By-BM Natural Occurring Radioactivity database
The current version of the By-BM database contains individual data about Ra-226, Th-232, K-40 activity concentration of 431 by-products and 1095 construction materials and raw materials was collected from 48 countries. Visualisation of the database was performed with Tableau software and published online on the project website. Based on the By-BM database core data, a peer-reviewed journal article was recently published in the Construction and Building Materials (DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.05.167)
The database and its concept were presented by the Fellow at international scientific conferences:
• 2017, NORM4Building Final Symposia, Rome, Italy
• 2017, EUNORM Symposia 2017, NPL, Teddington, UK
• 2016, EANNORM: 8th Workshop, Stockholm, Sweden
• 2016, NORM VIII Symposium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Study of natural radioactivity related issues in geopolymer research:
The screening of by-products used at Queen's University Belfast was performed by the Fellow. The NOR content was determined with HPGe gamma-spectrometry in the secondment institute (NuTeC, Belgium).
Altogether, 19 different by-product samples were studied from various origin. All the by-products were tested to get information about the main chemical composition, and the mineralogical composition was determined by XRF (X-ray Fluorescence) and XRD (X-ray Diffraction), respectively. The correlation was investigated between the main chemical compounds and the NOR content.
Four different geopolymer series were studied using activated slag + Ground Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag, (GGBFS); red mud + GGBFS; 2 different fly ashes + GGBFS mixture series. In the case of fly ash containing geopolymers, the relative radon release rate increased significantly because of the structure of the fly ash particles. The multilayer shell structure opened, the inner formerly hermetically enclosed spaces were opened which cause significant increment regarding the radon release rate. This result is the most important scientific outcome of the project since the geopolymer application in construction material industry usually based on mixtures with elevated level fly ash content. The results will be presented on REMEDIATE conference will be held in Belfast, UK, September 2018. Two abstracts were submitted about the screening of by-products and the studied geopolymers. The conference materials will be published in the peer-reviewed special issue of Science of Total Environment. Currently, the manuscripts are under internal review of all the co-authors.
The research results and the concept have been already presented at international scientific conferences and research institutes:
• 2017, EFRAT User meeting, JRC, Geel, Belgium
• 2017, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
• 2017, 2nd Symposium on Research activities in targeted treatments of residues, KULeuven, Leuven, Belgium
• 2016, V. TREICEP, Veszprem, Hungary
• JRC-Geel and SCK CEN in Belgium, IBR Consulting in the Netherlands
The Fellow was an active participant of COST Action TU1301 NORM4Building project. As a result of the Action, a book was published. The Fellow was a co-author of a book chapter: 2017, From raw materials to NORM by-products, in Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials in Construction. Elsevier, pp. 135–182. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-102009-8.00006-2
The Fellow was hosting visiting scientists three times at Queen’s University. As a result of the visits, the Fellow project had a chance to join the leaching experiments performed at NuTeC which is essential to study the application of geopolymers for radioactive waste cementation.
The official website of the project was created. 1800 visitors from 73 countries have visited the site. Facebook project page was also created and frequently updated. More than 100 posts were posted. In 2016 and 2017 the By-BM Project presented itself for several hundreds of visitors on MSCA European Researchers Night at Ulster Museum. The Fellow participated in trainings at Queen’s University Belfast, University of Hasselt and KU Leuven. The Fellow co-supervised 2 BSc diploma, trained MSc/PhD student and experts at QUB, University of Tartu, University of Tallinn, University of Hasselt, Technical University of Denmark and University of Pannonia.
