Environmental assessment of radionuclide exposure in packaged borehole water exploited from crystalline rocks in Ogbomoso

Abstract

The amounts of naturally occurring radionuclides (40K, 238U and 232Th) in packaged borehole water manufacture have been investigated in this work. Furthermore, the buildup of radioactive materials in drinking water presents a direct path for human population exposure to internal radiation. The amount of radioactivity in the processed and unprocessed water samples was measured using gamma spectrometry and a computer-resident quantum multichannel analyser (MCA 2100R) connected to a well-calibrated and shielded NaI (Tl) detector. From the results, it was revealed that the values of activity concentration of processed water ranges between 50.46 ± 3.14 Bq/L to 102.18 ± 14.07 Bq/L, 7.92 ± 4.46 to 16.71 Bq/L, and 10.00 ± 0.84 Bq/L to 14.87 ± 4.03 Bq/L for 40K, 238U and 232Th, respectively. Also, the results obtained for the activity concentration of unprocessed water ranges between 74.51 ± 3.51 Bq/L to 102.21 ± 7.23 Bq/L, 14.86 ± 1.91 Bq/L to 19.87 ± 3.10 Bq/L and 10.00 ± 3.36 Bq/L to 17.79 ± 4.43 Bq/L for 40K, 238U and 232Th, respectively. The results confirmed the presence of40K as a principal occurring radionuclide in the water samples. The annual effective dose for processed water ranges from 0.012 to 0.017 mSyr-1, while it ranges between 0.015 and 0.020 mSyr-1 for unprocessed water. Results in the present study fall below 0.1 mSyr-1, which is the acceptable limit recommended by International Commission on Radiological Protection standard value.