title: Natural radionuclides in ceramic building materials available in Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu, India.
abstract: The activity concentrations of radium, thorium and potassium can vary from material to material and they should be measured as the radiation is hazardous for human health. Thus, studies have been planned to obtain the radioactivity of ceramic building materials used in Cuddalore District, Tamilnadu, India. The radioactivity of some ceramic materials used in this region has been measured using a gamma-ray spectrometry, which contains an NaI(Tl) detector connected to multichannel analyzer. The specific activities of (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K, from the selected ceramic building materials, were in the range of 9.89-30.75, 24.68-70.4, 117.19-415.83 Bq kg(-1), respectively. The radium equivalent activity, absorbed gamma dose rate (D) and annual effective dose rate associated with the natural radionuclides are calculated to assess the radiation hazards of the natural radioactivity in the ceramic building materials. It was found that none of the results exceeds the recommended limit value.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram 608 002, Tamilnadu, India.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rajamannan
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Viruthagiri
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suresh Jawahar
mesh_terms: D003252:Construction Materials / Q000032:analysis*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011848:Radioactive Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D011851:Radioactivity; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D011883:Radium / Q000032:analysis; D012449:Safety; D013051:Spectrometry, Gamma / Q000379:methods; D013910:Thorium / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes; D011848:Radioactive Pollutants; D011868:Radioisotopes; D013910:Thorium; D011883:Radium