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143362

Assessment of the Background Radiation of Telecommunication Masts in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

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Tags

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Abstract

In this study, the background radiation of ten selected mobile phone base stations was monitored to ascertain their radiological risk. The requirement to monitor them is because they are established contributors to background radiation. There is, therefore, often a requirement to monitor them to ascertain if their radiation levels have passed the safety standards. The study was carried out using the Radalert 100 radiation monitor and a Geographical Positioning System (Garmin GPSMAP 765). The mean background radiation exposure rate ranges from 0.0133mRhr-1to 0.0200mRhr-1. The obtained values are higher than the world standard limit of 0.013mRhr-1 recommended by ICRP. The calculated absorbed dose rates for the various base stations ranged from 115.71 nGyh-1 to 174.00 nGyh-1. These values of absorbed dose rates were observed to be far higher than the world permissible value of 89 nGyh-1. The annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE) for the exposure values ranged from 0.142 mSvy-1 to 0.213 mSvy-1 which are far lower than the ICRP permissible limits of 1.00 mSvlyr for the public and implies that the base stations do not pose any immediate radiological risks. The excess lifetime cancer risk for the stations' users was all above the 0.29 × 10-3 world recommended value and therefore, suggests a possibility of the base station workers developing radiation-related illnesses over a longer time. Regular radiological monitoring of all the base stations in Ebonyi State is recommended.

DOI

10.21608/ajnsa.2021.31879.1362

Keywords

5G network, Radalert-100, Radiofrequency radiation, Exposure rates, Cancer risk

Authors

First Name

Arthur

Last Name

Nwachukwu

MiddleName

N

Affiliation

Department of Physics, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Nigeria

Email

arthurdeconvenantchild@yahoo.com

City

Abakaliki

Orcid

-

First Name

Chukwunonso

Last Name

Ikeagwuani

MiddleName

F

Affiliation

Department of Physics, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Nigeria

Email

ikeagwuanifelix@gmail.com

City

Abakaliki

Orcid

-

First Name

Nkechinyere

Last Name

Nwachukwu

MiddleName

V

Affiliation

Department of Community Medicine, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki.

Email

mbexjnn2@yahoo.com

City

Abakaliki

Orcid

-

Volume

54

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

20214

Issue Date

2021-01-01

Receive Date

2020-06-05

Publish Date

2021-01-01

Page Start

134

Page End

140

Print ISSN

1110-0451

Online ISSN

2090-4258

Link

https://ajnsa.journals.ekb.eg/article_143362.html

Detail API

https://ajnsa.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=143362

Order

13

Type

Original Article

Type Code

455

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Arab Journal of Nuclear Sciences and Applications

Publication Link

https://ajnsa.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Assessment of the Background Radiation of Telecommunication Masts in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023