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Natural radioactivity survey on soils originated from southern part of Thailand as potential sites for nuclear power plants from radiological viewpoint and risk assessment

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Abstract

Natural radioactivity in surface soil samples collected at potential sites from southern part of Thailand to set up nuclear power plants has been investigated. 238U and 232Th were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry whereas gamma-ray spectroscopy was used for 40K determination. The activity concentrations for 238U, 232Th and 40K varied in range from 4 to 122, 6 to 170 and 5 to 1,422 Bq kg−1, respectively. The large variation of radionuclide concentrations showed heterogeneous distribution that could be attributed to geological origin. The radiation hazard parameters were estimated from activity concentration of 238U, 232Th and 40K in accordance with the UNSCEAR 2000. Data obtained indicated that soils in the study areas did not pose any significant radiological health hazard to the local population.

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Acknowledgments

The author (RK) is very much thankful to Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo, Japan for the award of doctoral fellowship “Asian Human Resources Fund” at Tokyo Metropolitan University and National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), Chiba, Japan for all experimental studies. RK would like to thank specially Chulalongkorn University team members for their kind support during field study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre for Radiation Protection, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage, Chiba, Japan

    Rawiwan Kritsananuwat, Hideki Arae & Sarata Kumar Sahoo

  2. Department of Radiological Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 7-2-10 Higashiogu, Arakawa, Tokyo, Japan

    Rawiwan Kritsananuwat & Masahiro Fukushi

  3. Department of Nuclear Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, 254 Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok, Thailand

    Rawiwan Kritsananuwat & Supitcha Chanyotha

Authors
  1. Rawiwan Kritsananuwat
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  2. Hideki Arae
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  3. Masahiro Fukushi
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  4. Sarata Kumar Sahoo
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  5. Supitcha Chanyotha
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Correspondence to Sarata Kumar Sahoo.

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Kritsananuwat, R., Arae, H., Fukushi, M. et al. Natural radioactivity survey on soils originated from southern part of Thailand as potential sites for nuclear power plants from radiological viewpoint and risk assessment. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 305, 487–499 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-3994-8

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