Determination of radium equivalent activity from natural occurring radionuclide around a superphosphate fertilizer factory in Nigeria

摘要

Man is continuously being exposed to radiation due to its presence everywhere on earth. This study is aimed atdetermining the radium equivalent activity from the soil samples collected from different locations around asuperphosphate fertilizer factory in Nigeria. An efficiency and Energy calibrated high purity germanium detectorwas used to carry out the study while gamma vision software was used for the spectrum analysis. The ActivityConcentrations of the soil samples collected from the different locations in the factory ranges from 48.99±7.47 to520.37±20.46 BqKg-1 for 234U, 55.32±7.59 to 215.18±8.70 BqKg-1 for 232Th, and 101.32±13.34 to 476.04±28.07BqKg-1 for 40K respectively. The radium equivalent activity was found to be within the range of 215.59 to 607.29with most of the soil samples having values less than the world allowed value for radium equivalent activity which is370 Bq/Kg. Hence radiologically the operation of the factory does not appear to pose immediate threat to thefactory workers.