Assessment of Radioactive Materials and Heavy Metals in the Surface Soil around the Bayanwula Prospective Uranium Mining Area in China

Haribala Bai, Bitao Hu, Chengguo Wang, Shanhu Bao, Gerilemandahu Sai, Xiao Xu, Shuai Zhang and Yuhong Li
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Haribala Bai: School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Bitao Hu: School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Chengguo Wang: The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Comprehensive Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Huhhot 010031, China
Shanhu Bao: College of Geographical Science, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Huhhot 010022, China
Gerilemandahu Sai: The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Comprehensive Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Huhhot 010031, China
Xiao Xu: The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Comprehensive Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Huhhot 010031, China
Shuai Zhang: The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Comprehensive Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Huhhot 010031, China
Yuhong Li: School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: The present work is the first systematic and large scale study on radioactive materials and heavy metals in surface soil around the Bayanwula prospective uranium mining area in China. In this work, both natural and anthropogenic radionuclides and heavy metals in 48 surface soil samples were analyzed using High Purity Germanium (HPGe) ? spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The obtained mean activity concentrations of 238 U, 226 Ra, 232 Th, 40 K, and 137 Cs were 25.81 ± 9.58, 24.85 ± 2.77, 29.40 ± 3.14, 923.0 ± 47.2, and 5.64 ± 4.56 Bq/kg, respectively. The estimated average absorbed dose rate and annual effective dose rate were 76.7 ± 3.1 nGy/h and 83.1 ± 3.8 ? Sv, respectively. The radium equivalent activity, external hazard index, and internal hazard index were also calculated, and their mean values were within the acceptable limits. The estimated lifetime cancer risk was 3.2 × 10 ?4 /Sv. The heavy metal contents of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb from the surface soil samples were measured and their health risks were then assessed. The concentrations of all heavy metals were much lower than the average backgrounds in China except for lead which was about three times higher than that of China’s mean. The non-cancer and cancer risks from the heavy metals were estimated, which are all within the acceptable ranges. In addition, the correlations between the radionuclides and the heavy metals in surface soil samples were determined by the Pearson linear coefficient. Strong positive correlations between radionuclides and the heavy metals at the 0.01 significance level were found. In conclusion, the contents of radionuclides and heavy metals in surface soil around the Bayanwula prospective uranium mining area are at a normal level.

Keywords: soil; radionuclide; heavy metal; uranium mining area; health risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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