Dose estimates for the local inhabitants from 210Po ingestion via dietary sources at a proposed uranium mining site in India

The radionuclides contamination in eggs as an environmental marker: a systematic review

Foods are contaminated with natural and man-made radionuclides. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the amount and type of radionuclides in eggs, as well as the biomarker capability of eggs. The research studies with keywords radionuclide, radioisotopes, contamination and egg were searched in PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct databases, regardless of publication time. A number of 70 studies were obtained and only 13 articles were finally selected according to exclusion, inclusion criteria and quality assessment results. Studies which detected radionuclide in the hen eggs were selected. The highest frequency of radionuclides belonged to Ra-226 and Cs-137. The index of natural radionuclides is Ra-226 and the index of synthetic radionuclides is Cs-137. The local eggs, in addition to determining food contamination, can also be a good biomarker for identifying environmental contamination.

Natural radionuclide dose and lifetime cancer risk due to ingestion of fish and water from fresh water reservoirs near the proposed uranium mining site

Ten sampling locations in Nagarjuna Sagar Dam have been selected to assess the suitability of the reservoir water for human consumption. The sediment, water, and fish samples were collected and analyzed for radionuclide (²³⁸U, ²³²Th, ²¹⁰Po, ²²⁶Ra, ²¹⁰Pb) and physicochemical parameters like pH, TOC, total hardness, alkalinity, DO, cation exchange capacity, and particle size. The spatial variations among the radionuclides (²³⁸U, ²³²Th, ²¹⁰Po, ²²⁶Ra, ²¹⁰Pb) in water and bottom sediments of Nagarjuna Sagar Dam were determined. The uranium concentration in the sediment and water was in BDL (<0.5 ppb). The maximum permissible limits in water samples of the analyzed radionuclides are ²³⁸U-10 Bq/l, ²¹⁰Po-0.1 Bq/l, ²²⁶Ra-1 Bq/l, and ²¹⁰Pb-0.1 Bq/l. The radionuclides in our water samples were approximately 50 times far below the recommended limit. The ingestion of water and fish would not pose any significant radiological impact on health or cancer risk to the public, implicating that the fishes from Nagarjuna Sagar Dam reservoir are safe for human consumption except the fisherman community.