EVALUATION OF NATURAL RADIOLOGICAL HEALTH HAZARD INDICES IN ONUEBUM COMMUNITY, BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA.
Keywords:
Dose, Environment, Hazard Indices, In-situ, Radiological health riskAbstract
Natural ionizing radiation dose of any known or unknown quantity is undesirable to man and the environment hence the need to evaluate its health implications. An in-situ approach was therefore adopted in the measurement of background ionizing radiation in Onuebum Community of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. A well calibrated Radiation Alert Monitor-200 was used and a total of forty background counts were randomly conducted in the community, which for the purposed of this study was categorized into four zones. The results of outdoor dose rate obtained ranged from 0.10 to 0.17 μSv/h with an average of 0.147 ± 0.02 μSv/h in zone 1, 0.12 to 0.20 μSv/h with an average of 0.146± 0.01 μSv/h in zone 2, 0.07 to 0.16 μSv/h with an average of 0.114 ± 0.02 μSv/h in zone 3 and 0.07 to 0.14 μSv/h with an average of 0.108± 0.03 μSv/h in zone 4 < 0.274 μSv/h. Average values of outdoor annual effective dose equivalent for zone 1, zone 2, zone 3 and zone 4 are 0.257 ± 0.01 mSv/y, 0.259 ± 0.03 mSv/y, 0.199± 0.02 mSv/y and 0.189± 0.40 mSv/y respectively < 1 mSv/y. The average values of the outdoor excess lifetime cancer risk for zone 1, zone 2, zone 3 and zone 4 were 0.901 × 10-3, 0.895 × 10-3, 0.699 × 10-3, and 0.662 × 10-3 respectively, > 0.29 × 10-3. Generally, the values of these indices do not suggest short-term radiological health risks. However, regular monitoring would check sudden elevation from artificial sources
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