The current study provides a comprehensive examination of both natural and anthropogenic activity concentrations found in soil and surface water samples near the Rooppur nuclear power plant (RNPP), the first of its kind under construction in Bangladesh. The investigation covers a range of activity concentrations including Ra, Th, and K in fifty soil and fifty water samples, revealing values ranging from 18 to 38, 18-51, and 310-560 Bqkg for soil, and 2.1-6.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoastal Mangroves are facing growing threats due to the harmful consequences of human activities. This first-ever detailed study of natural radioactivity in soil samples collected from seven tourist destinations within the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, was conducted using HPGe gamma-ray spectrometry. Although the activity levels of Ra (11 ± 1-44 ± 4 Bq/kg) and Th (13 ± 1-68 ± 6 Bq/kg) generally align with global averages, the concentration of K (250 ± 20-630 ± 55 Bq/kg) was observed to surpass the worldwide average primarily due to factors like salinity intrusion, fertilizer application, agricultural runoff, which suggests the potential existence of potassium-rich mineral resources near the study sites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMiners, factory workers, traders, end-users, and foodstuff consumers all run the risk of encountering health hazards derived from the presence of elevated levels of radiation in fertilizers, as these groups often come into direct or indirect contact with fertilizers as well as raw materials throughout various linked processes such as mineral extractions, fertilizer production, agricultural practices. A total of 30 samples of various kinds of fertilizer produced in different factories in Dhaka megacity were analyzed to quantify the concentrations of primordial radionuclides using HPGe detector. Among the analyzed samples, average (range) concentration of K was found to be 9920 ± 1091 (8700 ± 957-11,500 ± 1265), 9100 ± 1001 (8600 ± 946-9600 ± 1056), 2565 ± 282 (2540 ± 279-2590 ± 285), and 3560 ± 392 (2620 ± 288-4500 ± 495) Bq/kg in the samples of Muriate of Potash Fertilizer, Sulphate of Potash Fertilizer, Humic Acid Fertilizer, and NPKS Fertilizer, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis work presents the first in-depth study of soil radioactivity in the mangrove forest of Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans. It used HPGe gamma-ray spectrometry to measure the amount of natural radioactivity in soil samples from Karamjal and Harbaria sites of the world's largest mangrove forest. The activity concentrations of most of the 226Ra (14±2 Bqkg-1 to 35±4 Bqkg-1) and 232Th (30±5 Bqkg-1 to 50±9 Bqkg-1) lie within the world average values, but the 40K concentration (370± 44 Bqkg-1 to 660±72 Bqkg-1) was found to have exceeded the world average value.
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