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Dosimetric impact of natural terrestrial radioactivity on residents of lower Himalayas, India

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Abstract

A comprehensive radio-ecological evaluation of soil samples of Solan and Shimla districts of Himachal Pradesh has been carried out for risk and dose assessment. Twenty-six randomly selected environmental soil samples were analysed for natural radionuclide concentrations (226Ra, 232Th and 40K) using NaI(Tl) scintillator detector. The average concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K was observed as 37, 59 and 430 Bq kg−1, respectively, which exceeded the worldwide average of 33, 45 and 412 Bq kg−1 reported by UNSCEAR (Sources and effects of ionizing radiation. Report to the general assembly with scientific annexes, New York, 2008). Radium equivalent activity (Raeq), hazard indices (Hex, Hin) and radioactivity level indices (Iϒr, Iα, AUI) and Clark value were checked against their threshold limits, and their mean values were safely below the recommended criteria. This confirms the soil applicability for construction purposes. Indoor and outdoor dose rates (Ḋ), age-dependent annual effective doses (AED), organ-specific doses and lifetime attributable cancer risk (both cancer incidence and cancer mortality) were also computed. Strong positive correlation was established between radon/thoron exhalation rate and their parent radionuclides. Multivariate statistical technique was employed to explore spatial distribution of radionuclides and homogeneity between various radiological parameters.

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Abbreviations

A R :

Activity concentration of a particular radionuclide (Bq kg−1)

N E :

Net area of the peak (background subtracted) at energy E

T :

Counting time for a sample in NaI detector (s), 10,800

ϒ :

Gamma energy yield per disintegration of the specific radionuclide at energy E, 15.1 for 214Bi, 35.64 for 208Tl, 10.67 for 40K

ε :

Absolute full-energy peak detection efficiency of detector at energy E, 1.13 for 226Ra, 0.77 for 232Th, 1.352 for 40K

m :

Total mass of the dry soil sample inside the chamber or container (kg)

R B :

Background count rate of detector

t G :

Gross count time (s)

t B :

Background count time (s)

C Rn(t):

Radon concentration inside the accumulation chamber at any time t ≠ 0 (Bq m−3)

J m :

Radon mass exhalation rate (Bq kg−1 h−1)

V e :

Effective volume (residual air volume of exhalation chamber + Porous Volume of sample + internal volume of SMART RnDuo/RAD7) (m3), 0.0015

λ e :

Effective radon decay constant which is sum total of leakage constant (assumed zero), back diffusion (negligible) and radioactive decay constant (h−1)

C 0 :

Radon concentration present in chamber volume at time t = 0 (Bq m−3)

J s :

Thoron surface exhalation rate (Bq m−2 h−1)

C Tn :

Thoron concentration (Bq m−3)

λ Tn :

Radioactive decay constant for thoron (s−1), 0.0126

V :

Volume enclosed in the closed loop (m3)

A :

Cross-sectional area of the accumulation chamber (m2)

E Rn :

Emanation rate of radon (kg−1 s−1)

\(C_{{{\text{Rn}}}}^{s}\) :

Steady-state concentration of radon (Bq m−3)

F Rn :

Emanation coefficient of radon

E C :

Elemental concentration of a radionuclide (ppm or %)

M w :

Molecular weight of radionuclide (kg mol−1), 0.238 for 238U, 0.232 for 232Th, 0.039 for 40K

F :

A constant (mg kg−1 or ppm for 238U, 232Th and % of mass fraction for 40K), 106 for 238U, 232Th, 102 for 40K

N A :

Avagadro’s number (atoms mol−1), 6.022 × 1023

λ :

Decay constant of a radionuclide (s−1), 4.9 × 10−18 for 238U, 1.6 × 10−18 for 232Th, 1.8 × 10−17 for 40K

h E :

Atomic abundance in nature (%),99.2745 for 238U, 99.98 for 232Th, 0.012 for 40K

f Ra, f Th, f K :

Fractional contributions to the total dose rate in air attributed to gamma radiation from the actual concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K, respectively, fRa = 0.462, ffTh= 0.604, ffK= 0.0417

w m :

Fractional usage of a building material inside the dwelling

OF:

Occupancy factor, 0.8 for indoors, 0.2 for indoors

k :

Ratio of mass absorption coefficients in organ and air

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Acknowledgement

The authors are highly indebted for the financial support by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India under INSPIRE fellowship (IF160030). They sincerely acknowledge the state-of-the-art laboratory facilities provided by Director, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, the assistance provided by M. Rajesh Kumar, Divecha Climate Change Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in studying the spatial distribution maps and Dr. Manish Kumar, Assistant Professor, KMV College, Jalandhar, for exhalation studies of soil samples.

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  1. Environment Monitoring and Assessment Laboratory, Department of Physics, Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, 144011, India

    Sarabjot Kaur & Rohit Mehra

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  1. Sarabjot Kaur
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SK was involved in conceptualization, methodology, software, investigation, formal analysis, data curation, visualization, writing—original draft preparation. RM helped in validation, resources, supervision, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Rohit Mehra.

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Kaur, S., Mehra, R. Dosimetric impact of natural terrestrial radioactivity on residents of lower Himalayas, India. Environ Geochem Health 44, 603–629 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-020-00748-3

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