Malaysian monazite and its processing residue: chemical composition and radioactivity

Abstract

Malaysian monazite and its processing residue, the hydroxide cake has been studied focuses on establishing baseline evaluation in the viewpoint of radiation protection. The sample has chemically identified and characterized by using XRD, FTIR, and WDXRF analysis. The radioactivity of primordial radionuclides measured by gamma-ray hyper-pure germanium detector was found to be 28 ± 1, 213 ± 2, and 6 ± 2 Bq/g for 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K, respectively, while for hydroxide cake, the values were 23 ± 1, 343 ± 2, and 20 ± 5 Bq/g respectively. The radiation indices of the samples were assessed with references to the average world values and had exceeded the international safety limits. Present results may help giving awareness in making a decision for the safety of living and working in rare earth industry and nuclear exploration in Malaysia.