The Natural Radioactivity Measurements in Coastal Sediment Samples along the East Coast of Tamilnadu using Gamma Spectrometry Technique

摘要

The natural radioactivity concentration in beach sediment samples collected from Pattipulam to Devanampattinam of East Coast of Tamilnadu have been determined by NaI (Tl) gamma ray spectrometer. The specific activity concentrations range from ≤ 2.21 (BDL) to 37.02 Bq kg~(-1) with a mean of 3.79 Bqkg~(-1) for ~(238)U, ≤ 2.11 (BDL) to 643.77 Bqkg~(-1) with a mean of 49.60 Bqkg~(-1) for ~(232)Th and 300.34 Bqkg~(-1) to 449.08 Bqkg~(-1) with a mean of 360.23 Bqkg~(-1) for ~(40)K. The potential radiological hazards due to natural radionuclides content such as Radium Equivalent activity (Ra_(eq)), Representative level index (RLI), External hazard index (H_(ex)), absorbed gamma does rate (D_R), and Annual effective dose rate (AEDR) are estimated to assess the radiation hazard associated with the sediments. The obtained data are compared with the recommended safety limits and international approved values. All the values are well below the recommended safety limits indicating that radiation levels do not poses any significant health hazard to the public in the area as a result of the natural radioactivity of beach sediments. This study may help the baseline data for more extensive works in the same subjects of future studies.