Measurement of the natural radioactivity in building materials used in Ankara and assessment of external doses

Abstract

A total of 183 samples of 20 different commonly used structural and covering building materials were collected from housing and other building construction sites and from suppliers in Ankara to measure the natural radioactivity due to the presence of (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K. The measurements were carried out using gamma-ray spectrometry with two HPGe detectors. The specific activities of the different building materials studied varied from 0.5 +/- 0.1 to 144.9 +/- 4.9 Bq kg(-1), 0.6 +/- 0.2 to 169.9 +/- 6.6 Bq kg(-1) and 2.0 +/- 0.1 to 1792.3 +/- 60.8 Bq kg(-1) for (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K, respectively. The results show that the lowest mean values of the specific activity of (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K are 0.8 +/- 0.5, 0.9 +/- 0.4 and 4.1 +/- 1.4 Bq kg(-1), respectively, measured in travertine tile while the highest mean values of the specific activity of the same radionuclides are 78.5 +/- 18.1 (ceramic wall tile), 77.4 +/- 53.0 (granite tile) and 923.4 +/- 161.0 (white brick), respectively. The radium equivalent activity (Ra(eq)), the gamma-index, the indoor absorbed dose rate and the corresponding annual effective dose were evaluated to assess the potential radiological hazard associated with these building materials. The mean values of the gamma-index and the estimated annual effective dose due to external gamma radiation inside the room for structural building materials ranged from 0.15 to 0.89 and 0.2 to 1.1 mSv, respectively. Applying criteria recently recommended for building materials in the literature, four materials meet the exemption annual dose criterion of 0.3 mSv, five materials meet the annual dose limit of 1 mSv and only one material slightly exceeds this limit. The mean values of the gamma-index for all building materials were lower than the upper limit of 1.

Evaluation of Natural Radioactivity and Radiological Hazards in Some Building Materials Used in Kars

“…(EC, 1999;Markkanen, 1995). İnsanların zamanlarının %80'ini bina içinde geçirdiğini göz önünde tutarak yapı içi yıllık etkin doz hızı (annual effective dose rate, AED), havada soğurulmuş gama doz hızından etkin doz hızına dönüşüm katsayısı 0,7 Sv Gy -1 alınarak Eşitlik 3 ile hesaplanmıştır (EC, 1999;Turhan et al 2008). Rn gazının solunmasının neden olduğu ilave alfa radyasyonun değerlendirilmesi ile ilgili olarak I  indisi türetilmiştir (Krieger, 1981;Stoulos et al 2003).…”

Assessment of Radon and Thoron exhalation rate from soil of historical city Panipat, India

“…Many researchers have been studied the exhalation rate in soil samples 6,10,11,12,13 in the world but Panipat district of Haryana, Northern India has not been studied for environmental radon and thoron so far. This study focused on radon mass exhalation rate and thoron surface exhalation rate from soil samples of Panipat district of Haryana in North India.…”

Assessments of Natural Radioactivity Concentration and Radiological Hazard Indices in Surface Soils from the Gözlek Thermal SPA (Amasya-Turkey)

“…For this purpose, several studies have been carried out to measure the natural activity concentrations of 40 K, 226 Ra and 232 Th in different materials [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Natural radioactivity levels depend on the geological and geographical characteristics of the region.…”