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Terrestrial gamma radiation dose rate mapping and influence of building materials: case study at Curtin University campus (Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia)

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Abstract

Detailed mapping of indoor and outdoor terrestrial gamma radiation dose (TGRD) rate at Curtin University campus (Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia) shows rates ranging from 50 to 150 nGy/h with an average of 89.8 nGy/h. Indoor locations with artificial ground cover have on average 37% higher TGRD rates compared to outdoor sites. The spatial influence of building materials on the ambient TGRD rates is clear. The annual effective dose is 0.65 mSv which is well within guidelines indicating there is no radiation risk to campus residents. Of this, 0.15 mSv is due to building materials, of which tiles have the highest contribution.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express thanks to Curtin University Malaysia for granting permission to carry out this research. The authors are also grateful to Dr. S. Chidambaram for his initial thoughts to this research work and lending out the instrument. Special thanks to Rakesh Roshan Gantayat and Thennilan Subramaniam for their assistance in some of the data collection. Authors thank Dr. S. Venkatramanan for helping us to produce spatial maps in this paper. The authors would also like to thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments to further improve the quality of the paper.

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  1. Department of Applied Geology, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia, CDT 250, 98009, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia

    Dominique Dodge-Wan & Prasanna Mohan Viswanathan

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  1. Dominique Dodge-Wan
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  2. Prasanna Mohan Viswanathan
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Correspondence to Dominique Dodge-Wan.

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Dodge-Wan, D., Mohan Viswanathan, P. Terrestrial gamma radiation dose rate mapping and influence of building materials: case study at Curtin University campus (Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia). J Radioanal Nucl Chem 328, 163–180 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07641-y

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