Radio activity and radiological hazards from a kaolinmining field in Ifonyintedo,Nigeria
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The concentrations of the radio nuclides in the subsurface formation (soilsandrocks) solely depend on their
geological origin, which enables its variation from point to point on the Crust.Construction materials can possess
elevated concentrations of radio activity if their by products are mined from contaminated radio nuclide sources.In this article, results of insitu measurements of radio activity concentrations of 40K, 232Th, and 238U as well as gamma doses and radiological hazards from kaolin mining field were presented and evaluated.Eleven stations
were randomly occupied in order to cover the upper axis of akaolin mining field in Ifonyintedo.The radio metric
survey was achieved using Super-Spec(RS-125), equipment capable of measuring activity concentrations and
gamma doses. For each location, measurements were taken four times, while its mean and standard deviation
values were estimated for better accuracy. The over all mean activity concentrations(for 40K, 232Th and 238U) and
gamma dose were estimated as 93. 9Bqkg�1, 65.1Bqkg�1, 38.2Bqkg�1, and59.6nGyh�1 respectively.The
estimated radiological hazards from the measured parameters showed that the overall mean concentrations of
Radium Equivalent, External and Internal Hazards,Annual Effective Dose,Gamma and Alpha Indices,and
Representative Level index are 138.5Bqkg �1, 0.370.48, 0.29mSvyr�1, 0.48,0.19, and 0.97respectively.By
comparing the mean values of the activity concentrations and their radiological risks with the several world standards from the literature, kaolin deposits in Ifonyintedo are highly rich in thorium.
Keywords
Q Science (General), QC Physics