Vertical and Horizontal Distribution of Radionuclides (232Th, 238U and 40K) in Sediment from Manjung Coastal Water Area Perak, Malaysia

Distribution of radionuclides from anthropogenic activities has been widely studied in marine coastal area. Due to rapid population growth and socio-economic development in Manjung area such as coal fired power plant, iron foundries, port development, waste discharged from factories and agriculture runoff may contribute to increase in pollution rate. The radioactive materials from anthropogenic activities could deteriorate the quality of the marine ecosystem and thus lead to possible radiological health risk to the population. Radionuclides (Th-232, U-238 and K-40) content in surface and profile sediment from Manjung coastal area was determined in this study. Radionuclides in sediment from seven locations were collected using sediment core sampling and measurements were carried out using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) spectroscopy. The results show that the concentration of radionuclides in surface sediment and distribution trend of depth vertical profile sediment generally varies depending on locations. Enrichment factors (EF), geo-accumulation index (I-geo) and pollution index (PI) were applied to determine level of pollution of this study area. The radiological risks related to human exposure were evaluated based on external hazard index (H-ex).