Radiation risk assessment of quarry pit soil as construction material in Abeokuta, Nigeria: implications for environmental and public health

ABSTRACT

Environmental and health risks posed by radionuclides in quarry pit soils are of great concern in environmental health monitoring. The current investigation was aimed at determining the natural radionuclide activity concentration (in Bq kg^–1) of the understudied quarry pit granules used as construction materials. The collection and preparation of pit soil samples from Abeokuta quarry sites were done using standard methods, analysis of radiological parameters was carried out using hyperpure germanium (HPGe) spectrometer. Specific activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K were measured. The values obtained were greater than the world weighted average of 35, 30, and 400 Bq kg^–1 for ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K, respectively. The absorbed dose, the annual effective dose, and the radium equivalent were calculated and demonstrated significant values. The radionuclide content of the samples is relatively high and the use of pit soils as a building material, therefore, raises radiological concerns for dwellers in this area and requires periodic monitoring and undergoing a radiation protection program.

KEYWORDS:

• Activity concentration
• construction material
• gamma-ray spectrometer
• natural radioactivity
• Nigeria
• radiation dose
• radionuclides
• risk

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Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.