TITLE:
Assessment of Equivalent Radium Activity and Annual Effective Dose Due to Building Materials in Côte D’Ivoire by Gamma Spectrometry: Cases of Cement
AUTHORS:
Monnehan G. Alain, Gogon B. D. L. Huberson, Braffo A. Florentin, Djagouri Koudou, Koua A. Antonin, Kouakou Omer
KEYWORDS:
Cement, Gamma Spectrometry, Equivalent Radiumactivity, Annual Effec-tive Dose
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.9 No.10,
October
31,
2019
ABSTRACT: Radioactivity is a natural phenomenon present in the universe. So,
because of human life solidarity with a habitat, we are permanently in contact,
especially through building materials. The objective of this work is the
determination of the used cement radioactivity level in the buildings in Cote
d'Ivoire. Thus, samples of grey and white cement currently used on Ivorian
territory were taken. In order to determine the radioactivity level of this cement,
samples were analyzed by using gamma spectrometry chain which contains a NaI
(Tl) scintillation detector designed by the German manufacturer LD-DIDACTIC,
coupled to a multichannel analyzer (AMC) using a Cassy Lab software. Thus, the specific activity of
the primordial radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th and 40K,
was able to be determined. The average values obtained are 29.66 Bq/kg, 34.88
Bq/kg and 178.424 Bq/kg respectively for 226Ra, 232Th and 40K. All average values are below the limit values recommended by UNSCEAR. However, we evaluated the radiological parameters such as the
equivalent radium activity and the annual effective dose in order to translate
the specific activity in terms of harmfulness. Values obtained for these
parameters are below those recommended by ICRP and UNSCEAR. These results show
that the risk incurred by the use of these different brands of cement is low.