An assessment of the radiological scenario around uranium mines in Singhbhum East district, Jharkhand, India

Abstract

The present work deals with the prevalent radiological scenario around uranium-mining sites in the Singhbhum East district of Jharkhand state, India. The concentration of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) was estimated from 27 soil samples collected around three regions in the study area, namely Bagjata, Turamdih and Jaduguda. The mean activity concentrations of (238)U in Bagjata, Turamdih and Jaduguda regions were found to be 128.6, 95.7 and 49.2 Bq kg(-1), respectively. Similarly for (232)Th and (40)K the activity concentrations were found to be 57.3, 78.4, 68.9 and 530, 425 and 615 Bq kg(-1) in the Bagjata, Turamdih and Jaduguda regions, respectively, which are comparable with other reported values worldwide, except for some high values. The calculated gamma dose rate, obtained from the concentrations of (238)U, (232)Th and (40)K in the samples, was compared with the observed dose rate in air. A good correlation (0.96) was observed between the calculated and the observed gamma dose rate. The annual outdoor effective dose rate was estimated and the values falls between 0.04-0.3, 0.07-0.3 and 0.07-.14 mSv y(-1) with mean values of 0.14, 0.12 and 0.11 mSv y(-1) for the Bagjata, Turamdih and Jaduguda regions, respectively. The terrestrial dose rates in all the three regions are comparable with other reported values worldwide, except for a few high values in Greece, Rio Grande Do Norte (Brazil) and Kalpakkam (India).