Activity size distributions of radioactive airborne particles in an arid environment: a case study of Kuwait
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Activity size distributions of radioactive airborne particles in an arid environment: a case study of Kuwait Anfal Ismaeel 1 & Abdulaziz Aba 1 & Hanadi Al-Shammari 1 & Aishah Al-Boloushi 1 & Omar Al-Boloushi 1 & Mariam Malak 1 & Abdullah Al-Dabbous 1 & Salman Al-Tamimi 1 Received: 10 February 2020 / Accepted: 19 May 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Atmospheric radioactive airborne released from several natural and artificial sources can travel for long distances and disperse in different directions. Both the physical and chemical characteristics of the atmospheric aerosols control this movement. The concentrations of 210Pb, 210Po, 7Be, 40K and 137Cs radionuclides in the ground surface air were determined in three particle sizes (2.4–10.2, 0.73–2.4 and less than 0.73 μm). High-volume air samples were collected from five different locations representing the five governorates of Kuwait using high-volume air samplers connected to a five-stage cascade impactor. The radioactivity concentrations of almost all fallout radionuclides were concentrated on the fine particle size fractions. The cosmogenic 7Be radioactivity level in all locations was relatively comparable and varied between 1.16 and 18.38 mBq/m3, with a geometric mean value of 6.80 mBq/m3. 137Cs was infrequently recorded with concentration varied between 4 and 14.3 μBq/m3. The geometric mean levels of the 210Po and 210Pb were 0.899 mBq/m3 and 1.03 mBq/m3, respectively, indicating that anthropogenic sources likely enrich 210Po. 40K was concentrated on large particle size fractions with a geometric mean value of 2.34 mBq/m3, reflecting the effects of the local dust sources. It was concluded that the radiological hazards due to airborne radioactive inhalation are low and can be negligible, where the annual estimated effective dose is about 64.0 μSv. The radioactive airborne measurements compose the base of estimating the aerosols residence time, resuspension rate of dust, soil redistribution and source apportionment, particularly the 210Pb and 210Po radionuclides. Keywords Radioactive aerosols . Activity size distribution . AMAD . Effective dose . 210Po . 210Pb . 7Be . Arid environment
Introduction Air is considered the major pathway of transporting radionuclides in the environment because radioactive aerosols (i.e., airborne radioactive particles [ARPs]) can travel long distances and disperse in different directions in the atmosphere. Measuring and identifying the radionuclides’ concentrations in the air are essential in investigating the effect of dose exposures from natural and artificial radioisotopes in the atmosphere on human health. The potential health risk of radioisotopes present in the environment is a result of several severe Responsible Editor: Georg Steinhauser * Anfal Ismaeel [email protected] 1
Environmental and Life Sciences Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, P. O. Box 24885, 13109 Safat, Kuwait
nuclear accidents that occurred many years ago (Chernobyl accide
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