New perspectives and issues arising from the introduction of (NORM) residues in building materials: A critical assessment on the radiological behaviour

•Overview of natural radioactivity in industrial residues used in building materials.•Estimation of the radiological impact of residues by RP112 index I and room models.•Estimation of building material contribution to the indoor dose by ISS room model.

The goal of this paper is twofold, that is, (a) to provide an overview of the radiometric content of residues and by-products used in building material production; (b) to evaluate the radiological impact of building products containing these materials, by using the European Union Activity concentration Index I and the computational ISS room model. To achieve the above, coal ash, blast furnace slag, phosphogypsum and bauxite residues are assessed with data from EU countries and industries worldwide. In terms of radiological assessment, the ISS room model is employed as a computational tool, providing an accurate and specific estimate of the contribution of building materials to the indoor dose. As a result, the work herein aspires to provide the framework based upon a residue will be evaluated as a candidate secondary resource with respect to its radiological content.