TITLE:
Assessment of Radionuclide Content of Shore Sediments Collected from the Bank of River Benue, North-Central Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Terver Sombo, Ejembi Emmanuel, Jonathan Ugwuanyi
KEYWORDS:
Radionuclides, Sediments, Gamma Spectrometry, Radiological Parameter
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.5 No.12,
December
18,
2017
ABSTRACT: Ionizing Radiation
emitted from radionuclide has an adverse effect on human health. A continuing
population exposure to naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMS) found
in our environment is one of the major scientific subjects that attract public
attention. The assessment of radionuclide content of shore sediments of river
Benue-North Central Nigeria was carried out using gamma-ray spectrometry. The
activity concentrations of U-238, Th-232 and K-40 were found to have an average
concentration of 1.17, 3.31 and 405.95 Bq·kg-1 respectively. The
values gotten from present study were compared with the world average values. World
average values of U-238, Th-232 and K-40 are 50 Bq·kg-1, 50 Bq·kg-1 and 500 Bq·kg-1 respectively. The mean concentration of daughter radionuclides
generated from U-238, Th-232 was 4.32, 10.37, 5.24, 3.86, 11.87, and 6.52 for
Bi-212, Pb-212, Bi-214, Pb-214, Ra-226 and Ac-228, respectively. The mean of
the absorbed dose, Annual effective dose equivalent, for radium equivalent
activity, and external hazard index, were evaluated to be 19.45 nGy·h-1,
23.82 μSv·y-1, 37.16 Bq·kg-1, 0.10 mSv·y1, below
the permissible limit of 57 nGy·h-1, 70 μSv·y-1, 370 Bq·kg-1 and 1 mSv·y-1 respectively. These shore sediments from river Benue
are therefore, radiologically safe for construction and other domestic and
industrial purposes.