Investigation of environmental radioactivity in Iron ore of Shams Abad in Arak, Iran
Subject Areas : environmental management
Reza Pourimani
1
(Assistant professor, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Arak University, Arak, Iran.* (Corresponding Author))
Hamid Reza Azimi
2
(MSc of Nuclear Physics, Arak University, Arak, Iran.)
Keywords: 226Ra, 232Th, 40K, iron ore, HPGe detector,
Abstract :
Background and Objective: There are natural and artificial radionuclides in the environment, and the humans, wanted or unwanted, are exposed to nuclear radiation.Amount of radionuclides in the environment depends on soil type, rock and geographical situation. One of the ways for radionuclides transfer tohumans is application of inorganic material for production of necessary products. Thereforestudy of radioactivity of mines is very important. Method: In this research, 12 samples of Iron Ore of Shams Abad Iron mine have been studied. The samples were collected randomly according to color and identified type of composition in a mineralogy laboratory. The specific activities of natural radionuclides were determined using gamma ray spectrometry method, employing a high purity germanium detector (HPGe) model GCD30195 with 30% relative efficiency. Radium equivalent (Raeq), internal and external hazard indices (Hin and Hex), internal and external annual absorbed dose and absorbed dose rate for all samples were calculated. Conclusion: The activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in these samples varied from 9.39±0.53 to 271.70±1.84, <1.68 to 60.98±1.22 and 25.34±2.14 to 800.03±6.47 in Bqkg-1 respectively. Raeq, Hin, Hex and absorbed dose rate were calculated for all samples. The maximum Raeq was obtained to be 296.80 Bqkg-1 in limonite samples, which is lower than permissible values (370Bqkg-1). The absorbed dose rate in samples was calculated and varied from 6.56 to 136.81 in nGyh-1. Hin and Hex of samples were obtained to be in the range of 0.06 to 1.53 and 0.03 to 0.80 respectively. In all samples, except for limonite specimen, Hin and Hex are lower than 1 which shows no consequences for people health.
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