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Gamma radioactivity levels and their corresponding external exposure of soil samples from tantalite mining areas in Oke-Ogun, South-Western Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2012

A.K. Ademola  and
R.I. Obed
A.K. Ademola
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Sciences, Bells University of Technology, Ota Nigeria
R.I. Obed
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
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Abstract

The radioactivity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were measured using gamma-ray spectroscopy with NaI (Tl) detectors in four tantalite mining sites in the Oke-Ogun area, South-Western Nigeria. The measured values of the activities of 40K, 226Ra and 232Th in the soil samples were found to lie in the ranges 123.7 ± 3.8 – 1372.3 ± 8.6, 16.8 ± 1.6 – 71.1 ± 2.53 and 3.0 ± 0.7 – 31.9 ± 1.0 Bq kg–1, respectively. These samples were also found to have radium equivalent activity in the range 74.2–121.0 Bq kg-1. Values of 0.2–0.3 for the external and 0.3–0.4 for the internal hazard indices were estimated for the samples and the annual effective dose varied from 70.3 ± 13.5 to 100.8 ± 42.8 µSv with a mean of 87.5 ± 18.6 µSv y–1. The annual effective dose is higher than the world average.

Keywords

Oke-Ogunradionuclidetantalitenatural radioactivityeffective dose
Type
Research Article
Information
Radioprotection , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 243 - 252
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2012

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