en Radiation Biology Radiation Biology تحقيق بديع Original Research <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-US">Background</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-US">:</span></span></span></span></span></span> <span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">Environmental radioactivity measurement of soil samples from the densely populated community has become imperative considering the radiological exposure associated with primordial radionuclides. </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-ZA">Materials and Method</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-ZA">:</span></span></span></span></span></span> <span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">Sixty soil samples were collected at different locations within Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education (AIFCE) and Federal Polytechnic Nekede (FPN), Owerri. </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">Radioactivity measurements were carried out by the method of gamma-ray spectrometry with thallium doped sodium iodide [NaI(Tl)] detector. </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-ZA">Results</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-ZA">:</span></span></span></span></span></span> <span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">The mean activity concentrations of </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">88.41</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">&plusmn;1.51</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">, </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">20.69&plusmn;3.56 </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">and </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">25.04&plusmn;0.71 </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">Bqkg</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">^-1</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">for </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">⁴⁰</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">K, </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">²²⁶</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">Ra and </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">²³²</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">Th, respectively,</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA"></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">were obtained </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">in soil samples of AIFCE, while </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">92.97&plusmn;1.50</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-GB">, </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-GB">20.48&plusmn;3.21</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-GB"> and </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-GB">22.36&plusmn;0.70</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-GB"> Bqkg</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-GB">^-1</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-GB"> for </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">⁴⁰</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">K, </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">²²⁶</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">Ra and </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">²³²</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">Th, respectively, were obtained in soil samples of FPN. These values are below the average world value of 420, 32 and 45</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-GB"> Bqkg</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-GB">^-1</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-GB"> for </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">⁴⁰</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">K, </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">²²⁶</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">Ra and </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:5.9939pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">²³²</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">Th, respectively, as recorded in UNSCEAR 2000 report. The calculated absorbed dose, annual effective dose and other radiological hazard indices were below the recommended safe limit. The mean calculated values of the excess lifetime cancer risk </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">for AIFCE and FPN</span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA"> are </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">0.12&plusmn;0.03 and 0.11&plusmn;0.03, respectively. </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-ZA">Conclusion</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-ZA">:</span></span></span></span></span></span> <span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">Based on the results from the present study, it is evidence that the activity concentrations and other radiological parameters are within the world&rsquo;s safe limit, indicating </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-ZA" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span style="language:en-ZA">that soil samples from the AIFCE and FPN, Owerri are free from radioactive contamination and do not pose a threat to the two communities.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div> Radiological risks, natural radioactivity, soil samples, Nigeria. 671 678 http://ijrr.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-962&slc_lang=en&sid=1 B.C. Eke 7900319475328460022218 7900319475328460022218 No Department of Physics, School of Physical Sciences, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria U.M. Ukewuihe 7900319475328460022219 7900319475328460022219 No Department of Physics, School of Physical Sciences, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria I.R. Akomolafe idowurakomolafe@gmail.com 7900319475328460022220 7900319475328460022220 Yes Department of Physical Sciences, Faculty of Natural Science, Redeemer's University, Ede, Nigeria