Assessment of Radionuclide Concentrations in Water Supply from Bore-holes in Ogbomosoland,Western Nigeria

Abstract

The level of radionuclide concentration in water from bore-holes in selected areas of Ogbomosoland, a region consisting of five local governments, was determined. Concentration of ²³⁸U, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K was determined for the water samples from eight bore-holes around Ogbomosoland by γ-ray spectrometry with a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector connected to a multichannel analyzer. All the water samples from these bore-holes were found to contain acceptable levels of radionuclides with mean activity values of 3.98 ±0.26, 11.00 ±2.58, and 17.73 ± 5.04 Bql^-1 for ⁴⁰K, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U, respectively showing that the mean activity of ²³⁸U for all the samples is the highest when compared with those of ⁴⁰K and ²³²Th. Water samples from Ikoyi had the highest radionuclide content although ⁴⁰K concentration was below detectable level. Water samples from Gambari were next to Ikoyi in radionuclide content, followed by Saja, Ajinopai, Kajola, Isale-Ora, Iresa-Apa, and Owode in that order. The mean absorbed dose rate for all the area is 0.123 mSvyr^-1 which is very low when compared to the recommended limit of 1mSvyr^-1 for bore-hole water. Overall, the radionuclide concentration of the bore-hole water supply in Ogbomosoland is, negligible and poses no radiological hazards to the public.

Keywords

Radionuclides water bore-holes Ogbomosoland Nigeria

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Tchokossa P. , Olomo JB , Osibote OA : Radioactivity in the community water supplies of Ife — Central and Ife — East Local Government area of Osun —State , Nigeria: J Nucl Instrument Methods Phys Res 1999; A422:784—789.

Haukson E. : Radon content of ground water as an earthquake precursor: Evaluation of worldwide data and physical basis: J Geog Res 1981;186:9397—9410.

Wallenberg HA , Smith AR , Mosier DF , Flexser S. , Clacrk M. : Radon-222 in ground water of the long valley , Caldera, Califonia: Pure Appl Geophys 1985 ;122:327—329.

Vandenhove H. , Sweeck L. , Mallants D. , Vanmarcke H. , Aitkulov A. , Sadyrov O. , Savosin M. , Tolongutov B. , Mirzachev M. , Clerc JJ , Quarch H. , Aitaliev A. : Assessment of radiation exposure in the uranium mining and milling area of Mailuu Suu , Kyrgyzstan: J Environ Radioact 2006;88(2):118—139.

Avwiri GO , Tchokossa P. , Mokobia CE : Natural radionuclides in bore-hole water in Port-Harcourt, Rivers state, Nigeria: Radiat Protect Dosimetry 2007 ;123(4): 509—514.

Schotzing U. , Debertin K. : Photon emission probabilities per decay of 226Ra and 232Th equilibrium with their daughter products: Intl J Appl Radiat Isotopes 1983; 34:533—538.

El-Tahaway MS , Farouk MA , Ibraheim MN , El Mongey SAM : Natural and artificial radioactivity in the Suez Canal bottom sediment and stream water: J Environ Radioact 1994;47(2):201—212.

Alam MN , Chowdhury MI , Kamal M. , Ghose Satyajit : Radioactivity in marine fish of the Bay of Bengal: J Appl Radiat Isotopes 1995; 46(5):363—364.

Tufail M. , Ahmad N. , Khan HA : Report No CNS-21, Center for Nuclear studies, P.O. Nilore , Islamabad 1990.

10.

Ajayi IR , Ajayi OS , Fasuyi AS : The natural radioactivity of surface Soils in Ijero-Ekiti, Nigeria: Nig J Phys 1995;11: 17—21.

11.

Jibiri NN , Mabawonku AO , Oriade AA : Ujiagbedion: Natural Radionuclide Conc. Levels in Soil and water around a Cement Factory at Ewekoro, Ogun State, Nigeria. Nig J Phys 1999;11:12—16.

12.

Islam MN , Alam MN , Mustafa MN , Siddiqua N. , Miah NMH , Chowdhury MI , Kamal M. , Shah SL , Ali L. , Roy PK : Characteristics of a Shielding Arrangement for a HPGe Detector Designed and Fabricated Locally. Chittagong University Studies, Part II 1990;14(2).

13.

Farai IP , Sanni AO : Reay long variability of Rn — 222 in a ground water system in Nigeria : J Afri Earth Sci 1992;15:399—402.

14.

Debertin K. , Helmer RG : Gamma and X-ray Spectrometry with Semiconductor Detectors, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1980.

15.

IAEA: Measurements of radionuclides in food and environmental samples. IAEA Technical Report Series Vol.295. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria, 1989.

16.

ICRP: Radionuclides Transformatios, Energy and Intensity of Emissions, ICRP Publication 38, International Commission on Radiological Protection, Oxford Press, Pergamon, 1983.

17.

Beck HL : The physics of environmental radiation fields. Natural radiation environment II, CONF — 720805 P2. In: Proc Second Intl Symp on the Natural Radiation Environment, 1972.