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Measurement of radon concentrations and their annual effective doses in soils and rocks of Jaintiapur and its adjacent areas, Sylhet, North-east Bangladesh

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Abstract

The study investigates the measurement of radon concentration in soils and rocks as a natural tracer for exploring uranium mineralization, first of its kind in Bangladesh. The range of radon concentration was measured as 8–4360 Bq/m3 with an average of 851.41 Bq/m3. Among the measured values, 2120–4360 Bq/m3 was observed in the Tertiary sediments whereas 8–584 Bq/m3 was found in the Recent alluvial soil of different bils and haors. These high radon concentrations are explained by geogenic factors such as mineral content in rocks, alluvium cover, sufficient porosity, probable subsurface fault, and flooding by water streamed through adjacent uranium-rich areas in India. The radon values indicate that the rock formations are promising for uranium mineralization. The radon concentration in rocks and soils are well comparable to the similar studies of the other parts of the world. The results are in good agreement with the previous radiometric survey results, suggestive to extensive exploration activities to confirm uranium mineralization in the area. Moreover, the average annual effective dose of 0.008092 mSv/y in the region calculated from the radon values is within the WHO and ICRP safety limits.

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Acknowledgements

The authors of this paper are sincerely grateful to the scientific and technical personnel of the Institute of Nuclear Minerals of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission for the support during field work. Sincere acknowledgement goes to the local people and administration for their logistic help and cooperation in the field. Constructive suggestions of the anonymous reviewers are thankfully appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Isotope Hydrology Division, Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Savar, Dhaka, 1349, Bangladesh

    Ratan Kumar Majumder

  2. Institute of Nuclear Minerals, Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Savar, Dhaka, 1349, Bangladesh

    Sudeb Chandra Das, Md. Golam Rasul, Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil, Nafisa Tamannaya Dina, Mohammad Zafrul Kabir, Farah Deeba & Mohammad Rajib

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  1. Ratan Kumar Majumder
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Contributions

Field supervision, investigation and review: [Ratan Kumar Majumder]; conceptualization, field investigation, map preparation and writing-original draft: [Sudeb Chandra Das]; funding acquisition and review: [Md. Golam Rasul]; field investigation: [Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil]; data curation: [Nafisa Tamannaya Dina]; methodology, data analysis and review: [Mohammad Zafrul Kabir, Farah Deeba]; review and editing: [Mohammad Rajib]. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sudeb Chandra Das.

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Majumder, R.K., Das, S.C., Rasul, M.G. et al. Measurement of radon concentrations and their annual effective doses in soils and rocks of Jaintiapur and its adjacent areas, Sylhet, North-east Bangladesh. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 329, 265–277 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07771-3

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