Assessment of Natural Radioactivity Levels and Potential Radiological Risks of Common Building Materials Used in Bangladeshi Dwellings

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 10; no. 10; p. e0140667
• Main Authors: Asaduzzaman, Khandoker, Mannan, Farhana, Khandaker, Mayeen Uddin, Farook, Mohideen Salihu, Elkezza, Aeman, Amin, Yusoff Bin Mohd, Sharma, Sailesh, Abu Kassim, Hasan Bin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 16.10.2015; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Background radiation; Bangladesh; Building materials; Buildings; Byproducts; Cement; Cements; Coal; Coal Ash - analysis; Coal-fired power plants; Construction; Construction materials; Construction Materials - analysis; Dentistry; Dosage; Dwellings; Educational leadership; Electric power generation; Electric power plants; Fly ash; Gamma rays; Industrial plants; International organizations; Life assessment; Natural radioactivity; Physics; Potassium Radioisotopes - analysis; Power plants; Radiation Dosage; Radiation Monitoring - methods; Radioactivity; Radioisotopes; Radium; Radium - analysis; Radium 226; Radium isotopes; Radium radioisotopes; Raw materials; Scientific imaging; Spectrometry; Spectrometry, Gamma - methods; Thorium - analysis; Uranium; Bangladesh; Kuala Lumpur Malaysia; Malaysia; India
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140667

The concentrations of primordial radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th and 40K) in commonly used building materials (brick, cement and sand), the raw materials of cement and the by-products of coal-fired power plants (fly ash) collected from various manufacturers and suppliers in Bangladesh were determined via gamma-ray spectrometry using an HPGe detector. The results showed that the mean concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in all studied samples slightly exceeded the typical world average values of 50 Bq kg(-1), 50 Bq kg(-1) and 500 Bq kg(-1), respectively. The activity concentrations (especially 226Ra) of fly-ash-containing cement in this study were found to be higher than those of fly-ash-free cement. To evaluate the potential radiological risk to individuals associated with these building materials, various radiological hazard indicators were calculated. The radium equivalent activity values for all samples were found to be lower than the recommended limit for building materials of 370 Bq kg(-1), with the exception of the fly ash. For most samples, the values of the alpha index and the radiological hazard (external and internal) indices were found to be within the safe limit of 1. The mean indoor absorbed dose rate was observed to be higher than the population-weighted world average of 84 nGy h(-1), and the corresponding annual effective dose for most samples fell below the recommended upper dose limit of 1 mSv y(-1). For all investigated materials, the values of the gamma index were found to be greater than 0.5 but less than 1, indicating that the gamma dose contribution from the studied building materials exceeds the exemption dose criterion of 0.3 mSv y(-1) but complies with the upper dose principle of 1 mSv y(-1).