Analysis of natural radioactivity in Yatağan coal – fired power plant in Turkey

Abstract

Abstract. Use of the coal in order to generate electricity increases the exposure of people to radiation. In this paper, the activity concentrations of nuclides 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K in samples of coal and bottom ash from the Yatagan Coal-Fired thermal power plant determined using gamma ray spectrometer with a NaI(Tl) scintillation detector. The mean activity concentrations of 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40 K in the coal were found to be 37.2±2.8 Bqkg -1 , 51.8±3.4 Bqkg -1 and 166.7±11.1 Bqkg -1 , respectively. Whereas in the bottom ashes, the concentrations of the corresponding radionuclides were found to be 62.2±5.6 Bqkg -1 , 87.4±5.9 Bqkg -1 and 221.0 ±12.5 Bqkg -1 , respectively. The findings show that bottom ashes show higher activity concentrations of related radionuclide to coal samples. The absorbed gamma dose rate in outdoor air DR OUT and annual effective dose rate (AED) from coal were calculated to define radõologõcal rõsk. The average findings of annual effective doses were detected as 68.6±5.1 µSvy -1 and 110.3±11.2 µSvy -1 , respectively.