Policy Surveillance Methods Applied to NORM and TENORM Regulation in the Southeast United States.

Abstract

The regulation of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM) at the state level in the United States of America varies significantly from state to state. Policy surveillance methods and associated technologies have been developed to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of public health policies. Previous research has demonstrated that policy surveillance methods can be applied to state radiation regulations; however, no organization has taken steps to incorporate these results into a permanent database with a continuous data lifecycle program. The first goal of this project aims to apply policy surveillance methods to NORM and TENORM regulations in five southeastern states in the United States with a focus on basic definitions and general licensing requirements. The second goal is to introduce policy surveillance methods to health physicists and act as a blueprint for establishing additional datasets of radiation regulations.