Measurement of Radioactivity Levels and Health Risk in Maize and Sorghum Grown in the Bale Zone Oromia Region Ethiopia by Using Gamma Ray Spectrometer (HPGE)
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Date
2021-09-27
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) are ubiquitous in our environment.
238U, 232Th and 40K are the predominant NORMs in the soil that are found
to have been existing for billions of years. Naturally occurring radioactive material
(NORM) is a commonly used term to describe material containing primordial
radionuclide’s. Radionuclide’s enter the human body through complex mechanism
including ingested foodstuffs via the food chain from natural sources.The objective
of the measurement is aimed at estimating the activity concentrations and the
conscience of these in some areas of Bale Zone in Warre and Wadduma Kebele .
The activity concentrations of five (5) maize samples and four (4) sorghum samples
from the areas were determined using High purity Germanium (HPGe) detector.
The activity concentration for 238U, 232Th and 40K for the maize samples
ranged from (3:326_0:00)Bq=Kg to (4:034_0:00)Bq=Kg, (6:260_0:00)Bq=Kg
to (14:257_0:00)Bq=Kg and (80:935_4:004)Bq=Kg to (131:092_6:038)Bq=Kg
respectively. Hence the mean concentration obtained for each radionuclide’s were
3:73Bq=Kg for 238U, 10:838Bq=Kg for 232Th and 109:370_4:29Bq=Kg for 40K.
This showed that the values for 238U and 232Th were higher than activity concentrations
of world reference value 0:02Bq=kg and 0:003Bq=kg, for 238U and 232Th, of
these radionuclides [1].The activity concentrations of radionuclides in 238U,232Th
and 40K measured for sorghum were ranged between 2.151 to 6:753Bq=kg, 3.349 to
20:218Bq=kg and 104:184_4:758 to 122:434_2:413Bq=kg, respectively. The average
activity concentrations of 238U, 232Th, and 40K in sorghum were 4:389Bq=kg,
11:295Bq=kg, and 112:636_4:088Bq=kg, respectively. The activity concentration
of 238U and 232U implies that, higher activity concentrations than the world reference
value 0:02Bq=kg and 0:003Bq=kg , for 238U and 232Th, of these radionuclides
[1].The ingestion effective dose in mSv=y for adult to specific activity of 238U, 232Th
and 40K in maize samples were varied from 0:24mSv=y to 0:38mSv=y with the average
value of 0:32mSv=y which is slightly greater than world reference value 0.3
mSv=y[2].
and the ingestion effective dose in mSv=y for specific activity of 238U,232Th and
40K in sorghum samples were varied from 0:2mSv=y to 0:79mSv=y with the average
value of 0:422mSv=y which is higher than world reference value 0:3mSv=y for
ingestion[2].
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Keywords
Radioactivity, Activity Concentration Level, Health Risk, Germanium Detector, HPGe Spectrometer