Transport regulation of NORM – A threat to the industry?

The Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center, T.I.C., is glad to take this opportunity to speak at PATRAM 2004 and to explain the situation of the tantalum industry, and the impact which recent changes in the IAEA regulations is having on this industry (Fig. 1). The T.I.C. represents the tantalum industry from miners through processors to capacitor manufacturers. We are here because the main raw material (Fig. 2) used by the industry we represent, minerals of the columbite-tantalite series, is a naturally occurring radioactive material, or NORM, with very small amounts of uranium and thorium in the crystal lattice. But the raw materials are processed to obtain tantalum and niobium, and not uranium or thorium. In this modern, technological world of ours, tantalum is all around us. Tantalum capacitors are highly reliable and widely used in electronics (Fig. 3). If you need a heart pacemaker, tantalum capacitors keep it working for years (Fig. 4). They open the air bag in your car in a split second if there is an impact. They are in mobile phones (Fig. 5), not only in the hand set in your pocket but in the equipment which relays the signals; they are in laptop computers, digital cameras (Fig. 6). This conference will be particularly interested to know that equipment used for measuring radiation is dependent on tantalum capacitors in order for it to work (Fig. 7).