Natural radioactivity in tap waters of Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey

In this study, the activity concentrations of some radionuclides in tap water samples of the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey were measured. The activity concentrations of radionuclides Pb-214, Bi-214, K-40, Ra-226 and Cs-137 were determined using high resolution gamma ray spectrometry. Furthermore, Rn-222 activity concentrations in tap water samples were measured using Liquid Scintillation Counting. The mean specific activities of Pb-214, Bi-214, Ra-226, K-40, Cs-137 and Rn-222 in tap water samples were 6.73, 6, 19.16, 168.57, 5.45 mBq l(-1) and 10.82 Bq l(-1), respectively. These values are comparable with concentrations reported for other countries. The effective doses were determined due to intake of these radionuclides as a consequence of direct consumption of tap water samples. The estimated effective doses were 6.878 x 10(-4) mu Sv y(-1) for Pb-214, 4.800 x 10(-4) mu Sv y(-1) for Bi-214, 3.916 mu Sv y(-1) for Ra-226, 0.763 mu Sv y(-1) for K-40, 0.052 mu Sv y(-1) for Cs-137 and 5.848 mu Sv y(-1) for Rn-222.