The radiological impact and restrictions on phosphogypsum waste applications

En: 1st Spanish National Conference on Advances in Materials Recycling and Eco – Energy Madrid, 12-13 November 2009.-- Editors: F. A. López, F. Puertas, F. J. Alguacil and A. Guerrero.-- 4 pages, 2 tables.Phosphogypsum (PG) is a hazardous waste associated with the phosphoric acid production using the wet process. PG is considered a relatively high level natural uranium series radionuclide material, which provokes a negative environmental impact and many restrictions on the use of the PG waste (only 15% of the PG generated is recycled in agriculture, in gypsum board and cement industries). The US-EPA has classified PG as Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM). Legislations and standard regulations have established maximum limits for PG radionuclides concentration and exposure.The authors are grateful to the Spanish National R&D&I Plan (Project CTQ2008-02012/PPQ) for the financial support of this study. Hanan Tayibi is grateful to CSIC for an I3P contract (I3PDR-6-01).Peer reviewe