Blending as the best compliance option for the management of radioactivity in drinking water supplied from the deep sandstone aquifer in Southern Jordan

Risk survey for the population of Recife and neighboring cities due to the occurrence of radium in groundwater

The Metropolitan Region of Recife and its surroundings are heavily exploited to capture water for public supply through tubular wells. However, a survey of the levels of natural radionuclides from these sources had never been carried out, even though part of this region contains a phosphate deposit that has a high concentration of natural uranium. In this context, this research aimed to identify ²²⁸Ra and ²²⁶Ra levels in groundwater in the coastal region of Pernambuco, Brazil. About 110 points (wells) of drinking water for public supply were identified and studies were carried out to estimate the level of ingestion and subsequent risk due to the presence of this radionuclide. The average concentration of combined radium was 104 mBq.L^-1. For ²²⁸Ra an effective dose of 0.46, 0.11, 0.12 and 0.0276 mSv.y^-1 for infants, children aged 1 and 10 and adults, respectively, were obtained. Although doses above those recommended by WHO were found, the equivalent dose and the induction of bone sarcoma did not indicate a risk to the population. Groundwater with higher dose values is influenced by local geology.

Measurement of gross alpha and beta activity concentration in groundwater of Jordan: groundwater quality, annual effective dose and lifetime risk assessment

The current study was conducted to measure the activity concentration of the gross alpha and beta in 87 groundwater samples collected from the productive aquifers that constitute a major source of groundwater to evaluate the annual effective dose and the corresponding health impact on the population and to investigate the quality of groundwater in Jordan. The mean activity concentration of gross alpha and beta in groundwater ranges from 0.26 ± 0.03 to 3.58 ± 0.55 Bq L^-1 and from 0.51 ± 0.07 to 3.43 ± 0.46 Bq L^-1, respectively. A very strong relationship was found between gross alpha and beta activity concentrations. The annual effective dose for alpha and beta was found in the range of 0.32-2.40 mSv with a mean value of 0.89 mSv, which is nine times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limit and one and half times higher than the national regulation limit. The mean lifetime risk was found to be 45.47 × 10^-4 higher than the Jordanian estimated upper-bound lifetime risk of 25 × 10^-4. The data obtained in the study would be the baseline for further epidemiological studies on health effects related to the exposure to natural radioactivity in Jordan.

Geological and hydrogeochemical controls on radium isotopes in groundwater of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt

Radium isotopes (²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra) were analyzed in 18 groundwater samples from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS) and the shallow alluvial aquifers overlying the basement complex of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. Groundwater samples from deep Nubian aquifer wells (total depths 747 to 1250m) have ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra activities ranging from 0.168 to 0.802 and 0.056 to 1.032Bq/L, respectively. The shallower Nubian aquifer wells (63 to 366m) have ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra activities ranging from 0.033 to 0.191 and 0.029 to 0.312Bq/L, respectively. The basement shallow alluvial aquifers have ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra activities ranging from 0.014 to 0.038 and 0.007 to 0.051Bq/L, respectively. Combined Ra activities in most wells were generally in excess of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the European Union (EU), and the World Health Organization (WHO) maximum contaminant levels (MCL) for drinking water. Radium in groundwater is produced mainly by decay of parent nuclides in the aquifer solids, and observed activities of dissolved Ra isotopes result from a combination of alpha-recoil, adsorption/desorption, co-precipitation/dissolution processes. The observed correlation between Ra activities and salinity indicates that adsorption/desorption processes may be the dominant factor controlling Ra mobility in Sinai groundwater. Radium activities in central and northern Sinai are generally higher than those in southern Sinai, consistent with a gradual increase in salinity and water-rock interaction with increasing groundwater age. Barite is approximately saturated in the groundwater and may limit maximum dissolved Ra concentration. The results of this study indicate that Sinai groundwater should be used with caution, possibly requiring Ra removal from water produced for domestic and agricultural consumption.