Comparative assessment of natural radionuclides content of cement products from Assiut cement factories, Egypt

Abstract

Cement industry is one of the basic industries that play an important role in the national economy of developing countries. In this study, a comparison between cement products from factories on Assiut, Egypt (Assiut Cement Company (ACC) & Building Materials Industry Company (BMIC)) was presented to evaluate their radiological impact on human health as building materials. Activity concentration of 226Ra 232Th, and 40K in different types of cement products were collected from both factories has been measured using HPGe gamma spectrometry. The results indicated that a highest activity concentration from ACC was from the Portland cement where the lowest was SRC cement. In BMIC, the SRC cement activity concentration was almost similar with Portland cement activity concentration. The range of radionuclide concentrations in the all cement products for both factories were found to be lower than the world average limits (50, 50,500 Bq/Kg) for 226Ra 232Th and 40K respectively in building materials. For estimating radiation hazard indices, the radium equivalent, external and internal hazard indexes, Representative level index (Iγr), annual effective dose, the absorbed dose rate and excess lifetime cancer risk were considered. All of them were found below the acceptable limits. Therefore, this study confirmed that all cement samples from ACC & BMIC are radiologically safe to be used as building materials, with no significant impact of radiological hazards provided.