Oil and gas - Service by Radiation Professionals

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OIL GAS
The Little Mistake That Can Hurt Your Operation
and the 5 Things You Can Do About It
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OIL GAS
The Little Mistake That Can Hurt Your Operation
and the 5 Things You Can Do About It
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OIL GAS

• Before We Get Started, Some Background
  Information
• The geologic formations that contain oil and gas
  deposits also contain naturally-occurring
  radionuclides, which are referred to as "NORM"
  (Naturally-Occurring Radioactive Materials)
• Uranium (and its decay products)
• Thorium (and its decay products)
• Radium (and its decay products)
• Lead-210.

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OIL GAS
Geologists have recognized their presence since
the early 1930s and use it as a method for
finding deposits. Much of the petroleum in the
earth's crust was created at the site of ancient
seas by the decay of sea life. As a result,
petroleum deposits often occur in aquifers
containing brine (salt water). Radionuclides,
along with other minerals that are dissolved in
brine, precipitate (separate and settle) out
forming various wastes at the surface Mineral
scales inside pipes Sludge's Contaminated
equipment or components Produced waters.
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OIL GAS
Because the extraction process concentrates the
naturally occurring radionuclides and exposes
them to the surface environment and human
contact, these wastes are classified as NORM.
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OIL GAS

• RISK VS. MANAGEMENT
• We won't get into the risks of radiation too
  much, if you are an insider you are likely aware
  of them already. They are well documented
• Exposure risks to workers
• Exposure risks to surrounding community
• Risk of moving contaminated waste material
• Financial risk of contaminated metal and
  equipment
• Social and PR risk
• Legal and regulatory risk
• Decline in productivity, plus many more.

If these are managed well then the risks are
minimal. In fact, most incidents we hear about
came about because of poor management or
operation.
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OIL GAS
DATA CAN HURT YOU OR HELP YOURISK VS.
MANAGEMENT To manage an operation well, you need
to make good decisions. To make good decisions
you need the best available information. To get
the best information it starts with accurate and
reliable data. We have outlined 5 things you can
do today to get more reliable and accurate data
in regards to NORM.
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OIL GAS

• LOOK IN THE RIGHT PLACES
• Ensure you are looking in the right places. A
  good place to start is
• Separator Vessels
• Around Pipes
• Filters
• Flow Interrupts
• Ponds and Sludge
• Make sure you look in these places regularly

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OIL GAS
USE THE RIGHT TOOL One of the mistakes we see is
people thinking that a radiation detector is just
a detector. Not all radiation detectors are
created equal. There are many different
categories of radiation detectors for a multitude
of different purposes. So if you are conducting
environmental monitoring, NORM identification,
gauge compliance or contamination monitoring, get
the right tool designed for that job.
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OIL GAS
COLLECT ENOUGH DATA You need to know how long to
measure for your instrument, to enable you to
achieve a meaningful results. As monitoring
precision in radiation is tightly linked to
counting statistics, monitor too little and the
uncertainties on your measurements may exceed the
magnitude of the actual measurement. This renders
your data meaningless. Along with incorrect
instrument choice, this is one of the leading
causes of invalid data. Rule of Thumb The
longer the measurement the greater the precision
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OIL GAS
DO A BASELINE SURVEY Have your radiation levels
changed compared to last year? How can you prove
that? The answer is simple you need to show
what your levels were a year ago as well. To
show that you dont have NORM or a contaminated
site, you need to know what the levels were when
you started.
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OIL GAS
STAY COMPLIANT Keep up to date with your
regulatory requirements. There is a good chance
you have an RMP for your site. You need to stay
on top of it and the requirements set out and
committed to in this plan. As with most risks,
it is better to manage it and stay on a plan
rather than try to pull it together later.
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OIL GAS

• FIND A PARTNER
• When choosing a company to be your client
  partner, look for
• Someone who has the complete offering for the
  life cycle management of the project
• A professional team with a history of working
  closely with regulators
• A company that is committed to ensuring you get
  the best information to fulfill you requirements.

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Join our radiation safety management course at
radiationprofessionals.com Level 1, 46 Hill
Street, East Perth WA 6004 Local Phone 08 9325
9948 Int. 61 (7) 3112 5116