title: Phosphogypsum recycling in the building materials industry: assessment of the radon exhalation rate.
abstract: Phosphogypsum can be classified as a Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) residue of the phosphate fertilizer industry. One of the main environmental concerns of its use as building material is the radon exhalation. The aim of this study is to measure the radon exhalation rate from plates and bricks manufactured with phosphogypsum from three installations of the main Brazilian producer, Vale Fertilizantes, in order to evaluate the additional health risk to dwellers. A simple and reliable accumulator method involving a PVC pipe sealed with a PVC pipe cover commercially available with CR-39 radon detector into a diffusion chamber was used for measuring radon exhalation rate from phosphogypsum made plates and bricks. The radon exhalation rate from plates varied from 0.19 ± 0.06 Bq m-2h-1, for phosphogypsum from Bunge Fertilizers, from 1.3 ± 0.3 Bq m-2h-1, for phosphogypsum from Ultrafertil. As for the bricks, the results ranged from 0.11 ± 0.01 Bq m-2h-1, for phosphogypsum from Bunge Fertilizers, to 1.2 ± 0.3 Bq m-2h-1, for phosphogypsum from Ultrafertil. The results obtained in this study for the radon exhalation rate from phosphogypsum plates and bricks are of the same order of magnitude than those from ordinary building materials. So, it can be concluded that the recycling of phosphogypsum as building material is a safe practice, since no additional health risk is expected from the radiological point of view.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 2242, Cidade Universitária 05508-000, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: mpcampos@ipen.br.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 2242, Cidade Universitária 05508-000, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: L J P
authors.initials: LJP
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 2242, Cidade Universitária 05508-000, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Nisti
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 2242, Cidade Universitária 05508-000, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: B P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Mazzilli
mesh_terms: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001938:Brazil; D002133:Calcium Sulfate; D060389:Construction Industry; D003252:Construction Materials; D010758:Phosphorus; D011886:Radon / Q000032:analysis*; D059027:Recycling
chemical_list: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; C077769:phosphogypsum; D010758:Phosphorus; D011886:Radon; D002133:Calcium Sulfate
keywords: Building materials; NORM residue; Phosphogypsum; Radon exhalation rate