Measurement of gross alpha activity and statistical analysis of beach sediments along southern coastal region of TamilNadu

Abstract

Radioactivity is a part of our environment. Natural radionuclides in soil generate a significant component of the background radiation exposure to the population. Radiation becomes a concern when these particles and energy come in contact with molecules inside the human body. This paper evaluates the radioactivity concentration of beach sand samples collected from the south east region of Tamilnadu. 20 beach sand samples are collected from the different locations of Tamilnadu. A survey of the gross alpha activity has been done using alpha scintillation counter. The gross alpha activity in the sand samples near the sea are found to be maximum (3679.6 Bq/kg) in Ko1 of sieve size 0.250 mm and minimum (162.3 Bq/kg) in Aa1 and Ma1 of sieve size 0.025mm respectively. Also, the results showed the gross alpha activity in the beach sand samples 150 m away from the sea is maximum (1774.1 Bq/kg) in Pml5 and minimum (107.5 Bq/kg) in Pe5 respectively. Statistical analysis has also been carried out to find the significant differences in the samples.