Public consultation on proposals for a new treatment and recycling facility in Aberdeenshire in north east Scotland gets underway this week.
The proposed facility will deal with equipment from the oil and gas industry contaminated with Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM).
Recycling and resource management company SITA UK has teamed up with one of the UK's leading radiation protection and radioactive waste experts, Nuvia, to develop a proposal to change the use of an existing waste processing building on the Stoneyhill landfill site, four miles south west of Peterhead.
If the proposed facility, which will need approval by Aberdeenshire Council and SEPA, is developed, it will mean that equipment from the oil and gas industry contaminated with NORM scale can be treated on the site and recycled. The resulting scale will be mixed with cement and cast into drums prior to disposal in the existing landfill site.
Up to 13 jobs will be created if the project is given the go-ahead.
The two companies are hosting a public exhibition between noon and 6pm today (Wednesday, 3rd March), at Longhaven Hall in Longhaven near Peterhead. This will be followed by a presentation and question and answer session, which will start at 6.30pm and continue until 8pm. They have also been delivering leaflets in the local area to promote the exhibition and inform residents of the plans.
NORM is the term that is used to describe radioactive materials that exist naturally in the geological environment. NORM is found in a variety of bulk commodities, process wastes and commercial items, such as sands, china clays and soils, granite, coal, groundwater, oil and gas.