Evaluation of radiometric standards of major building materials used in dwellings of South-Western Nigeria

Relationship between radioactivity and toxicity in some medicinal plants

Plants absorb water, nutrients and minerals from the soil through their root. Also, minerals, the radionuclides present in the growing media also are absorbed by plant parts following the same pathway. Consequently, it is important to determine the concentrations of these radionuclides in edible plants to access the associated risk to human health. In the present work, the levels of natural radioactivity and the level of some toxic elements in 17 medicinal plants, commonly used in Egypt, were measured using high-purity germanium gamma spectrometry and atomic absorption, respectively. The investigated plants were sub-grouped according to the edible parts into leave samples (n = 8), roots (n = 3), and seeds (n = 6). Also, the specific activity of both radon and thoron was measured by using alpha emitters registration which is emitted from radon and thoron gases in CR-39 nuclear track detectors. Additionally, the concentration of some toxic elements (Cu, Zn, Cd and, Pb) in six samples of medicinal plants was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry.

RADIOACTIVITY CONTENT OF BUILDING MATERIALS USED IN KUTAHYA PROVINCE, TURKEY

Radioactivity concentrations of primordial radionuclides Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 for 31 samples of seven different types of construction materials used in Kütahya Province, Turkey, were analyzed using NaI(Tl) gamma spectroscopy. Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 activities of all samples ranged between <2.0 and 81.3 ± 1.5, <1.0 and 24.8 ± 0.5 and <7.8 and 819.1 ± 5.5 Bq kg -1, respectively. Radium equivalent activity and Gamma index of sampled building materials were calculated and presented. All results were found to be below the safety limits.

Radioactivity and health risk assessments in cement samples commonly used as construction materials in the case of South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia

This work deals with the measurement of the radioactivity concentrations from different cement samples collected from the South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia. The measurement of naturally occurring radioisotopes and radiation health impact indices caused by these nuclides in cement samples are indisputable in the dwellings. Specifically, the average concentrations for 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were estimated as 76.53, 81.67, and 407 Bq kg−1, respectively. It was seen that all the measured mean values were greater than the world’s limited levels. External and internal hazard indices are calculated as defined by the European Commission from the corresponding concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K nuclides. Moreover, the natural radionuclides have variety of concentrations which must be caused by the types of raw materials used in the industries for the production of cement.