Natural radioactivity in some building materials of Xi’an, China

Abstract

Eight kinds of building materials collected from Xi’an, China were analyzed for the natural radioactivity of 226 Ra , 232 Th and 40 K using γ -ray spectroscopy. The concentrations of 226 Ra , 232 Th and 40 K in the selected building materials ranges from 19.5 to 68.3 Bq kg - 1 , 13.4 to 51.7 Bq kg - 1 and 63.2 to 713.9 Bq kg - 1 , respectively. The measured activity concentrations for these natural radionuclides were compared with the reported data of other countries and with the world average activity of soil. The radium equivalent activities ( Ra eq ), external hazard index ( H ex ) and the internal radiation hazard index ( H in ) associated with the natural radionuclides were calculated. The Ra eq values of all building materials are lower than the limit of 370 Bq kg - 1 , equivalent to a γ -dose of 1.5 mSv yr - 1 . The values of H ex and H in are less than unity.