title: Radiological significance of cement used in building construction in Turkey.
abstract: The activity concentration of (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K in seven cement types from different factories and grinding plants were measured using a gamma ray spectrometry with HPGe detector. The average activity concentrations observed in the studied cement samples (all from 141 samples) were 40.0 +/- 27.1, 28.0 +/- 20.9 and 248.3 +/- 95.0 Bq kg(-1) for (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K, respectively. The radium equivalent activity (Ra(eq)), the representative level index, the indoor absorbed dose rate and the corresponding annual effective dose were estimated for the potential radiological hazard of the cement. The Ra(eq) values were compared with the corresponding values for cement of different countries. The mean indoor absorbed dose rate (87.4 +/- 48.5 nGy h(-1)) is slightly higher than the population-weighted average of 84 nGy h(-1), whereas the corresponding effective dose rate (0.4 +/- 0.2 mSv y(-1)) is lower than the dose criterion of 1 mSv y(-1). The obtained results indicate no significant radiological hazards arise from using Turkish cement in building construction.
authors.affiliation: Sarayköy Nuclear Research and Training Center, Istanbul Road 30 km., Saray, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Turhan
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gürbüz
mesh_terms: D003252:Construction Materials / Q000032:analysis*; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011883:Radium / Q000032:analysis*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013051:Spectrometry, Gamma; D013910:Thorium / Q000032:analysis*; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes; D013910:Thorium; D011883:Radium