NORM Visits ALASKA

Dear Alaskan, meet NORM(Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) and here is what it means:

In 1987, BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. (BPX) began surveying its facilities on the North Slope of Alaska to test for the presence of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM). Only one occurrence of NORM in a heat exchanger bundle from a gathering center was found to contain NORM scale at that time. Recent declines in crude oil production from the North Slope oil fields have increased daily quantities of produced water to over 40 million gallons in the Prudhoe Bay Field alone. Regular NORM surveys have continued since 1987 because increases in NORM are generally correlated to increased water production.

In anticipation of a future need for an economical and environmentally sound solution for NORM disposal, BPX and ARCO Alaska, Inc. (ARCO), Co-Operators of the Prudhoe Bay oilfield, began discussions with regulatory agencies and environmental groups to provide a regulatory framework for NORM disposal. The focus of the discussions was to educate both the environmental community and the regulators on the occurrence of NORM, disposal alternatives, and the relative health risks of NORM handling and disposal, compared to other commonly understood health risks faced by our society. This approach created an environment in which rational discussion and decision making prevailed, and ultimately led to approval to dispose of NORM materials either in Class II wells or in cement slurries to be used in well abandonment procedures. In 1992, BP began disposal of NORM materials via injection after five barrels of the materials were removed from a NORM scale contaminated heat exchanger during cleaning.

About 100 tons of NORM solids were cleaned from 3,000 oil production pipes and casing. The resulting solids were processed to a particle size of less than 80 mm slurried with 10,000 bbl of water, and then injected into a Class II injection well.

And here is how the Juneau “Bureaucracy” protects our children through

NO REGULATIONS:

1. Does the state have a specific provision regulating disposal of oil & gas wastes containing NORM or TENORM?

No

1.1. Does the state set TENORM disposal limits?

No

2. Does the state have a general provision regarding the licensing of NORM/TENORM?

No

3. Is this an agreement state?

No, this is a non-agreement state

4. Does the state law define TENORM?

No

5. Does the state law define NORM?

No

6. Does the state exclude TENORM from the definition of RCRA regulated wastes?

No

6.1. Does the state include TENORM in RCRA regulated wastes?

No

8. Does the state have provisions prohibiting the disposal of TENORM/NORM, applicable to the entire state?

No

9. Does the state have provisions for the protection of workers regarding TENORM/NORM that can be expressly applied to oil and gas workers?

No

10. Does the state have provisions that protect the public in regards to TENORM/NORM that can be expressly applied to oil and gas operations?

No

11. Does the state include produced water in the regulation of NORM or TENORM?

No

12. Does the state include drill cuttings in the regulation of NORM or TENORM?

No

13. Does the state include sludge in the regulations of NORM or TENORM?

No

14. Does the state include scale in the regulation of NORM or TENORM?

No

15. Does the state include contaminated equipment in the regulation of NORM or TENORM?

No

In ending, good thing Uncle Oil is looking out for us! For the rest of the story...
Norm - The Other Unabomber