Radiological evaluation of by-products used in construction and alternative applications; Part I. Preparation of a natural radioactivity database

Sas, Zoltán; Doherty, Rory; Kovács, Tibor; Soutsos, Marios; Sha, Wei; Schroeyers, Wouter

doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.05.167

Cited by 23 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Such adverse effects have driven the study and use of industrial waste and by-products from widely varying industries for cement and concrete manufacture. The aims of such practice include achieving the sustainability goals set out in the UN's Agenda 2030 and implementing the guidelines for what is known in the EU as the circular economy [9,10], i.e., to favour more sustainable construction [4,8,9,[11][12][13][14][15][16]. Some of the industrial waste and by-products apt for cement and concrete manufacture are members of the family of so-called NORMs (naturally occurring radioactive materials).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Approach for the Determination of Radiological Parameters on Hardened Cement Pastes with Coal Fly Ash

et al. 2021

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Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in industrial waste and by-products are routinely used to mitigate the adverse environmental effects of, and lower the energy consumption associated with, ordinary Portland cement (OPC) manufacture. Many such SCMs, such as type F coal fly ash (FA), are naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs). 226Ra, 232Th and 40K radionuclide activity concentration, information needed to determine what is known as the gamma-ray activity concentration index (ACI), is normally collected from ground cement samples. The present study aims to validate a new method for calculating the ACI from measurements made on unground 5 cm cubic specimens. Mechanical, mineralogical and radiological characterisation of 28-day OPC + FA pastes (bearing up to 30 wt % FA) were characterised to determine their mechanical, mineralogical and radiological properties. The activity concentrations found for 226Ra, 212Pb, 232Th and 40K in hardened, intact 5 cm cubic specimens were also statistically equal to the theoretically calculated values and to the same materials when ground to a powder. These findings consequently validated the new method. The possibility of determining the activity concentrations needed to establish the ACI for cement-based materials on unground samples introduces a new field of radiological research on actual cement, mortar and concrete materials.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Approach for the Determination of Radiological Parameters on Hardened Cement Pastes with Coal Fly Ash

et al. 2021

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“…This is why the knowledge about natural radiation becomes more and more important these days. The activity concentration of building materials containing NORM materials contribute in two ways to the increased radiation exposure [12,13]. First of all, there is the external body dose exposure mostly coming from K-40, U-238, Th-232 and their decay products.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiological impact assessment of different building material additives

Kocsis

Tóth-Bodrogi

Peka

et al. 2021

J Radioanal Nucl Chem

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In this study, samples of building material additives were analyzed for naturally occurring radioisotope activity such as uranium, radium, and radon. The radon exhalation and the annual effective doses, were also calculated. The activities of the samples, were determined using HPGe gamma spectrometry and ionization detector. The results were used to calculate dose values by using RESRAD BUILD code. The activity concentration of the samples ranges between 9–494 Bq/kg Ra-226, 1–119 Bq/kg Th-232 and 24–730 Bq/kg K-40. In conclusion the investigated samples can be used safely as building material additives as they do not pose a major risk to humans.

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“…PG participates as an additional source of sulphate, giving rise to additional reaction products compared to AAMs solely based on slags (Nguyen et al, 2018). The levels of NOR in GGBFS are low, consisting of radionuclides from both the 238 U and 232 Th series (Sas et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiological and non-radiological leaching assessment of alkali-activated materials containing ground granulated blast furnace slag and phosphogypsum

Gijbels

Landsberger

Samyn

et al. 2019

Science of The Total Environment

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Alkali-activated materials (AAMs) based on ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and phosphogypsum (PG) were investigated in order to quantify leaching of naturally occurring radionuclides (NOR) and inorganic non-radiological elements according to an up-flow percolation column test as described in CEN/TS 16637-3. Gamma spectroscopy and neutron activation analysis (NAA) were applied for radiological characterization, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and ion-chromatography (IC) for chemical characterization. Upon leaching, 238 U, 226 Ra, 210 Pb, and 228 Ra were retained very well. Both for 232 Th and 40 K, a decrease in activity concentration was observed due to leaching and their release was influenced by the use of different alkali activators, which was also the case for the leaching of non-radiological elements. Only a small amount of Al (0.5-0.8%), Ca (0.1-0.2%) and Si (0.1-0.3%) was mobilized, while highest release was observed for K (56-94%), Na (49-88%) and S (71-87%). At first glance, drinking water is not endangered by leaching of NOR following the requirements of the European Drinking Water Directive. From the results for porosity, obtained with mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), it was concluded that both the porosity and formation of multiple leachable and non-leachable complexes are determining factors for the release of elements from AAMs.

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Radiological evaluation of by-products used in construction and alternative applications; Part I. Preparation of a natural radioactivity database

Cited by 23 publications

References 82 publications

New Approach for the Determination of Radiological Parameters on Hardened Cement Pastes with Coal Fly Ash

New Approach for the Determination of Radiological Parameters on Hardened Cement Pastes with Coal Fly Ash

Radiological impact assessment of different building material additives

Radiological and non-radiological leaching assessment of alkali-activated materials containing ground granulated blast furnace slag and phosphogypsum

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