Influence of grain size on radionuclide activity concentrations and radiological hazard of building material samples

Sahar Elnobi; S Harb; N K Ahmed

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.09.021

Influence of grain size on radionuclide activity concentrations and radiological hazard of building material samples

Appl Radiat Isot. 2017 Dec:130:43-48. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.09.021. Epub 2017 Sep 15.

Authors

Sahar Elnobi¹, S Harb², N K Ahmed²

Affiliations

¹ Physics Department, Faculty of Science Qena, South Valley University, Egypt. Electronic address: Sahar.elnobi@sci.svu.edu.eg.
² Physics Department, Faculty of Science Qena, South Valley University, Egypt.

PMID: 28942327
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.09.021

Abstract

The knowledge of radioactivity content in various radionuclides in building materials plays an important role in health physics; therefore, we measured the amount of naturally occurring radionuclides in building material (sand, granite, marble, and limestone) samples of different grain sizes by using NaI (Tl) and MCA1024 gamma-ray spectrometers. Data analyses were performed to determine ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴°K activity concentrations. The results revealed an inverse relationship between activity concentration and grain size of the samples. The radium equivalent activity (Ra_eq), representative level index I, and annual absorbed dose rate were calculated.

Keywords: Dose; Gamma-ray spectrometer; Grain size; NORM; Natural radioactivity.

MeSH terms

Construction Materials / analysis*
Hazardous Substances* / chemistry
Particle Size*
Radiation Dosage
Radioisotopes / analysis*
Radioisotopes / chemistry
Spectrometry, Gamma

Substances

Hazardous Substances
Radioisotopes