Measurement of radioactivity in building materials in Serbia

Abstract

This work presents a comprehensive study of natural radioactivity in 720 building materials imported in Serbia in 2012. Radioactivity concentrations of 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K in the studied samples range from \5 to 4,938, \3 to 763 and \10 to 3,192 Bq kg -1 , respectively. The maximum values of 226 Ra and 232 Th activity concentrations were found in zirconium mineral, while the highest 40 K activity concentration was in the feldspar. Based on the obtained radionuclide concentrations, radium equivalent activity, air absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose, external and internal hazard indices, gamma and alpha index due to radon inhalation were evaluated to assess the potential radiological hazard associated with these building materials.

Refinement of waste phosphogypsum from Prahovo, Serbia: characterization and assessment of application in civil engineering

“…The calculated values for the PG1 and PG2 samples were greater than the limiting values for Ra eq (>370 Bq kg –1 ), the α index ( I α >1), the external hazard index ( H ex >1) and the internal hazard index ( H in >1). Those values were approximately twice as high the maximum values recorded after measurement of 265 gypsum samples used as building materials in Serbia (260, 1.30, 0.70 and 1.41 for Ra eq , I α , H ex and H in , respectively) (Pantelić et al , 2015). After recrystallization, all of the calculated values decreased significantly (Table 5), being three to five times smaller than the maximum values of building materials (Pantelić et al , 2015).…”

“…Those values were approximately twice as high the maximum values recorded after measurement of 265 gypsum samples used as building materials in Serbia (260, 1.30, 0.70 and 1.41 for Ra eq , I α , H ex and H in , respectively) (Pantelić et al , 2015). After recrystallization, all of the calculated values decreased significantly (Table 5), being three to five times smaller than the maximum values of building materials (Pantelić et al , 2015).…”

“…The activity concentration of radionuclides was determined using a high-purity germanium radiation detector of 50% relative efficiency. The detector was calibrated using a secondary reference material with a charcoal matrix in the same 120 cm 3 cylindrical geometry (Pantelić et al , 2015), spiked with standard radioactive solution ERX 9031-OL-427/12 (Czech Metrology Institute, Inspectorate for Ionizing Radiation). The radioactive solution contained 241 Am, 109 Cd, 139 Ce, 57 Co, 60 Co, 137 Cs, 203 Hg, 113 Sn, 85 Sr, 88 Y and 210 Pb radionuclides with energies that ranged from 46.5 to 1898 keV and with a total activity of 72.4 kBq at the reference date of 31 August 2012.…”

“…In the present work, the α index, used for the assessment of the excess α radiation due to radon inhalation originating from the building materials, was determined using Eq. (3) (Pantelić et al, 2015): The external and internal hazard indices, H ex and H in , were defined using Eq. (4) and Eq.…”

Intake dose rate due to various granite samples of Bangalore city, India

“…Mass exhalation rates, 𝛭 Ex and surface exhalation rates, 𝑆 Ex were calculated using the following equations [25,28]:…”