As noted, NORM (naturally occurring radioactive material) normally contains the radionuclides radium, thorium, and uranium. Human activities can expose and concentrate this material, producing a radioactive contamination hazard or a radioactive waste. But NORM is not regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 or the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act. That pretty much leaves it up to individual states to deal with it.
Here's how one state is faring. To calculate the health effects of radon in natural gas, three factors must be known: Concentration of radon at the wellhead, length of transport from wellhead to household, and dilution of radon in the volume of air. No trace of this analysis exists in the Generic Environmental Impact Statement published by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. In the 1400-page Environmental Impact Statement, radon is mentioned exactly once: "Radon gas, which under most circumstances is the main human health concern from NORM, is produced by the decay of radium-226, which occurs in the uranium-238 decay chain" [6]. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation declares that black shale typically contains trace levels of uranium. Based on a USGS study and gamma-ray logs, geologists at Radioactive Waste Management Associates calculated radium concentrations in the Marcellus Shale to be between 8 and 32 times background. Subjecting that range to a Fortran program, they calculated a range of radon concentrations at the wellhead to be up to 70 times the average in natural-gas wells in the US in 1973 (before fracking).
An additional factor facing natural-gas customers in the eastern US is the distance from the Marcellus Shale to their apartments and homes, which is less than 400 miles. The distance from the Gulf Coast and other formations to consumers is about 1800 miles. When the gas in the pipeline moves at 10 mph, radon, which has a half-life of 3.8 days, will be at three times the concentration of natural gas originating at the Gulf Coast. But other factors intrude. Having examined published dilution factors and average sizes of urban apartments where the dilution factor and amount of hourly air exchange is less than those of non-urban residences, their analysis indicates that radon concentrations in New York City and other urban apartments is greater than average. This author states flatly that New York's present RDSGEIS should be withdrawn.
Radon and radioactivity as companions of fracked natural gas are overlooked and significant threats to public health.
[1] Which happens to be hardened sedimentary rock; with still more metamorphism, it becomes phyllite, and finally schist. You can see whence the subjectivity comes.
[2] Any more sand, at least up to 50 percent, and it's called a sandy claystone. After that, maybe it's just sand.
[3] Oxygen can be traded chemically between substances in what is called redox reactions. These reactions often cause a gain or loss of electrons, which affects charge. In the presence of water or other electrolyte enablers, certain molecules combine with oxygen and become oxidized. Oxidation causes electrons to be lost, which produces a positive charge. When oxygen is lost in a reducing reaction electrons are gained, rendering the substance negative in charge.
[4] The gamma-ray log is an adapted Geiger counter that measures even the low radioactivity levels of most sedimentary rocks.
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