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Regional differences in the levels of naturally occurring radionuclides and 137Cs in commercial tea leaf products

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Abstract

Gamma-ray spectrometry was performed on 26 tea leaf products from seven countries to determine the difference in radiation exposure doses based on the place of origin. The difference in radioactivity concentrations exceeded ten-fold for both naturally occurring radionuclides and 137Cs. Assuming an annual tea leaf consumption of 1 kg/capita, the maximum difference in the radiation dose was estimated to be 3.1 and 0.25 µSv/y for uranium or thorium series nuclides and 137Cs, respectively. Considering the contributions of 210Pb and 210Po, which were not measured in this study, the difference will be much larger. However, this dose is much lower than the worldwide radiation exposure from natural sources, which is expected to be in a range of 1–10 mSv, with an average of 2.4 mSv.

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* statistically significant transfer (p ≤ 5%), 226Ra = weighted mean of 214Pb and 214Bi, 228Ra = 228Ac, 228Th = weighted mean of 212Pb, 212Bi, and 208Tl

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  1. Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, 3-18-8 Ueda, Morioka, 020-8550, Japan

    Itaru Sato

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Sato, I. Regional differences in the levels of naturally occurring radionuclides and 137Cs in commercial tea leaf products. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 2115–2122 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08817-4

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