Environmental management program (EMP)‎ for radiological hazards, of granite fines waste as a naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM)‎

Abstract EN

Shaq Al - Thu`ban industrial cluster, East Cairo is the largest granite industrial agglomeration in Egypt as well as the fourth world ranked granite industrial zone.

It poses the most imminent hazard to the surrounding environment and workers and the neighboring residential communities due to the huge amounts of waste resulted during the processing of the granite.

Many of the previous studies in the world dealt with raising the added value of granite fines waste (GFW), such as use in the manufacture of concrete industry, ceramics industry, mortar industry, pigment-based paints industry, agriculture and forestry etc., to raise the economic feasibility of (GFW).

The current study examined the radiological hazards as a naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) in (GFW) and proposed an environmental management program (EMP) that takes into consideration the requirements of ISO: 14040 and the high radiation background in those wastes.

Results shows that 238U, 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K concentrations in samples ranged from 58.48±4 to 79.35±5 Bq kg-1, 57.65±3 to 78.01±6.3 Bq kg-1, 66.5±5.6 to 87.58±7.2 Bq kg-1 and 845.73±71.74 to 925.7±69.8 Bq kg-1 respectively.

The average of the absorbed dose rate, the annual effective dose and the gamma index was around a mean value of 116.72 ± 10 nGy h-1, 0.57 ± 0.2 mSv y-1 and 1.84 ± 0.2, respectively.

Investigated waste samples can also be used in various industries to raise the added value and economic feasibility while setting the controls set by the proposed (EMP).