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Evaluation of the Activity Concentration of 40K, 226Ra and 232Th in Soil and Associated Radiological Parameters of Shanono and Bagwai Artisanal Gold Mining Areas, Kano State, Nigeria
BELLO, S; NASIRU, R; GARBA, NN & ADEYEMO, DJ
Abstract
Mining in the studied area is carried out without any precautionary measure. The radiological
implication of this activity was reported in this work. Soil samples were collected from the gold mines and analyzed for
activity concentration of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) using NaI (Tl). The average specific activity
of 238U, 232Th and 40K were 62.73, 90.66 and 411.27 Bq/kg respectively. The radiological parameters D (nGy/h), AED
(mSv/y) and Raeq had average values of 100.89, 0.13 and 224.04 respectively. Furthermore, the radiological hazard indices
Hex, Hin, Iγ and Iα had average values of 0.61, 0.78, 0.86 and 0.31 respectively, which were lower than the United Nations
Scientific Committee on effects of atomic radiation (UNSCEAR) recommended limit of unity. Finally, the total cancer
risk due to NORMs in soil was 7.35 × 10-06 for the whole populations which was within the USEPA acceptable range
of 1.00 × 10-06 to 1.00 × 10-04. Therefore, the gold mining activity poses no significant radiological hazard to the
members of the public.
Keywords
Kano; gold mining; radiological hazard; effective dose
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