Abstract
The determination of natural radionuclide concentrations plays an important role for assuring public health and in the estimation of the radiological hazards. This is especially true for high level radiation areas. In this study, 226Ra, 228Ra and 238U concentrations were measured in well waters surrounding eight of the high-level natural radiation areas in northern Vietnam. The 226Ra, 228Ra and 238U activity concentrations vary from <1.2 × 10−3–2.7 (0.46), <2.6 × 10−3–0.43 (0.07) and <38 × 10−3–5.32 Bq/L (0.50 of median), respectively. 226Ra and 238U isotopes in most areas are in equilibrium, except for the DT-Thai Nguyen area. The calculated radiological hazard indices are generally higher than WHO (World Health Organization) recommendations. Average annual effective dose and excess lifetime cancer risk values due to drinking well water range from to 130 to 540 μSv/year and 7.4 × 10−6 to 3.1 × 10−5, respectively.
Highlights
Human beings are always exposed to a wide range of natural radionuclides [1].Natural radionuclides can be present in the whole environment, including soil, water, air, food and even our bodies
The highest concentrations of all three isotopes are found in DT-Thai Nguyen
The concentrations of 226 Ra, 228 Ra and 238 U are less than 1 Bq/L in most areas, except for DT-Thai Nguyen (Table 1)
Summary
Human beings are always exposed to a wide range of natural radionuclides [1]. Natural radionuclides can be present in the whole environment, including soil, water, air, food and even our bodies. Radionuclides in soil, air and water come from different sources, such as the weathering of the earth’s crust, mining activities or fertilizer materials [2,3,4,5,6,7]. Studies regarding the natural radioactivity in water from different sources were widely conducted [7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]
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