Natural radioactivity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in commercial building materials and their lifetime cancer risk assessment in dwellers

Omeje, Maxwell and Adewoyin, O.O and Joel, E. S. and Ehi-Eromosele, C. O. and Emenike, PraiseGod C and Usikalu, M.R. and Akinwumi, S. A. and Zaidi, Embong and Saeed, M. A. (2018) Natural radioactivity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in commercial building materials and their lifetime cancer risk assessment in dwellers. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal. ISSN 1080-7039 (Print) 1549-7860 (Online)

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Abstract

Elevated radioactivity levels of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in building materials were measured using gamma-ray spectrometry and their associated lifetime cancer risks were also determined. The mean activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K are 45.72 § 0.55, 65.90 § 8.89, and 487.32 § 15.20 Bq kg¡1, respectively. Statistically, the principal component (PC) analysis indicates that higher loadings were recorded in Principal Component One (PC1) with large contribution from 232Th and 40K. The leverage studies indicate that BN Ceramics (BNC) contributes more to the loadings in PC1 followed by Golden Crown Ceramic (GCC) sample and GC. The mean values of 0.399 mSv y¡1 for annual effective dose from the samples surpassed the world’s average value of 0.07 mSv y¡1 by a factor of 5.7. The mean gamma index from the measured samples is 0.644, whereas a mean value of 0.271 for alpha index is noted in the samples. The activity utilization index (AUI) from the samples satisfied the AUI <2, which corresponded with the annual effective dose of <0.3 mSv y¡1, except interlock Site 2 and Gomez Spain tiles. Significantly, the mean value of excess lifetime cancer risk of 0.0014 is slightly lower than the world average value of 0.29 £ 10¡3.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	building materials; radioactivity; gamma spectroscopy; excess lifetime cancer risk; annual effective dose; alpha index
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics Q Science > QD Chemistry T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics > School of Chemistry Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics > School of Civil Engineering and the Environment Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics > School of Physics
Depositing User:	Mrs Patricia Nwokealisi
Date Deposited:	20 Mar 2018 10:07
Last Modified:	20 Mar 2018 10:07
URI:	http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/10441

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