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Radiological hazards of coal and ash samples collected from Xi’an coal-fired power plants of China

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Abstract

The natural radiological characteristics and their respective annual effective dose (AED) rates, produced by 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in coal, fly ash and bottom ash from two large coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) of Xi’an were determined by means of γ-ray spectrometry. The average activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in all ash samples (fly ash and bottom ash samples) from the two CFPPs were 67.6, 74.3 and 225.3 Bq kg−1, respectively. The results are compared with data from other locations. To evaluate the radiological hazards of the natural radioactivity, the radium equivalent activity (Raeq), air absorbed dose rate (D), AED and external hazard index (H ex) are compared with internationally accepted values. Raeq and H ex of all samples except three fly ash samples were less than the limits of 370 Bq kg−1 and unity, respectively. The average D and AED for ash samples were 86.8 nGy h−1 and 0.11 mSv y−1, respectively, which exceed the world average and Xi’an average values.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Provincial Natural Sciences Foundation of Shaanxi Province under Grant 2006D14 and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant GK200901008. We are grateful to the authorities of the Baqiao and Xijiao coal-fired power plants for permission to carry out fieldwork and for providing samples. We also thank Editor-in-Chief Dr, James W. LaMoreaux and anonymous reviewers for their insightful suggestions and critical reviews of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Tourism and Environment, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, 710062, People’s Republic of China

    Xinwei Lu, Fengling Wang, Lijun Wang & Xu Zhang

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Loretta Y. Li

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  1. Xinwei Lu
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  2. Loretta Y. Li
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  3. Fengling Wang
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  4. Lijun Wang
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  5. Xu Zhang
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Correspondence to Xinwei Lu.

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Lu, X., Li, L.Y., Wang, F. et al. Radiological hazards of coal and ash samples collected from Xi’an coal-fired power plants of China. Environ Earth Sci 66, 1925–1932 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-011-1417-x

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