Radiological dose and health impact to Jordanian populace due to radioactivity in staple food crops from four representa
- PDF / 995,019 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 21 Downloads / 174 Views
Radiological dose and health impact to Jordanian populace due to radioactivity in staple food crops from four representative soils in Jordan Ahmad Hussein Alomari1 · Muneer Aziz Saleh2 · Suhairul Hashim1 · Naif Al‑Hada3 · Ahmad Abukashabeh4 · Amal Alsayaheen5 · Morad Hamad6 Received: 13 July 2020 / Accepted: 14 October 2020 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2020
Abstract In the current study, the activity concentrations of 40K, 226Ra,232Th, and 137Cs were measured in 39 wheat crops samples and their associated soils taken from four representative soils in Jordan to estimate the annual effective dose and lifetime risk assessment due to intake of these radionuclides in wheat crops. The mean annual effective dose and the excess lifetime risk due to 40K and 226Ra intake in wheat grains was 0.4 mSv and 14.64 × 10−4 exceeding the global average of 0.178 mSv and 10−4, respectively. 226Ra had the most significant contribution (72% of the total), followed by 40K (28%). Keywords Natural radioactivity · Wheat · Annual effective dose · Transfer factor · Physicochemical properties · Jordan
Introduction Humans are often exposed to various sources of ionizing radiation from natural or human-made sources [1]. The leading source of irradiation affecting humans is natural radionuclides 238U and 232Th, along with their decay products and non-decay series 40K that emit natural radiation [2]. Plants can absorb and transfer radionuclides via mineral uptake because radionuclides have chemical and physical characteristics that are similar to the minerals that are typically consumed by plants. Naturally occurring radionuclides can * Ahmad Hussein Alomari [email protected] 1
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johore Bahru, Johore, Malaysia
2
Nuclear Engineering Programme, Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johore Bahru, Johore, Malaysia
3
Shandong Key Laboratory of Biophysics, Institute of Biophysics, Dezhou University, Dezhou 253023, China
4
Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, Amman, Jordan
5
Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ), Amman, Jordan
6
Department of Physics, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
be transferred to agricultural products via root systems or through the above-ground parts of plants [3]. Radionuclides are transferred to plants and other components of the environment, such as water and air, through soil. Hence, soil is the primary indicator of the radiological contamination of an environment [4]. Several health hazards arise when radionuclides are present in food crops, especially when they enter the human body through ingestion [5]. Internal exposure to radionuclides due to natural environmental radioactivity can have adverse health effects [6]. Concerning internal radiation exposure, 226Ra and 228Ra have become of particular interest because they are two of the most hazardous elements to human health [7]. The alpha-particle emission of 226Ra makes it
Data Loading...
