上扎库姆油田是世界上最大的海上油田之一，距离阿布扎比约80公里。其开发挑战之一是水深较浅，仅为5至15米，这使得传统的钻井和生产平台不切实际且成本高昂。作业者建造了四个人工岛，作为钻井和生产设施的基地。这些人工岛的设计旨在最大限度地减少对环境的影响，最大限度地提高采油率，并降低运营成本。
天然放射性物质（NORM）的生成和性质。NORM形成为附着在设备和管道上的水垢，其原因是水溶性放射性化学化合物，这些化合物天然存在于油气储层地质构造中，并随采出水一起在系统中输送，在特定的化学、机械和热力学条件下，它们通常形成溶解性较低的化合物，并沉淀为矿物水垢。
石油和天然气工业关注的主要放射性同位素 NORM 构成了该量表的金属部分，与铀/镭衰变系列和钍/镭衰变系列有关，也与钾-40 有关；它们在地壳中自由存在。
Upper Zakum is one of the largest offshore oil fields in the world, approximately 80 km offshore Abu Dhabi. One of its developmental challenges is its shallow depth of 5–15 m, which makes conventional drilling and production platforms impractical and costly. The operator has created four artificial islands to serve as bases for drilling and production facilities. The islands are designed to minimize environmental impact, maximize oil recovery, and reduce operational costs.
Generation and Nature of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM). The cause of the formation of NORM as scale adhering to equipment and tubulars is water-soluble radiochemical compounds that occur naturally in the geological formation of the hydrocarbon reservoir and are transferred through the system together with the produced water, where they form commonly less-soluble compounds and precipitate as a mineral scale under certain chemical, mechanical, and thermodynamic conditions.
The primary radioisotopes of concern in oil and gas industry NORM, forming the metal part of this scale, are related to the uranium/radium decay series and the thorium/radium decay series but also to potassium-40; these occur freely in the Earth’s crust.
