Measurement of natural radioactivity in building materials in Qena city, Upper Egypt

Ahmed, Nagwa S.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2005.03.002

Cited by 125 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…4. The first study (Ahmed 2005) provided values that are much higher than not only the present work and two other investigations (Sharaf et al 1999;Mahmoud 2007) but also any other values reported anywhere in the world. The second study (ElTaher et al 2010) reported relatively a high value for the activity concentration of 40 K compared with other measured values (present study; Sharaf et al 1999;Mahmoud 2007).…”

Section: Concentrations Of Major and Trace Elements: Cement Plantcontrasting

confidence: 49%

“…Dashed lines indicate the assumed typical ranges for coal (UNSCEAR 2000), dotted lines are the suggested minimum and maximum concentrations for each radionuclide, and solid line is the median concentration for each radionuclide Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 show the activity concentrations of 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40 K in Portland cement, white cement, gypsum, and limestone from different parts of the world, respectively. Two reported results of the activity concentrations in Egyptian Portland and white cement (Ahmed 2005;El-Taher et al 2010) were not included in Fig. 4.…”

Section: Concentrations Of Major and Trace Elements: Cement Plantmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Assessment of elemental and NROM/TENORM hazard potential from non-nuclear industries in North Sinai, Egypt

Elmekawy

Badran

Seddeek

et al. 2015

Environ Monit Assess

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Non-nuclear industries use raw materials containing significant levels of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). The processing of these materials may expose workers engaged in or even people living near such sites to technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM) above the natural background. Inductively coupled plasma and gamma ray spectrometry have been used to determine major and trace elements and radionuclide concentrations in various samples, respectively, in order to investigate the environmental impact of coal mining and cement plant in North Sinai, Egypt. Generally, very little attention was directed to the large volumes of waste generated by either type of industrial activities. Different samples were analyzed including various raw materials, coal, charcoal, Portland and white cement, sludge, and wastes. Coal mine and cement plant workers dealing with waste and kaolin, respectively, are subjected to a relatively high annual effective dose. One of the important finding is the enhancement of all measured elements and radionuclides in the sludge found in coal mine. It may pose an environmental threat because of its large volume and its use as combustion material. The mine environment may have constituted Al, Fe, Cr, and V pollution source for the local area. Higher concentration of Al, Fe, Mn, B, Co, Cr, Mn, Ni, Sr, V, and TENORM were found in Portland cement and Zn in white cement. Coal has higher concentrations of Al, Fe, B, Co, Cr, and V as well as (226)Ra and (232)Th. The compiled results from the present study and different worldwide investigations demonstrate the obvious unrealistic ranges normally used for (226)Ra and (232)Th activity concentrations in coal and provided ranges for coal, Portland and white cement, gypsum, and limestone.

show abstract

Section: Concentrations Of Major and Trace Elements: Cement Plantcontrasting

confidence: 49%

Section: Concentrations Of Major and Trace Elements: Cement Plantmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of elemental and NROM/TENORM hazard potential from non-nuclear industries in North Sinai, Egypt

Elmekawy

Badran

Seddeek

et al. 2015

Environ Monit Assess

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, the identity and geographic origin of the stones included in this study is not known precisely because naming practices for granite are not standardized (Anjos et al, 2005). Nonetheless, the activity concentrations for 40 K, and the 232 Th and 226 Ra series observed in these stones are within the range reported for granite building materials in the scientific literature (Mustonen, 1984;NCRP, 1987a;Mustapha et al, 1997;Chowdhury, Alam and Ahmed, 1998;European Commission, 1999;Lee, Kim, Lee and Kang, 2001;IAEA, 2003;Kumar, Sengupta and Prasada, 2003;Arafa, 2004;Ahmed, 2005;ICRP, 2005;Al-Saleh and Al-Berzan, 2007;El-Taher, Uosif and Orabi, 2007;Lu, Wang, Jia and Wang, 2007;Ghosh et al, 2008;Kitto, Haines and Diaz Arauzo, 2008;Mujahid et al, 2008). Therefore, these samples of granite intended for use as interior work surfaces contain amounts of naturally occurring radioactive materials that are similar to levels in other types of granite building materials reported in the literature for which larger numbers of samples have been examined.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…A number of studies have reported on the concentrations of natural radionuclides (i.e., activity concentrations) for granite samples obtained from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, South Korea, China, Brazil, Kenya, and Finland (Mustonen, 1984;NCRP, 1987a;Mustapha et al, 1997;Chowdhury et al, 1998;European Commission, 1999;Lee et al, 2001;IAEA, 2003;Kumar et al, 2003;Arafa, 2004;Ahmed, 2005;ICRP, 2005;Al-Saleh and Al-Berzan, 2007;El-Taher et al, 2007;Lu et al, 2007;Ghosh et al, 2008;Kitto et al, 2008;Mujahid et al, 2008). Although the activity concentrations for the majority of those samples were below health-based screening levels and exposure guidelines used in the US, Europe, and elsewhere, a portion of the granite samples had a radiation hazard index that exceeded the European Commission (EC) screening value for limited use as superficial building materials (external dose of 0.3 mSv/a) (European Commission, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing exposure to granite countertops—part 1: Radiation

Myatt¹,

Allen²,

Minegishi³

et al. 2009

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Humans are continuously exposed to low levels of ionizing radiation. Known sources include radon, soil, cosmic rays, medical treatment, food, and building products such as gypsum board and concrete. Little information exists about radiation emissions and associated doses from natural stone finish materials such as granite countertops in homes. To address this knowledge gap, gross radioactivity, g ray activity, and dose rate were determined for slabs of granite marketed for use as countertops. Annual effective radiation doses were estimated from measured dose rates and human activity patterns while accounting for the geometry of granite countertops in a model kitchen. Gross radioactivity, g activity, and dose rate varied significantly among and within slabs of granite with ranges for median levels at the slab surface of ND to 3000 cpm, ND to 98,000 cpm, and ND to 1.5EÀ4 mSv/h, respectively. The maximum activity concentrations of the 40 K, 232 Th, and 226 Ra series were 2715, 231, and 450 Bq/kg, respectively. The estimated annual radiation dose from spending 4 h/day in a hypothetical kitchen ranged from 0.005 to 0.18 mSv/a depending on the type of granite. In summary, our results show that the types of granite characterized in this study contain varying levels of radioactive isotopes and that their observed emissions are consistent with those reported in the scientific literature. We also conclude from our analyses that these emissions are likely to be a minor source of external radiation dose when used as countertop material within the home and present a negligible risk to human health.

show abstract

“…The average calculated (Ra eq ) values for Gabal Marwa granitic samples were 152 Bq·kg -1 (granodiorites), 173 Bq·kg -1 (monzogranites). In anomalously altered granite samples the average values were 3916 Bq·kg -1 , which exceeds the maximum limit 370 Bq·kg -1 suggested for building materials (Ahmed, 2005). From the results it is evident that there are considerable variations in the Ra eq of the different types of granites.…”

Section: Radium Equivalent Activity (Ra Eq )mentioning

confidence: 58%

Mineralogy, geochemistry, radioactivity and environmental impacts of Gabal Marwa granites, southeastern Sinai, Egypt

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Gabal Marwa area is located in the southeastern part of Sinai, Egypt. It comprises gneisses and migmatites, granodiorites and monzogranites. Field, petrographic, mineralogic and chemical investigations indicated that the Gabal Marwa granites are classified as granodiorites and monzogranites. The monzogranites constitute the most predominant rock unit exposed in the study area. They have been subjected to hydrothermal alterations, especially along the shear zones. Sericitization, desilicification, nametasomatism and development of spotty or dendritic manganese oxides are the most pronounced alteration features. These alterations resulted in the increase of TiO the decrease of SiO 2 , P 2 O 5 , Ni, Zn, Ba and Nb. Radiometric studies indicated that the altered granites belong to high thorium, high uranium granites. The U, Th, U and Th, Th/U, Th and U-K variation diagrams suggested that magmatic processes controlled the distribution of these elements but the effect of hydrothermal alteration processes were clearly distinct. The Scanning Electron Microscope and X-ray Diffraction analyses indicated that the most important radioactive minerals include uranothorite, thorite, zircon, monazite and samarskite. Cinnabar and Mn minerals were also found. From the U, Th, Ra and K activity concentrations obtained for all the studied granitic samples, radium equivalent activity (Ra eq ), external hazard index (H ex ), and internal hazard index (H in ), were calculated to assess the radiation hazard to human beings living in dwellings made of the studied granites. Altered monzogranites have radioactivity above the proposed acceptable level and, therefore, caution must be taken when these granites are used as building materials.

show abstract

Measurement of natural radioactivity in building materials in Qena city, Upper Egypt

Cited by 125 publications

References 17 publications

Assessment of elemental and NROM/TENORM hazard potential from non-nuclear industries in North Sinai, Egypt

Assessment of elemental and NROM/TENORM hazard potential from non-nuclear industries in North Sinai, Egypt

Assessing exposure to granite countertops—part 1: Radiation

Mineralogy, geochemistry, radioactivity and environmental impacts of Gabal Marwa granites, southeastern Sinai, Egypt

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About