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Assessment of radiation hazards of white and grey Portland cements

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Abstract

Activity concentration of 232Th, 226Ra and 40K was determined in 11 white and 63 grey Portland cements by using gamma spectrometry. The potential γ-ray radiation hazards due to mentioned activity concentrations were assessed by following five approaches: internal hazard index, Hin, external hazard index, Hex, activity concentration index, I, absorbed dose rate, D, and effective dose, Ep. All of these showed results falling below threshold limits. Particularly, white cements exhibited slightly lower values than grey ones. The annual effective dose estimated for all the Portland cements falls within 0.10 mSv to 0.47 mSv (≤ 1 mSv: threshold criterion for building materials).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the coordination tasks of Marina Romay at OFICEMEN, and the participation of the Spanish cement companies’ members of that Association.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cements and Mortars Department, Spanish Institute of Cement and its Applications (IECA), C/José Abascal, 53, 28003, Madrid, Spain

    Miguel Ángel Sanjuán

  2. Department for Environment, Environmental Radioactivity and Radiological Surveillance Unit, CIEMAT, Av. Complutense, 22, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    José A. Suarez-Navarro

  3. Civil Engineering School, Technical University of Madrid, C/Profesor Aranguren, s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Cristina Argiz

  4. Department of Geological and Mines Engineering, Mine and Energy Engineering School, Technical University of Madrid (UPM), C/Ríos Rosas, 21, 28003, Madrid, Spain

    Pedro Mora

Authors
  1. Miguel Ángel Sanjuán
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  2. José A. Suarez-Navarro
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  3. Cristina Argiz
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  4. Pedro Mora
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Correspondence to Miguel Ángel Sanjuán.

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Sanjuán, M.Á., Suarez-Navarro, J.A., Argiz, C. et al. Assessment of radiation hazards of white and grey Portland cements. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 322, 1169–1177 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06824-y

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