The 4th ENA Workshop took place from 9–12 March 2026 at the Centro Nacional de Aceleradores (CNA) in Seville, Spain, bringing together researchers, regulators, and industry representatives working on Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials.
Over 3 days, the workshop explored key topics including:
- Rethinking existing industries and NORM management practices;
- Reclaiming legacy sites and remediation strategies;
- Valorisation of industrial NORM streams within a circular economy;
- Sustainable management and reuse of phosphogypsum;
The program included keynote lectures, scientific sessions, poster presentations, and panel discussions addressing technical, regulatory, and societal challenges related to NORM management.
Participants also had the opportunity to join a Field Trip to the phosphogypsum restoration project in Huelva and 2 side events, including the FIC-Fighters Pilot Plant visit at the Universidad de Sevilla, showcasing innovative approaches to phosphogypsum valorisation and the LCA4NORM project meeting part of the PIANOFORTE Partnership.
The workshop concluded with the attribution of ENA Young Professional Award. Presentations of young researchers were assessed on basis of their relevance, innovation and formal quality.
Congratulations to Cansu Özcan Kilcan (University of Tartu, Estonia) who won the Award with her presentation on “NORMIA digital tool for Life Cycle Assessment of NORM in construction products“. For her PhD., she developed this new model for radiological dose assessment of construction products, including the recycling phase.
The second and third prize were granted respectively to Niroshan Gajendra (Institute for Energy Technology, IFE, Norway) for his work on “Towards sustainable water management of NORM in mining and mineral processing” and to Daan Schoefs (Hasselt University, Belgium) for his work on “Valorisation of CaF2-rich byproducts from a former phosphate industry: characterisation of byproducts and exploratory leaching of U and Ra“.
Credit must be given to all the other young researchers of the ENA workshop: no doubt, thanks to their creativity and enthusiasm, research and development in the field of NORM has a bright future !
A big thank you to all speakers, local organizers, participants, and partners who contributed to a very successful workshop!
