Radium Monitoring at Coal Fired Power Plants

GEL Laboratories, LLC (GEL) supplies analytical testing services to a variety of industries. Recently GEL has observed an increase in the monitoring of naturally occurring radionuclides in the environment from non-nuclear customers including coal, steel, natural gas and the petroleum industries. Regulatory oversight for the coal industry in the United States has escalated the monitoring of radium and other elements around active and inactive coal ash storage basins. This paper shares specific results encountered in the monitoring process and considerations for radium method selection.