Assessment of Natural Radioactivity in Soil and its Contribution to Population Exposure in the Vicinity of Mkuju River Uranium Project in Tanzania
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Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Science Technol
Abstract
The level of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K was established in soil collected
in an area about 1,300 km2 in the vicinity of Mkuju uranium project
in Tanzania and selected points in the concession using HPGe
spectrometer and associated exposure risks to population were
estimated. The radioactivity concentration in the vicinity range
(Bqkg-1) for 226Ra (24.94 to 53.50), 232Th (20.86 to 47.14), and 40K
(344.50 to 697.54). Whereas, radioactivity in the concession range
for 226Ra (2430.00 to 4200.00), 232Th (130.00 to 220.00), and 40K
(1293.30 to 1466.10). On average the radioactivity in the concession
were about 89, 5 and 3 times high than those in the vicinity. Based
on the measurements, the hazards attributable to use of soil from
the vicinity for different purposes is marginal. However, the hazards
indices indicate that soils from the concession have relatively a
significantly risk by range of factors about 27 to 29 and 40 to 42
times high than in the vicinity for the external and internal hazards,
respectively. Also the radium equivalent radioactivity, dose rate and
effective dose tend to be significantly high in the concession than
in the vicinity by range of factors from 27 to 29, 23 to 25 and 23 to
25, respectively. These findings reveals that soils in the vicinity of
the project could pose less radiological risk to human health when
compared to soil in the concession.
Description
Keywords
Baseline, Radioactivity, Mkuju river, Uranium mining, Tanzania
Citation
Banzi FP, Msaki PK, Mohammed NK (2016) Assessment of Natural Radioactivity in Soil and its Contribution to Population Exposure in the Vicinity