A system for mitigating naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) in an oxidative dehydrogenation process includes a feed stream, an oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) reactor, an effluent stream, a processing unit, and a NORM reduction unit. The feed stream includes oxygen, a hydrocarbon, and NORM. The ODH reactor is configured to receive the feed stream and react the hydrocarbon with the oxygen to form a dehydrogenated hydrocarbon and water. The effluent stream includes the dehydrogenated hydrocarbon, water, unreacted hydrocarbon, and NORM. The processing unit is configured to process the effluent stream to form product stream and a recycle stream. The product stream includes the dehydrogenated hydrocarbon. The recycle stream includes unreacted hydrocarbon and NORM. The NORM reduction unit is configured to reduce an amount of the NORM in the recycle stream to produce a NORM-reduced recycle stream. The ODH reactor is configured to receive the NORM-reduced recycle stream.