Title: Activity concentration and annual effective ingestion dose assessment due to natural radionuclides present in cereal samples consumed by inhabitants of India

Authors: Raj Kumari; Krishan Kant; Maneesha Garg; Rashi Gupta; R.G. Sonkawade; S.K. Chakarvarti

Addresses: Aggarwal College Ballabgarh, Faridabad, Haryana, India ' Aggarwal College Ballabgarh, Faridabad, Haryana, India ' Faculty of Humanities and Applied Sciences, YMCA University of Science and Technology, Faridabad, Haryana, India ' Department Physics and Astro-Physics, University of Delhi, Delhi, India ' Department of Physics, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India ' Department of Physics, Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad, Haryana, India

Abstract: In the present study, activity concentration and annual effective ingestion dose assessment was carried out in cereal samples using gamma spectrometry. In the studied samples the activity of 226Ra, 238U, 232Th, and 40K varied from 10.25±0.94 Bq/kg to 29.13±0.69 Bq/kg, 7.04±0.13 Bq/kg to 20.08±1.32 Bq/kg, 22.20±2.46 Bq/kg to 58.21±1.15 Bq/kg and 1158.4±26.05Bq/kg to 1962.2±18.17 Bq/kg with an average value of 20.06±4.82 Bq/kg, 13.08±1.31 Bq/kg, 41.53±3.77 Bq/kg, and 1639±75.55 Bq/kg respectively. The average value of annual effective ingestion dose from ingested food was 0.62±0.08 mSv/y, 0.07±0.006 mSv/y, 1.20±0.11 mSv/y, and 1.28±0.06 mSv/y from 226Ra, 238U, 232Th, and 40K, respectively. The average value of total ingestion dose and cancer risk was found to be 3.18±0.14 mSv/y and (79.5±3.55) × 10−4 respectively.

Keywords: natural radioactivity; effective ingestion dose; cereals; detector; cancer risk, IAEA; low radiation; ingestion dose assessment; radionuclides; India; background radiation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2015.074414

International Journal of Low Radiation, 2015 Vol.10 No.2, pp.155 - 168

Received: 31 Aug 2015
Accepted: 20 Dec 2015

Published online: 28 Jan 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article