ABSTRACT
Investigation on the natural radionuclides 238U, 232Th, 40K and natural fallout radionuclide 210Po in the prominent plants species of Western Ghats tropical forest near Kotagiri have been carried out as a part of baseline background radiation studies in the forest environment. The prominent plants species of the region Evodia roxburghiana and Eleaocarpus oblangus were chosen and concentrations of [238]U, [232]Th, [40]K and [210]Po were measured by employing gamma ray spectrometer and alpha counter. The radioactivity concentrations in plants and soils reflect the impact of the existence of igneous nature of rock in the area of study. Concentration ratios [CR] of these radionuclides, between plants and underlying soil, have been studied and results shows that the concentration ratios [CR] seem to be depend on radionuclides in soil. From careful analysis of the results, these plants could be used as an indicator to monitor these radonuclides
Subject(s)
Radioisotopes , Metals, Rare Earth , Evodia , Spectrometry, Gamma , Soil , EnvironmentABSTRACT
The presence of radionuclides in the soil, measures need to be taken to minimize the radiation dose to humans. It is mostly gamma-emitting radionuclides that contribute to the radiation dose in long term behavior of these radionuclides in soil may determine the extent to which such countermeasures need to be applied. The activity concentration of these radionuclides in the soil samples that collected from the Longwood forest at western Ghats have been analyzed using Gamma spectrometry. The mean activities of 238U, 232Th and 40K were observed 26.261Bq/kg, 53.614 Bq/kg, 204.084 Bq/kg, dry weight, respectively. The average value of dose rate was calculated 55.48 nGy/h by applying the conversion factor where as the environmental dosimeter shows the absorbed dose rate at 1m high is 96.96 nGy/h. It was observed that the activity concentration of primordial radionuclides and the gamma dose rate measurements by ERD and from soil is relatively higher than world average