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Assessment of radiological hazard indices caused by 238U, 232Th, 226Ra and 40K radionuclides of heavy minerals on Taiwanese beach sands, stream sediments, and surrounding rocks: implications for radiometric fingerprinting of the environmental impact

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Abstract

This study assessed the radiological hazard indices caused by radionuclides in heavy minerals hosted in Taiwanese beaches, streams, and rocks. Apatite, zircon, monazite, xenotime, rutile, sphene, and epidote are counted as radioactive minerals that respond to radiological hazard indices. These indices are lower than the international permitted values that do not endanger human health. Rocks with uranium migrated out (− Um) are considered radioactive mineral sources with negative migration rates ranging between − 2.18 and − 91.52%, with an average of − 46.85%, and are redistributed into beaches and stream sediments, with positive migration rates ranging between 3.76 and 79.55%, with an average of 41.66%.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Egyptian Nuclear Materials Authority (ENMA) for their assistance with γ-ray spectrometers. We acknowledge constructive comments and suggestions from the Springer Nature Language Editing services to improve the English language of this paper. Special thanks are extended to the anonymous journal reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.

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  1. Institute of Mineral Resources Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

    Eslam Mohammed Ali Mitwally & Bing-Sheng Yu

  2. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Al Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt

    Eslam Mohammed Ali Mitwally

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Mitwally, E.M.A., Yu, BS. Assessment of radiological hazard indices caused by 238U, 232Th, 226Ra and 40K radionuclides of heavy minerals on Taiwanese beach sands, stream sediments, and surrounding rocks: implications for radiometric fingerprinting of the environmental impact. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 4847–4875 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-09186-8

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