NORM Surveying, Sampling & Remediation
One licensed contractor, from the first survey to the final manifest.
PMI surveys, samples and remediates naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) at oil and gas facilities in Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, working under Louisiana DEQ NORM Specific License LA-7947-S01.
The record
- LA-7947-S01Louisiana DEQ NORM specific license
- In houseNORM Radiation Safety Officer on staff
- 7 stateswhere that environmental work has run
- 50+ yrsin the field
- 24/7dispatch, 365 days a year
The problems this ends
Scale in the tubing that nobody surveyed, on equipment already scheduled to leave the yard.
A survey company that hands over a report and leaves the cleanup to somebody else.
Vessels and pipe sitting idle because no one on site is licensed to characterize them.
Waste that cannot move until it is profiled, and paperwork nobody has started.
Exposure to your own people, your contractors and your neighbors from material that was never measured.
Scope of work
What you get
We work on production tubing and wellheads, separators and heater treaters, storage tank bottoms, pit solids, and the yards and slabs where contaminated equipment has been staged.Most other states honor an existing NORM license through reciprocity, and if your site is in another state, call us: we will work with your state and local regulators to get the licensing in place before the job starts. The Radiation Safety Officer running the job is a PMI employee, not a consultant we call in, so the survey, the sample profiling, the cleanup and the waste manifests all sit with one contractor.
Facility and equipment survey
Radiological survey of tubing, wellheads, separators, heater treaters, tanks, pits, slabs and lay-down yards, with readings recorded location by location.
Sampling and profiling
Samples pulled from scale, sludge, soil and tank bottoms, then profiled, so the waste has a characterization before anyone plans a disposal route.
Radiation Safety Officer oversight
A PMI Radiation Safety Officer sets the work plan, the survey method and the controls on the work area, then reviews the results.
Decontamination and remediation
Equipment decontamination, scale and sludge removal, and soil or slab remediation, performed by PMI crews rather than handed to an outside specialist.
Controlled work areas
Posted boundaries, contamination controls and monitoring of the crews doing the work, for as long as the area is open.
Waste manifesting
NORM waste manifested for the receiving facility, with licensed transport and disposal coordinated through third parties.
Pit closure and site restoration
29B and industrial pits, soil remediation and total site restoration where the NORM survey is part of a larger environmental scope.
Close-out file
Survey records, sample results, manifests and final readings, packaged so your file holds up when somebody asks for it two years from now.
Questions we get
NORM Surveying, Sampling & Remediation FAQs
What is NORM?
Naturally occurring radioactive material. It comes up out of the formation with produced water and settles as scale and sludge inside tubing, wellheads, separators, heater treaters, tanks and pits. Nobody manufactures it. It becomes a problem when it concentrates in equipment where people work.
When should we have equipment surveyed?
Before it leaves your control. The usual triggers are equipment being sold, scrapped, sent out for repair or moved to another site, a facility being decommissioned, a pit or slab being closed, and any survey old enough that nobody on site still trusts it.
Does PMI survey and remediate NORM, or do you bring in a specialist?
Both are ours. PMI surveys, samples, remediates and manifests with our own people, under our own license and our own Radiation Safety Officer.
What license do you hold, and where does it cover?
We hold Louisiana DEQ NORM Specific License LA-7947-S01, and we perform NORM surveying and decontamination in Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Most other states honor an existing NORM license through reciprocity. If your site is in another state, call us. We will work with your state and local regulators to get the licensing in place before the job starts.
What does an in-house Radiation Safety Officer do for us?
The RSO owns the radiological side of the job: the work plan, the survey method, the controls on the work area, the crew's training and the review of the results. Having that person on our payroll means the call does not wait on a third party's calendar.
What happens if NORM is mishandled?
Three things tend to go wrong at once. People are exposed to material nobody measured, contaminated equipment leaves the site without paperwork, and the regulator finds out before you do. The survey is the cheap part of that sequence.
What is the sequence of a NORM job?
Survey first, because the readings set the scope. Then sampling and profiling, so the waste has a characterization. Then decontamination or remediation. Then manifesting, transport and disposal through a licensed receiving facility. Last comes the close-out file: survey records, sample results, manifests and final readings.
Can you handle NORM waste disposal?
We profile the waste, manifest it and coordinate licensed transport and disposal. What we will not do is guess at a characterization to make a load move faster.
Can NORM work ride along with a larger job?
Often it has to. A survey turns something up during tank cleaning, pit closure, decommissioning or site restoration, and PMI performs those as well, so the scope does not split across vendors.
Tell us what you found.
Send the equipment or the site, any readings you already have, and the date it has to move. Our Radiation Safety Officer scopes the survey with you, and dispatch answers around the clock.
