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Naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) waste that is generated from oil and gas production and decommissioning activities could have radiological effects on human health and the environment. Therefore, safe and sustainable management of NORM is crucial. In this paper, a review of the NORM waste management systems, particularly for oil and gas operations in four Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries (i.e., Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam), is carried out. Through the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of such systems, this paper finds that among the four countries, Malaysia has the most comprehensive legal framework for NORM waste management, which includes specific guidelines for managing NORM waste from the oil and gas industry. Since proper NORM waste disposal facilities are currently unavailable in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, they should be developed. However, this task is not easy, particularly finding an appropriate site. Despite having disposal facilities specialized for NORM waste, Malaysia should build more facilities that are designed following the newly published guidance. Although some legal and guiding documents on radioactive or NORM waste have been drafted in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, specific ones should be established to manage NORM waste from oil and gas activities. In Indonesia, the enhancement of local capacity building and construction of laboratories that are capable of NORM concentration analysis will help strengthen the implementation of NORM-related regulations. Meanwhile, more storage facilities for NORM waste should be built in Thailand, and NORM waste from the oil and gas industry should be managed as radioactive waste in Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Southwest University of Science and Technology (15zx7125); the Foundation of Post‐doctoral Scientific Research Station of Wengfu (Group) Co., Ltd. (YF(2020)022); the Foundation of National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Mineral Salt Deep Utilization (SF201906); the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2023YFS0359); and the Undergraduate Innovation Fund Project Precision Funding Program by Southwest University of Science and Technology (s202210619057, 22XCY057) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is conducted for developing separation of some elements of nuclear interest from zirconium-concentrate explored from Egyptian zircon mineral, using certain cationic exchangers. The main results revealed that Amberlite IR-120 is more efficient than Chelex-100 for separating La and Zr in 0.01 mol. L−1 (various acid, carbonate) from single or binary solution with separation factor (SF) of ∼2.1 × 103 (HCl) > 239 (HNO3) >56 (K2CO3) > 17.5 (HClO4). Separation of La and Zr was largely influenced by acid concentration, equilibration period, and temperature. Thermodynamically, values of Δ G o , Δ H o and Δ S o indicated that retention of the metal ions is disordered and endothermic nature. In a column application, Zr is separately eluted without La; with recoveries reached to 98% for Zr and 50% to 67% for La. The larger negativity of free energy of hydration of Zr (−6950 KJ/mol) that of La (−3418 KJ/mol) confirm that Zr exists as a non-sorptive species; meanwhile La forms adsorptive species onto the column bed resin. As a result, this study can be extended in the future to help exploration of the strategic elements (e.g., Zr, Hf, lanthanides) from their minerals in Egypt. Moreover, developed procedure by Amberlite IR-120 resin can be considered as highly efficient and promising for separation and purification of tri-valence lanthanides (e.g., La3+) and/or actinides (e.g., Am3+) from tetra-valence metal ions such as Zr4+ and Hf4+ or their homologous as Ce4+, Th4+ and Np4+. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) with heavier chalcogens such as polonium and tellurium is almost unexplored owing to their lower electronegativities, providing us an opportunity to delve into the uncharted territory of X–H⋯Po/Te H-bonds (X–H, X = O, N, C). Employing high-level quantum mechanical calculations that include dispersion correction and the relativistic effect and considering dimethyl polonium (Me2Po) as the model H-bond donor, we have provided evidence of the X–H⋯Po H-bonds for the first time. The H-bond energies can be as much as 30 kJ mol−1, which is energetically comparable to any conventional H-bonds. It is counterintuitive from the perspective of low electronegativity of polonium but possible if one considers the contributions from polarizability, dispersion, and the relativistic effect. We strongly believe that these fundamental studies are expected to impact polonium chemistry, such as in marine science, as dimethyl polonium is one of the major chemicals produced by aerobic marine microorganisms and tracer applications of polonium for environmental carbon cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]