Measurement of Radium and Radon Exhalation Rate in Marble Samples used in Al-Bayda City Market-Libya

• Jemila M. Ali

  Department of Physics, Faculty of Science Omar AL-Mukhtar University, Al-Bayda, Libya

  Author

• Suhayla A. Ibrahim

  Department of Physics, Faculty of Science Omar AL-Mukhtar University, Al-Bayda, Libya

  Author

The aim of the present study is to measure the activity concentrations of  ²²⁶Ra, ²²²Rn, the mass exhalation rate of ²²²Rn, and the annual effective dose of radon in marble samples collected from Al-Bayda  city local market –Libya. Samples were measured by using a low-background NaI (Tl) detector. The average activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra and ²²²Rn were 72.57 Bq.kg^-1 and 597.85 Bq.m^-3.The radon exhalation rate in marble samples vary from 0.05-0.30 Bq.kg^-1.S^-1 with an average of 0.13 Bq.kg^-1.S^-1. The annual effective dose of radon was calculated in samples under investigation. For most samples, the values were lower than the maximum permissible dose limits. It can be concluded that marble samples under investigation do not pose any radiological hazard to the dwellers of buildings used in their construction.

Abd El-Halim, E. (2019). Evaluation of Natural Radioactivity and Radiation Hazard of Different Kind of Egyptian Kaolin.

Abo-Elmagd, M. (2014). Radon exhalation rates corrected for leakage and back diffusion–Evaluation of radon chambers and radon sources with application to ceramic tile. Journal of Radiation Research and Applied Sciences, 7(4), 390-398.

Al-Sewaidan, H. A. (2019). Natural radioactivity measurements and dose rate assessment of selected ceramic and cement types used in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Journal of King Saud University-Science, 31(4), 987-992.

Bala, P., Kumar, V., & Mehra, R. (2017). Measurement of radon exhalation rate in various building materials and soil samples. Journal of earth system science, 126(2), 1-8.

Frutos-Puerto, S., Pinilla-Gil, E., Andrade, E., Reis, M., Madruga, M. J., & Rodríguez, C. M. (2020). Radon and thoron exhalation rate, emanation factor and radioactivity risks of building materials of the Iberian Peninsula. PeerJ, 8, e10331.

Ghose, S., Asaduzzaman, K. & Zaman, N. (2012). Radiological significance of marble used for construction of dwellings in Bangladesh. Radioprotection, 47(1), 105-118.

International Commission on Radiological Protection. (ICRP) (1993). Protection against radon-222 at home and work", ICRP Publication 65. Oxford: Pentagon press. International Journal of Advanced Research in Physical Science (IJARPS), 6, 7-13.

Jasaitis, D., & Girgždys, A. (2007). Natural radionuclide distribution and radon exhalation rate from the soil in Vilnius city. Journal of environmental engineering and landscape management, 15(1), 31-37.

Kama, M., Nasser, A., Hassan, N., & El-Sersy, A. (2011). The Environmental Safety Of Natural And Manufactured Building Materials. ERJ. Engineering Research Journal, 34(1), 71-79.

Kaiser S. (1999). Radiological Protection Principles concerning the Natural Radioactivity of Building Materials. Finland, 1-16.

Kassi, B., Boukhair, A., Azkour, K., Fahad, M., Benjelloun, M., & Nourreddine, A.-M. (2018). Assessment of exposure due to technologically enhanced natural radioactivity in various samples of Moroccan building materials. World Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 8(04), 176.

Kumara, P., Mahakumara, P., Jayalath, A., & Jayalath, C. (2018). Estimating natural radiation exposure from building materials used in Sri Lanka. Journal of Radiation Research and Applied Sciences, 11(4), 350-354.

Sharma, N., Singh, J., Esakki, S. C., & Tripathi, R. (2016). A study of the natural radioactivity and radon exhalation rate in some cements used in India and its radiological significance. Journal of Radiation Research and Applied Sciences, 9(1), 47-56.

Sroor, A. T. (2013). Radiological hazards for marble and granite used at Shak El Thouban industrial zone in Egypt. Journal of Environmental Protection, 4(12), 41.

Turhan, Ş., & Gündüz, L. (2008). Determination of specific activity of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K for assessment of radiation hazards from Turkish pumice samples. Journal of environmental radioactivity, 99(2), 332-342.

World Health Organization(WHO), Ionizing Radiation in our Environment. (2021) online.

• PDF

Copyright (c) 2022 Jemila Mussa

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Copyright of the articles Published by Almukhtar Journal of Science (MJSc) is retained by the author(s), who grant MJSc a license to publish the article. Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors and cite MJSc as the original publisher. Also, they accept the article remains published by the MJSc website (except in the occasion of a retraction of the article).