Naturally occurring radionuclides in food and drinking water from a thorium-rich area.

This paper focuses on a survey of uranium and thorium decay chain radionuclides in food and drinking water from the thorium-rich (monazite-bearing) region of Buena, which is located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The radionuclide concentration values in the food and drinking water from Buena reached values higher than 100-fold the international reference values. The daily intake of radionuclides by the local population is similar to that of another high background radiation area in Brazil, but the intake is higher than that of residents from a normal background radiation area.

Analytical results and effective dose estimation of the operational Environmental Monitoring Program for the radioactive waste repository in Abadia de Goiás from 1998 to 2008.

This paper presents the results of the Environmental Monitoring Program for the Radioactive waste repository of Abadia de Goiás, which was originated from the accident of Goiania, conducted by the Regional Center of Nuclear Sciences (CRCN-CO) of the National Commission on Nuclear Energy (CNEN), from 1998 to 2008. The results are related to the determination of (137)Cs activity per unit of mass or volume of samples from surface water, ground water, depth sediments of the river, soil and vegetation, and also the air-kerma rate estimation for gamma exposure in the monitored site. In the phase of operational Environmental Monitoring Program, the values of the geometric mean and standard deviation obtained for (137)Cs activity per unit of mass or volume in the analyzed samples were (0.