in storage or sent to a commercial decontamination facility. In addition, tank sludges are also surveyed for radioactivity, dewatered, and held in storage pending disposal.
For more information, please
contact John Elliott at (925) 403-6200.
