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Natural uranium isotopes and 226Ra in surface and groundwater from a basin of a semiarid region in Brazil

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Abstract

This research aimed to get information about the uranium and radium activity concentrations in surface and ground water in a semiarid region in Brazil. Mean (and range) activity of 0.46 (0.01–1.8), 0.015 (0.0004–0.066) and 0.32 (0.09–1.32) Bq L− 1 were found for 234U, 235U and 238U, respectively. Uranium radioisotopes account for the higher radioactivity in surface and groundwater, 226Ra was found only in few groundwater samples (0.09–0.61 Bq L− 1). 226Ra/238U (0.15–0.43) and 234U/238U (1.18–1.86) activity ratios are indicative of radioactive disequilibrium in groundwater. Expected effective doses from few water sources can be considered significant if untreated water is used for drinking.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) of Brazil and The World Academy of Science (TWAS) under Grant CNPq/TWS Number 190692/2015-4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Radioecologia, Departamento de Energia Nuclear (DEN), Centro de Tecnologia e Geociências (CTG), Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Avenida Professor Luiz Freire, 1000, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, 50740-545, Brazil

    Lino Valcarcel Rojas, José Araújo dos Santos Júnior, Marvic Ortueta Milan, Romilton Santos Amaral, Zahily Herrero Fernández & Josineide Marques do Nascimento Santos

  2. Spiez Laboratory, Nuclear Chemistry Division, Federal Office for Civil Protection, 3700, Spiez, Switzerland

    José Antonio Corcho Alvarado & Stefan Röllin

Authors
  1. Lino Valcarcel Rojas
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  2. José Araújo dos Santos Júnior
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  3. José Antonio Corcho Alvarado
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  4. Marvic Ortueta Milan
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  5. Stefan Röllin
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  6. Romilton Santos Amaral
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  7. Zahily Herrero Fernández
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  8. Josineide Marques do Nascimento Santos
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Lino Valcarcel Rojas, José Araújo dos Santos Júnior, José Antonio Corcho Alvarado, Marvic Ortueta Milan and Stefan Röllin. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Lino Valcarcel Rojas and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lino Valcarcel Rojas.

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Rojas, L.V., dos Santos Júnior, J.A., Alvarado, J.A.C. et al. Natural uranium isotopes and 226Ra in surface and groundwater from a basin of a semiarid region in Brazil. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 326, 1081–1089 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07393-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07393-1

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