Assessment of elemental and NROM/TENORM hazard potential from non-nuclear industries in North Sinai, Egypt

Abstract

Non-nuclear industries use raw materials containing significant levels of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). The processing of these materials may expose workers engaged in or even people living near such sites to technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM) above the natural background. Inductively coupled plasma and gamma ray spectrometry have been used to determine major and trace elements and radionuclide concentrations in various samples, respectively, in order to investigate the environmental impact of coal mining and cement plant in North Sinai, Egypt. Generally, very little attention was directed to the large volumes of waste generated by either type of industrial activities. Different samples were analyzed including various raw materials, coal, charcoal, Portland and white cement, sludge, and wastes. Coal mine and cement plant workers dealing with waste and kaolin, respectively, are subjected to a relatively high annual effective dose. One of the important finding is the enhancement of all measured elements and radionuclides in the sludge found in coal mine. It may pose an environmental threat because of its large volume and its use as combustion material. The mine environment may have constituted Al, Fe, Cr, and V pollution source for the local area. Higher concentration of Al, Fe, Mn, B, Co, Cr, Mn, Ni, Sr, V, and TENORM were found in Portland cement and Zn in white cement. Coal has higher concentrations of Al, Fe, B, Co, Cr, and V as well as (226)Ra and (232)Th. The compiled results from the present study and different worldwide investigations demonstrate the obvious unrealistic ranges normally used for (226)Ra and (232)Th activity concentrations in coal and provided ranges for coal, Portland and white cement, gypsum, and limestone.

Primordial radionuclides in the dust samples from the educational institutions of central Bangladesh: radiological risk assessment

“…Similarly, all the determined primordial radionuclides of this study represented similar trend as the surface soil samples of different countries in the subcontinent ( Mishra, 2004 ; Matiullah et al., 2004 ; Mandal and Sengupta, 2005 ; Fatima et al., 2007 ; Prasad et al., 2008 ; Shanthi et al., 2010 ; Badhan and Mehra, 2012 ; Babai et al., 2013 ; Dhawal et al., 2013 ; Sahoo et al., 2016 ; Pillai et al., 2017 ; Bramha et al., 2018 ). Herein, 226 Ra activities are greater than 232 Th in the dust samples of this work which is concomitant with the world literature values ( Bem et al., 2002 ; Papp et al., 2002 ; Faghihi et al., 2011 ; Flues et al., 2002 ; Dai et al., 2022 ; Amin et al., 2008 ; Arogunjo et al., 2009 ; Karamanis et al., 2009 ; Ribeiro et al., 2010 ; Otansev et al., 2012 ; Tufan and Bostanci, 2012 ; Amin et al., 2013 ; Charro et al., 2013 ; Papaefthymiou et al., 2013 ; Cujic et al., 2015 ; El-Mekawy et al., 2015 ; Liu et al., 2015 ; Alzubaidi et al., 2016 ; Goren et al., 2017 ; Zhang, 2017 ) while median n=23 value of 40 K activity in this study was relatively greater than the global median value. Hence, the variation of 40 K activities generated from differential geochemical settings while the discrepancy of 226 Ra activity concentrations between the classroom-dusts of this work and the surface soils n=45 ( Table 4 ) assumed to be derived from natural or/and the non-natural processes.…”

“…(2008) Samsun City, Turkey 19.0 22.0 521 Tufan and Bostanci (2012) Greece 45.0 32.5 337 Papaefthymiou et al. (2013) Egypt 14.7 17.1 222 El-Mekawy et al. (2015) Nigeria 54.5 91.1 287 Arogunjo et al.…”