Beta
158850

Health Risk Assessment of Natural Radioactivity in Wasteland Soils in Okakarara, Namibia..

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

Human activities such as waste disposal tend to impact negatively on the environment. Some waste products are associated with elevated levels of natural radioactivity. It was therefore, the aim of the study to investigate the health risk associated with natural radioactivity from Okakarara municipal waste dumpsite. In this study, gamma spectrometric analysis was used to determine the activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in 18 soil samples. From these activity concentrations, some radiological parameters were calculated. The average activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in (Bq.kg-1) were 15.45±0.47, 18.00±0.55, and 215.73±4.29, respectively. The average Raeq value was 57.80±0.98 Bq.kg-1. In all the samples, Raeq values were found to be lower than the worldwide value of 370 Bq.kg-1. The absorbed dose rate was found to be 27.00±0.44 nGy.h-1, whereas an average value of 0.03 mSv.y-1 for AEDE is noted, which is less than 0.48 mSv, the worldwide average. The Annual Gonadal Dose Equivalent (AGDE) was 190.89 μSv.y-1, a value less than the world average of 298 μSv.y-1. The average values of the Representative Level Index (RLI) and the External Hazard Index (Hex) was found to be 0.43 and 0.16., respectively. These indices were less than unity. The average value of the excess lifetime cancer risk (ECLR) was 1.16 x 10-4. This value was lower than the internationally acceptable limit of 2.9 x 10-4. From these results it can be concluded that natural radioactivity from the wasteland area of Okakarara was not an issue of health concern.

DOI

10.21608/ajnsa.2021.46009.1408

Keywords

Gamma-ray Spectrometry, Cancer risk, Hazard index, Wasteland, Soil, radionuclides

Authors

First Name

Sylvanus

Last Name

Onjefu

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Natural and Applied Sciences, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia

Email

sonjefu@nust.na

City

-

Orcid

0000-0003-4252-3574

First Name

Caspah

Last Name

Kamunda

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Physics, School of Mathematics and natural Sciences, Copperbelt University, Zambia

Email

ckamund@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

James

Last Name

Abah

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Mathematics, Science and Sport Education, Faculty of Education, University of Namibia, Katima Mulilo Campus, Namibia

Email

jabah@uniam.na

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

54

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

22762

Issue Date

2021-04-01

Receive Date

2020-10-12

Publish Date

2021-04-01

Page Start

143

Page End

150

Print ISSN

1110-0451

Online ISSN

2090-4258

Link

https://ajnsa.journals.ekb.eg/article_158850.html

Detail API

https://ajnsa.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=158850

Order

15

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

Health Risk Assessment of Natural Radioactivity in Wasteland Soils in Okakarara, Namibia..

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023