NORM scale samples, mainly composed of alkaline earth metal-sulphates and carbonates, were
collected from NORM waste drums generated from NORM Decontamination Facility (NDF) in
Syrian oilfield. Since scale samples contain not only [226Ra]BaSO4 but also [226Ra]BaCO3 and
other salts (Sr and Ba salts) (Al-Masri and Aba, 2005), samples were partially digested using acid
digestion vessels, with an acidic mixture of HCl and HNO3 in order to separate [226Ra]BaSO4.
The digested samples were filtered, and the precipitate of [226Ra]BaSO4 was separated. The
obtained precipitate was dried for 24 h at 105 °C, and kept for further experiments