Full Length Research Paper

Determination of Annual Effective Doses from Radionuclide’s Due to Intake of Fruits from Bulsa Farms, Chikun L.G.A of Kaduna State, Nigeria.

Onoja, R.A1*, Onoja, R.O2, Idoko, E.E3 and Ogbeh, E4

Abstract

The activity concentration of three primordial radionuclides was measured in the fruits and soil samples obtained from Bulsa Farms using the Gamma-Ray Spectrometry method with NaI(Ti) detector. Results for 40K range from147.43 to 465.94 BqKg-1, that of 226Ra varied from 1.84 to 4.14 BqKg-1 and 232Th figures are in the range of 51.88 to 119.04 BqKg-1. The activity concentration of 232Th for both surface soil and deep soil samples are higher than the United Nations Scientific Committee on Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) limit for areas of normal background radiation. The soil-to-fruit transfer factors for those radionuclides were also determined and the figures range from 0.5138 to 1.6238 for 40K, 0.4058 to 0.7416 for 226Ra, and 0.4358 to 0.6562 for 232Th. The annual effective dose (AED) due to intake of these fruits was estimated and the results are 0.2487, 0.3489, 0.2361, 0.2308 and 0.2547 mSvyr-1 for tomato, orange, pineapple, mango and banana respectively. Only the value for orange exceeds the UNSCEAR limit of 0.29 mSvyr-1 for internal exposure per individual, while values for all other fruits were lower than this limit.

Key words: Activity Concentration, Radionuclide’s, Transfer factor, Annual Effective Dose, Fruits.

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