Estimation of Low-Level Radiation Dose from Some Building Materials Using Gamma Spectroscopy

The study of the radiation hazards from building materials is of interest in many countries. So, it becomes necessary to study the natural radioactivity in different materials to assess the dose for the population to know the health risks and to have a baseline for future changes in the environmental radioactivity due to human activities. The present study assesses the level of terrestrial gamma radiation and associated dose rates from the naturally occurring radionuclides Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 in building materials collected from the Northeastern part of Haryana state of India using gamma ray spectrometry. Places are in the vicinity of Shivalik range of Himalayas. The activity of radium, thorium and potassium in various soil samples varied from 27 +/- 1.2 to 51 +/- 1.5 Bq/kg, 42 +/- 1.5 to 77 +/- 2.3 Bq/kg and 277 +/- 3.2 to 584 +/- 6.1 Bq/kg and in various building materials varied from 14 +/- 0.4 to 87 +/- 7.7 Bq/kg, 6 +/- 0.3 to 24 +/- 1.1 Bq/kg and 26 +/- 0.4 to 245 +/- 3.7 Bq/kg, respectively. The values of absorbed annual effective doses (indoors and outdoors) were found to vary in various soil samples from 50 to 95 nGyh(-1), 0.24 to 0.46 mSv and 0.06 to 0.12 mSv and in various building materials found to vary from 11 to 57 nGyh(-1), 0.05 to 0.28 mSv and 0.01 to 0.07 mSv, respectively.