222 Rn concentration level and inhalation exposure assessment for the population residing in Singhbhum copper belt of Jh
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Rn concentration level and inhalation exposure assessment for the population residing in Singhbhum copper belt of Jharkhand Asheesh Mishra1 · S. K. Sharma1 · D. C. Panigrahi2 · V. N. Jha3 · A. K. Sarangi4 · R. L. Patnaik3 Received: 6 June 2020 / Accepted: 22 September 2020 / Published online: 10 October 2020 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2020
Abstract The present investigation has been carried out in the copper mineralized region of Jharkhand, India. Apart from the natural deposit of copper minerals, which is found along with uranium in this region, different industrial sites of copper were accounted for, in the study. The integrated radon measurement technique has been used with dosimeter deployment interval of 90 days. The indoor 222Rn activity concentration varied at different locations from 58.4 to 100.7 Bq m−3 with an average of 79.8 ± 14.5 Bq m−3 . In the outdoor environment, annual average 222Rn activity concentration varies from 36.5 to 75.8 Bq m−3 with an average of 57.9 ± 14.0 Bq m−3 . The corresponding annual inhalation dose due to indoor and outdoor 222Rn activity concentration to the inhabitants of the region has been worked out as 1.95 mSv year−1 to 3.28 mSv year−1 respectively with a mean of 2.60 ± 0.38 mSv year−1. Keywords Copper mineralization · 222Rn concentration · Environment · Annual dose
Introduction Elevated levels of naturally occurring radionuclides can be present in the earth crust in certain regions of the world. These radionuclides can become part of ecosphere resulting in exposure of population group residing in that area, mostly through inhalation, ingestion and external exposure pathways. Further, if economic considerations are favourable, industrial activities such as mining and processing of viable minerals are carried out resulting in the redistribution of the radionuclides into the environment. These activities may modify the existing natural status of the adjoining environment, which in turn is governed by factors such as nature of the host minerals, bio-geochemical interaction processes and quantitative output of mining/processing * Asheesh Mishra [email protected] 1
Department of Physics, IIT (ISM), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India
2
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT (ISM), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India
3
Environmental Assessment Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
4
Uranium Corporation of India, Ltd, Jadugora, Jharkhand, India
and waste management practices. Apart from this, regional environmental settings and socioeconomic profile (climate and resource utilization pattern) can be linked to radiation exposure of an area. Approximately half of the global average exposure to the public from natural sources is contributed from radon (222Rn, t1/2 = 3.82 days) and it’s short-lived progenies [1, 2]. The gas is the immediate decay product of 226Ra, a significant radionuclide of uranium-series in the earth crust. The gaseous 222Rn can disperse into the atmosphere decaying to its short-lived progenies that can be attached to
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