TITLE:
Estimation of Annual Effective Dose Due to Ingestion of Natural Radionuclides in Cattle in Tin Mining Area of Jos Plateau, Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Janet Ayobami Ademola
KEYWORDS:
Natural Radionuclides; Tin Mining; Contamination; Cattle; Ingestion; Effective Dose
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Science,
Vol.6 No.5,
March
5,
2014
ABSTRACT: Contamination of land could occur during the
extraction and handling of materials containing high levels of naturally
occurring radionuclide materials. These radionuclides find their ways into the
food chain. The activity concentrations of natural radionuclides 40K, 226Ra, and 232Th in heart, liver,
kidney, lungs, spleen and beef of cattle slaughtered and consumed in a tin
mining area of Jos Plateau, Nigeria were determined by gamma ray spectroscopy
method. The activity concentration of 40K is the highest in all the samples. The annual
effective dose to man through the ingestion of the radionuclides in the organs
was estimated. The mean annual effective doses calculated are 35.35 ± 13.84,
57.89 ± 38.27 and 46.93 ± 10.28 μSv?y?1 for heart, liver and
kidney, respectively. Those of lungs, spleen and meat are 28.44 ± 15.70, 48.34
± 28.85 and 41.24 ± 3.56
μSv?y?1, respectively. These are of the order of two magnitudes
higher than those obtained for food in Abeokuta, Nigeria.