British Journal of Applied Science & Technology, ISSN: 2231-0843,Vol.: 2, Issue.: 3 (July-September)

Original Research Article

Baseline Measurement of Natural Radioactivity in Soil, Vegetation and Water in the Industrial District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria

A.M. Umar^1&2, M.Y. Onimisi^2* and S.A. Jonah³

Natural radioactivity in environmental samples (soil, vegetation and water) from the (Idu) industrial district of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria was measured by means of gamma-ray spectrometer with NaI (Tl) detector to establish a baseline data for activity concentration of ⁴⁰K, ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th. The highest activity concentration of ⁴⁰K, ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th were found in soil collected from location S₂ (943.1 Bq/kg), in vegetation V_C (82.3 Bq/kg) and in soil collected from location S₃ (107.3 Bq/kg), respectively, where only the activity from S₂ is higher than the world average of 420 Bq/kg and the highest activity concentrations of both ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th from V_C (82.3 Bq/kg) is above the world average of 50 Bq/kg (UNSCEAR, 2000). Results from the twelve field samples analysed also indicated that the activity concentration due to ⁴⁰K in the soil samples ranked highest against the lowest value obtained for sediments in the water samples.

Keywords :

Ground water; soil; wild vegetation; natural radioactivity, potassium-40; radium-226; thorium-232; Abuja.

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DOI : 10.9734/BJAST/2012/1467