Measurement of alpha radioactivity and dose assessment in common food crops with SSNTD.
Radioactivity is present everywhere in the environment including soil, from where it transfers to vegetation and plants. These vegetations when taken as food result in transfer of the radioactivity to human beings which may cause health hazards. Thus information about the presence of radioactivity in vegetation, plants and soil is highly desirable. In this context, measurements of alpha radioactivity present in soil as well as in some of the staple food crops which form the main components of the composite Indian diet are presented in this study. Assessment of effective dose rate has also been done. The total alpha activity in soil has been found within 100-700 Bq kg(-1) and in food within 10-200 Bq kg(-1). The annual effective dose rate in food crops has been estimated in the range of 0.8-300 ì S v.
Biren Roy Research Laboratory for Radioactivity and Earthquake Studies,School of Studies in Environmental Radiation and Archaeological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata--700 032, West Bengal, India. dipakghosh_in@yahoo.com
Dipak
D
Ghosh
Argha
A
Deb
Rosalima
R
Sengupta
Sukumar
S
Bera
Subrata
S
Haldar
Sunil
S
Maitii
D000512:Alpha Particles; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005506:Food Contamination; D007194:India