Radioactivity monitoring and radiological assessment of radionuclides at western coastal of South Sulawesi

Abstract

The concentrations of natural (226Ra, 232Th, 40K) and anthropogenic (137Cs) in Western Coastal of South Sulawesi were measured by gamma-ray spectrometry with a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector connected to a multichannel analyzer. The maximum activity concentration of natural radionuclides was found 47.29 ± 4.14 Bq/kg for226Ra, 52.73 ± 5.28 Bq/kg for232Th and 744.00 ± 29.45 Bq/kg for40K. In general, the natural radioactivity concentration in marine sediment has been found lower than UNSCEAR data value and within the world range for similar study. The maximum activity of137Cs was found 0.34 ± 0.03 Bq/m3 for seawater and 1.95 ± 0.13 Bq/kg for sediment. Total dose rates from137Cs for organisms in marine ecosystem by trophic level organisms was found varied from 9.73 × 10−7 µGy h−1 in phytoplankton to 3.35 × 10−4 µGy h−1 in macro algae. The dose rate for all organisms in marine ecosystem were clearly below the screening level of 10 µGy h−1 indicating no significant impact of the137Cs exposure on these organisms.