Spatial distribution of radionuclides in agricultural soil in the vicinity of a coal-fired brick kiln
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Spatial distribution of radionuclides in agricultural soil in the vicinity of a coal-fired brick kiln Md. Jainal Abedin 1 & Md. Rezaul Karim 1 & Shahadat Hossain 2 & Nipa Deb 2 & Masud Kamal 2 & Md. Hazrat Ali Miah 3 & Mayeen Uddin Khandaker 4 Received: 7 September 2018 / Accepted: 20 February 2019 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2019
Abstract The spatial distributions of naturally occurring radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th, and 40K) in agricultural soils collected in the proximity of a coal-fired brick kiln located at Chittagong district were studied using HPGe γ-ray spectrometry. The obtained mean activity concentrations for 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K were slightly higher than the world average values, which indicate the contribution of radionuclides via the fly ash deposition from the kiln. The maximum activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40 K in soil samples collected at a distance of 120 m from the kiln were found to be 54.3 ± 11.3 Bq kg−1, 62.1 ± 18.2 Bq kg−1, and 572 ± 123 Bq kg−1, respectively; the levels show further decreasing trend in all directions (towards and away from the kiln). Associated radiological hazard indices were calculated in order to assess the radiation effects to human health and compared with the world-recommended values. Basic multivariate statistical analysis was performed to describe the statistical characteristics of the radionuclides. Lower values of radiological indices indicate that there is no probability of immediate health effect on workers and public living around the kiln due to the presence of natural radioactivity in the agricultural soils. Keywords Coal-firedbrick kiln . Agriculturalsoil . Gamma-ray spectrometry, radioactivity . Hazardindices . Multivariateanalysis
Introduction Bangladesh, the 9th largest populous country in the world, is burdened with more than 166.37 million people (http:// worldpopulationreview.com/countries/bangladesh-population/). The housing facilities and other infrastructures are to be developed to meet the demand of this huge population. Brick Editorial handling: Maurizio Barbieri * Md. Jainal Abedin [email protected] * Mayeen Uddin Khandaker [email protected] 1
Department of Chemistry, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, Chittagong 4349, Bangladesh
2
Atomic Energy Centre, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Chittagong 4209, Bangladesh
3
Department of Pharmacy, BGC Trust University, Chittagong, Bangladesh
4
Center for Biomedical Physics, School of Healthcare and Medical Sciences, Sunway University, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
is the most commonly used basic building material in this country. According to Bangladesh Brick Manufacturing Owners Association (BBAOA), there are approximately 6000 brick fields available in the country producing about 17 billion bricks of different grades in a single year. Among them, more than 5000 brick kilns are fueled by bituminous coal. Coal is a sedimentary rock whose organic and inorganic mineral aggregates contain varied concentrations of pr
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