Environmental radioactivity and associated radiological hazards in surface soils in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
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Environmental radioactivity and associated radiological hazards in surface soils in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Dinh‑Khoa Tran1 · Y Truong1 · Nhu‑Sieu Le1 · Van‑Phu Nguyen1 · Hoai‑Nam Tran2,3 Received: 18 May 2020 / Accepted: 15 October 2020 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2020
Abstract Assessment of environmental radioactivity in surface soils in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam has been conducted to establish a baseline data of natural activity concentrations and associated radiologial hazards in the city. Soil samples were collected at 120 locations distributed widely in the city. The activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K are within the range of 9.6–48.5, 14.8–59.6 and 10.9–637 Bq k g−1, with the average values of 21.1 ± 1.3, 36.6 ± 1.3 and 279 ± 29, respectively. Radium equivalent activity varies from 48.2 to 142 Bq k g−1, with the average value of 94.9 Bq k g−1. Associated radiological hazards are much lower than the safety limits. Keywords Activity concentration · Radionuclides · Hazard indices · Surface soil
Introduction Many radioactive nuclides occurring naturally in soils, rocks and building materials produce external radiation, which causes exposures to human population. Primordial radionuclides, i.e., 238U, 232Th and 40K with the half-lives equivalent to the age of the earth, in surface soils contribute significantly in terms of dose [1, 2]. 238U decay series could also be referred to as 226Ra series due to its main contribution (98.5%) to the total gamma dose [1, 3]. One of the key factors determining the exposure to an individual is the radioactivity concentrations in surface soils. Moreover, soil is the main source to distribute radionuclides to other environments such as water, air, sediments, biological systems and food grains. Thus, evaluating the natural radioactivity level in surface soils and radiological exposure are highly important for establishing a baseline data of background * Dinh‑Khoa Tran [email protected] * Hoai‑Nam Tran [email protected] 1
Dalat Nuclear Research Institute, VINATOM, 01 Nguyen Tu Luc, Dalat, Lamdong 670000, Viet Nam
2
Institute of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Duy Tan University, Ho Chi Minh city 700000, Viet Nam
3
Faculty of Natural Sciences, Duy Tan University, Da Nang 550000, Viet Nam
radiation, evaluating the effect to human health, and studying the characteristics of geological structure [4–7]. In addition, for environmental protection purpose, assessment of natural radioactivity in surface soils is considerably essential to monitor the change of background activity [8]. Natural radioactivity level has been extensively studied in many countries [9–13]. In Vietnam, several studies have also been performed to assess natural radioactivity in soils [14–18]. The radioactivity in soils and external exposure dose in the South of Vietnam were investigated in a previous work [14]. Southern Vietnam consists of 19 provinces covering the area of 64,000 km2. However, as reported in the previous work [14], the total number of soil sa
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