Assessment of Equivalent Radium Activity and Annual Effective Dose Due to Building Materials in Côte D’Ivoire by Gamma Spectrometry: Cases of Cement

Abstract

Radioactivity is a natural phenomenon present in the universe. So, because of human life solidarity with a habitat, we are permanently in contact, especially through building materials. The objective of this work is the determination of the used cement radioactivity level in the buildings in Côte d'Ivoire. Thus, samples of grey and white cement currently used on Ivorian territory were taken. In order to determine the radioactivity level of this cement, samples were analyzed by using gamma spectrometry chain which contains a NaI (Tl) scintillation detector designed by the German manufacturer LD-DIDACTIC, coupled to a multichannel analyzer (AMC) using a Cassy Lab software. Thus, the specific activity of the primordial radionuclides 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K, was able to be determined. The average values obtained are 29.66 Bq/kg, 34.88 Bq/kg and 178.424 Bq/kg respectively for 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K. All average values are below the limit values recommended by UNSCEAR. However, we evaluated the radiological parameters such as the equivalent radium activity and the annual effective dose in order to translate the specific activity in terms of harmfulness. Values obtained for these parameters are below those recommended by ICRP and UNSCEAR. These results show that the risk incurred by the use of these different brands of cement is low.