Uranium exposure and health risk implications: A preliminary study among the residents living around uranium mining sites in the Southern Province of Zambia

Abstract

For the first time, exposure to uranium (U) among the residents living around U-mining sites in Siavonga, Zambia, was assessed by determining the concentrations of U in their urine using the Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry. We further investigated the correlations for urinary U concentrations from the current study with the U concentrations in drinking water and cow milk from our previous studies conducted in the same study sites. The urinary U concentration for the residents from communities situated ≤4km from the U-mining sites, i.e. U-mining area, had a median concentration of 60.67 µg/L. Comparably, residents from communities located about ≥67km from the U-mining sites, i.e. non-mining area, had urinary U concentrations with a median of 0.72 µg/L. Positive correlations with urinary U concentration were recorded for U concentrations in drinking water (rs= 0.64, p < 0.05) and cow milk (rs = 0.63, p < 0.05), while a negative correlation was recorded for age groups (rs= -0.21, p < 0.05) of the study participants. The current study findings indicate elevated exposure levels to U, particularly among the U-mining area residents in Siavonga, Zambia. Practical measures that could limit exposure to U, particularly among the U-mining area residents should be encouraged.