Elevated concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides in heavy mineral-rich beach sands of Langkawi Island, Malaysia.

Study is made of the radioactivity in the beach sands of Langkawi island, a well-known tourist destination. Investigation is made of the relative presence of the naturally occurring radionuclide K and the natural-series indicator radionuclides Ra and Th, the gamma radiation exposure also being estimated. Sample quantities of black and white sand were collected for gamma ray spectrometry, yielding activity concentration in black sands of Ra, Th and K from 451±9 to 2411±65Bqkg (mean of 1478Bqkg); 232±4 to 1272±35Bqkg (mean of 718Bqkg) and 61±6 to 136±7Bqkg (mean of 103Bqkg) respectively.

Heavy metals in human teeth dentine: A bio-indicator of metals exposure and environmental pollution.

With rapid urbanization and large-scale industrial activities, modern human populations are being increasingly subjected to chronic environmental heavy metal exposures. Elemental uptake in tooth dentine is a bioindicator, the uptake occurring during the formation and mineralization processes, stored to large extent over periods of many years. The uptake includes essential elements, most typically geogenic dietary sources, as well as non-essential elements arising through environmental insults.

Assessment of Natural Radioactivity Levels and Potential Radiological Risks of Common Building Materials Used in Bangladeshi Dwellings.

The concentrations of primordial radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th and 40K) in commonly used building materials (brick, cement and sand), the raw materials of cement and the by-products of coal-fired power plants (fly ash) collected from various manufacturers and suppliers in Bangladesh were determined via gamma-ray spectrometry using an HPGe detector. The results showed that the mean concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in all studied samples slightly exceeded the typical world average values of 50 Bq kg(-1), 50 Bq kg(-1) and 500 Bq kg(-1), respectively. The activity concentrations (especially 226Ra) of fly-ash-containing cement in this study were found to be higher than those of fly-ash-free cement.

Evaluation of radiological risks due to natural radioactivity around Lynas Advanced Material Plant environment, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia.

Understanding the public awareness concerning the Lynas Advanced Material Plant (LAMP), an Australian rare earths processing plant located in Malaysia, a radiological study in soil and water samples collected at random surrounding the LAMP environment was undertaken using HPGe gamma-ray spectrometry. The mean soil activities for (226)Ra, (232)Th, and (40)K were found to be 6.56 ± 0.