Natural Radioactivity and Environmental Risk Assessment of Rock Samples at Gidan Tagwaye Granite Quarry Site in Dutse Area of Jigawa State using Gamma-Ray Spectrometry

S.K. Khaleed; E. Joseph; A. Ubaidullah

S.K. Khaleed
E. Joseph
A. Ubaidullah

Keywords: Gidan Tagwaye, Radionuclides, Granite, Gamma-ray Spectrometry, Quarry

Abstract

The toxicity risks of being over exposed to ionizing radiation in the environments are of great concern to environmental and health scientists. The levels of natural radioactivity of ⁴⁰K, ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th were investigated at Gidan Tagwaye Granite Quarry Site located at 15 km away from Dutse Local Government Area of Jigawa State, in the North-Western Region of Nigeria using Gamma Spectroscopy with NaI(TI) detector. Radium equivalent activity (Ra_eq), absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose rates, hazard indices (Hex and Hin), gamma and alpha index were calculated and compared with the world recommended value. The results obtained show the measured activity concentration due to ⁴⁰K ranges from 347.52 ± 31.20 Bq/kg to 460.80 ± 93.60 Bq/kg with an average of 397.82 ± 71.24 Bq/kg. ²²⁶Ra ranges from 92.12 ± 13.65 Bq/kg to 153.8 ± 18.85 Bq/kg with an average of 120.15 ± 16.12 Bq/kg. ²³²Th ranges from 216.8 ± 14.45 Bq/kg to 343.98 ± 33.71 Bq/kg with an average of 289.10 ± 30.71 Bq/kg respectively. The radium equivalent activity (Ra_eq) was found to be 549.398 Bq/kg which is higher than world average 370 Bq/kg, the mean absorbed dose rate obtained is 280.02 nGy/h and is higher than the world average of 55 nGy/h. The measured average indoor annual effective dose rate is 1.168 mSvy^-1 and is higher than the world average value of 1 mSv/y while the outdoor annual effective dose rate is 0.349 mSvy^-1which is lower than the world average value of 1 mSvy^-1. The measured average values of external and internal hazard index are 1.521 and 1.957, which is higher than the world permissible limit of 1, the measured gamma and alpha indices are 3.17 and 0.839, in which the gamma index is higher than the world average value, while alpha is less than the world average value. This indicates that the sediments in all the sampling sites pose a significant radiological effect to the workers and inhabitants of the area, therefore public awareness on the health implication of these radionuclides is recommended.

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